Is it About Skills or Expertise?

Dear lovely people,

Why is it that a great number of those who have solid dreams don’t succeed in life as much as they desire? I would rather answer that with another question: is it your plan to realize your dream that should be solid or the dream itself? What makes you think you have a solid dream when you have not tried it out in the physical world?

Most of the times, it takes more than just determination to get the job done. The requisite skills are imperative but then, cases abound about people known to have many skills who still don’t succeed to push their dreams through. This brings us to the reasoning that a set of skills are not enough, you need something more robust, you need expertise.

I can see the twisting on your face right now as you read this. Trust me, many people don’t understand the thin line between skill and expertise. Let me explain; the inherent complexity of real-life expertise is higher than that of a skill. Oh yeah what do I mean here, I am saying that expertise encompasses more different capabilities and task constraints to be mastered. You can very well drive a car with no problem for example but winning a car race in which you get the car doing some amazing maneuvers needs some expertise.

Now! Here are the hard facts, expertise by definition is attributed to but a small number of people who excel in a given domain, whereas the capabilities and accomplishments associated with the concept of real life skills are believed to be within the reach of every normal individual. Everyone can start a business but only few will have the expertise needed to take the business to the likes of Microsoft, Apple, McDonalds and you name it.

So before you get mixed up, understand that skills and expertise differ with respect to their presumed durations of their acquisition processes: a skill can be acquired within weeks or even days while attaining expert level performance takes years or decades. You will have to devote much more time in order to gain expertise rather than just acquire a particular skill. It didn’t take magic Johnson just a month to become a world-class basketball star, Dangote the richest man in Africa never just woke up in wealth one morning. You get the point?

Usually people have many skills but expertise in only few domains. Same is true for organizations. Even expertise in one area can prove to be a turnaround for an individual or an organization. When you hear the name Apple today, you think of the iPhone right? Why?

The only way to become a global household name is to focus on transforming the skill you have into an expertise. But it doesn’t mean that people should not strive for acquiring maximum skills. Multiple skills are always like the low-hanging fruits on your tree, as many as you have, more beautiful the tree appears.

If you have a dream, a vision aligned with a great idea, don’t just settle for skills, go for expertise. As an Expert, you have an extensive knowledge of your field. When one skill proves ineffective for the job at hand, the expert in you generates another one out of its magic bag. After all, there is plenty in there given that as an Experts, you are also a master of several Skill Domains.