A short motivational talk by Katie McManus (March 2024) encouraging listeners to recognize and claim their expertise by redefining what being an 'expert' means. McManus argues that formal accolades (PhDs, books, media interviews) are not required; an expert simply has comprehensive and authoritative knowledge, which many listeners already possess.
One of the reasons we hold ourselves back from declaring that we are a leading expert in our respective fields is because we look around and we see people who've done more than us. If you were to go and look up in any dictionary the meaning of the word expert, nowhere in there does it say someone who has a PhD on a topic. Nowhere in that definition is it going to say someone who's written at least 20 books on a topic. It doesn't say that you have to be the best in the field. It doesn't say that you have to have been interviewed by Oprah. The definition of an expert is a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge. By that definition, you are an expert on numerous things. And I know it's intimidating when you look around and you see all these people in these fields who have all the bells and whistles. They started where you are right now. They had the fucking audacity to say, you know what? I'm going to step into my leading expert pants and I'm just going to own it.