Kevin Weitz, Psy.D. and William Bergquist, Ph.D.
[Note: the content of this essay has been included in a recently published book called The Crises of Expertise and Belief. This paperback book can be purchased by clicking on this link.]
Leadership coaches, consultants, mentors and educators who work to support leaders at all levels and help them become more successful, frequently are confronted by a difficult challenge – a leader who knows it all, has narcissistic tendencies or is “un-coachable” (despite more senior management recommending that the individual receive coaching). Some senior leaders can tend to view help from coaches/consultants as an indication that they have failed in some fashion or are demonstrating weakness if they request help. Particularly those that have been very successful, can develop a mindset that they are experts in everything, and do not need assistance from anyone.
It is evident that the roles of leaders, particularly in a fast-changing world, and the roles of leaders, advisors, experts and that of lay-people is unclear (at least in many environments) leading to distrust, rejection and animosity. There is also the broader challenge that is now found in many societies. This is the widespread disbelief in expertise or at least the lingering skepticism that was precipitated by disparate, changing and often contradictory displays of expertise regarding COVID-19 over the past two years. Many people simply don’t trust either the competence or intentions of those claiming to be experts regarding health (and many other matters).
Finally, there is the challenge inherent in the process of professional coaching itself. Is the coach an “expert”? In what ways should a client look to their coach for expertise? Does the coach offer advice? If so then when is it offered? Is the coach somehow an “expert” on interpersonal relationships, on being honest, on being open, on being supportive, on being appreciative, on being challenging, on offering great questions? Where does a coach’s expertise reside and how should a client become aware of and make use of this expertise without becoming dependent on the coach or devaluing their own wisdom and expertise. After all, at the end of a coaching session or coaching engagement, who should be declared the “expert” and who should take credit for the coaching achievements?
Focus of this Issue
These challenges and questions are large and complex. They can’t easily be addressed in one volume of The Future of Coaching. Therefore, we have taken the step of devoting two issues of The Future of Coaching to this critical topic: “The Crisis of Expertise.” In this first issue, we introduce the challenges of Expertise. We include essays about leaders with narcissistic tendencies and those about hubris, silos and self-fulfilling (and self-sealing) prophesies. Other essays concern the ways in which true experts are under pressure from lay-people (most visible in public discourse on the science behind Covid treatments).
An interview is offered with an experienced leadership and career coach, Curt Mandell. Curt brings practicality to what may appear to be an insurmountable set of challenges. This issue concludes with an essay that moves beyond the challenges of expertise. In this essay, we begin to bridge the gap by addressing some of the constructive responses to the crisis of expertise. How, for example, do leaders, experts and laypeople work together in a more cooperative manner?
Research and viewpoints from “experts” such as Nobel Prize Winner Daniel Kahneman, and consultant Tom Nichols (leveraging his book entitled The Death of Expertise) are extensively referenced in this issue. They also provide guidance for the topics being addressed in the second issue that offer further suggestions based on the work of “experts” such as Barry Johnson (polarity management) and Deborah Stone (counting/public policy). So, stay tuned.
Content of this Issue
Following is a summary of (and link to) each essay contained in this issue of The Future of Coaching.
In Search of Truth I: Hubris and Narcissism
Leaders who attempt to predict the future make mistakes. What tends to worsen these situations and make them more dangerous is that people with the most knowledge can tend to emerge as leaders, with lots of influence on the people around them.
In Search of Truth I: Hubris and Narcissism | Library of Professional Psychology
In Search of Truth II: The Dance of Collusion
A powerful process called collusion is operating when the expert and advice-follower dance together in creating an illusion of knowledge and foresight. Collusion is a complex and often subtle process, typically involving all parties in a relationship or group. Even if a participant is not actively involved in the collusion, the mere acquiescence to the collusion will exacerbate the collusive process.
In Search of Truth II: The Dance of Collusion | Library of Professional Psychology
The VUCA-Plus Challenge of Expertise; Dancing on a Moving and Warped Plain
The leaders operating in 21st Century societies often must deal with major challenges associated with the anxiety experienced by members of their society. This anxiety can be induced in many ways—and there are multiple sources of societal anxiety. We often seem to be stranded on a boat that is caught up in the “perfect storm” of societal anxiety. Perhaps the easiest way to sum up the multiple sources of anxiety is to evoke the now commonly used acronym: VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). The challenges in a VUCA environment involve both determining what is “real” and how one predicts and makes decisions based on an assessment of this elusive reality. Leadership and decision-making in our 21st Century societies has become even more challenging given the big VUCA wave that is hitting us right now—the COVID-19 invasion.
Harmlessness and the Leadership Spectrum
Can we lead a life when no harm is being done to other people—or do we harm other people through the actions we have taken (or not taken)? Can we ever lead a harmless life or is our world designed in such a way that harm is inevitable? Is this especially the case when we are in a leadership position? Do leaders, by nature of the decisions they make on behalf of others, cause more harm than non-leaders? With the best of intentions, are we inevitably going to leave someone feeling wounded, ignored, misunderstood, betrayed – or at least disappointed? This essay is all about these important (and often haunting) questions and about the way harm and harmlessness play out in the darmlessness and the Leadership Spectrumecisions and actions taken by leaders who embrace differing styles of leadership.
Harmlessness and the Leadership Spectrum | Library of Professional Coaching
Interview with Curt Mandell: Coaching, Consulting and the Challenge of Expertise
A recorded interview is offered that was conducted by Dr. Kevin Weitz and Dr. William Bergquist with Curt Mandell (a noted organizational coach and consultant) This interview concerns the challenges to be found in the 21st Century workplace regarding the role to be played by experts and the manner in which their expertise is received.
A Crisis in The Rejection of Expert Knowledge
We are living through a period in our history where people are dying (as a result of the Covid pandemic), many of whom could be saved if they followed the advice of medical experts and followed some fairly simple techniques and practices. But, while we may think this is a problem manifested by the pandemic, it is not – the problem of distrusting experts has a long history and numerous causes. This backdrop also has implications for coaching and consultants of all kinds (leadership/executive, life coaching and even sports coaching), where coaches and consultants are often considered experts, or at least deeply experienced. Experts are fallible, and laypeople are often mis-informed or in some cases (as I describe later) blatantly ignorant on certain topics they may weigh in on. Our society (and interactions in the business coaching and consulting world) requires rules and guidelines for more constructive engagement between experts and laypeople.
We hope that you find insight and perhaps some guidance in these essays—as you (and the rest of our world) face the crisis of expertise. We continue in the next issue of The Future of Coaching to explore the nature of this crisis and offer some more suggestions regarding how best to “dance” with the changing nature and dynamics of expertise.
Kevin Weitz, Psy.D.
Guest Editor
William Bergquist, Ph.D.
Editor