The Business of Expertise

This passionate expertise manifesto is intended to elevate the impact of advisors who sell insight as entrepreneurs. Three foundational chapters form the basis of the entire book: experts develop insight by isolating patterns in data; they convert those insights to wealth by crafting a unique positioning for which few available substitutes exist; and their confidence grows as the marketplace embraces their application of expertise. The next fifteen chapters--building on that foundation--each answer a single question, starting with the role of expertise in a developed society, how important it is for experts to love the hard work required to hone their expertise, and how to see all that in the context of their own purpose in the world. We pause to dig deeper by examining the very narrow overlap between expertise and entrepreneurship: the narrow slice of humanity for which this book was written, with a nod to how easy it is for those entrepreneurial experts to be pulled off mission to explore new things. What are the critical positioning mistakes to avoid? Are there helpful ways to keep your deep, narrow expertise from blinding you to a broader, wider relevance? How might you frame your expertise in horizontal or vertical terms or a combination of both? There are core principles for this and they start with distinguishing between strategy and implementation. What are the earlier and then later tests to validate your positioning? What are the most effective ways to demonstrate your expertise, and conversely the activities most important to avoid? If you are an entrepreneurial expert selling advice for a living, you ll absorb deeper and deeper insight each time you scour it. It emerges from the trenches, and is written for experts in the trenches. Following the three foundational chapters (A, B, C) that open the book, there are fifteen chapters that build on that: The Role of Expertise in a Developed Society; The Interplay Between Expertise and Fulfillment; The Why for Your Entrepreneurial Expertise; Combining Expertise and Entrepreneurship; The Relevance and Sustainability of Expertise; Positioning Mistakes and Why We Make Them; Practicing Expertise Within a Broader Context; Distinguishing Between Vertical and Horizontal Expertise; Principles for the Less Exchangeable Positioning of Expertise; Distinguishing Expertise from Implementation; Five Early Tests for the Positioning of Your Expertise; Demonstrating Expertise; Not Demonstrating Expertise; How Expertise Unfolds: A Recap; and The Long Game: Maintaining Relevant Expertise. The book is fully illustrated in color, is a hardback (case bound), and has a full-color dust jacket.