Don’t Be Blinded by Your Own Expertise

by Sydney Finkelstein

Expertise sounds like an unqualified good in professional contexts. Companies associate it with high performance and leadership capability and seek it when hiring for key roles. But in studying top executives over the past decade, I’ve come to understand that expertise can also severely impede performance, in two important ways.

Consider the case of Matthew Broderick, who led the Homeland Security Operations Center when Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, in August 2005. A brigadier general with 30 years’ experience running emergency operations, including a stint at the helm of the U.S. Marine Corps National Command Center, he seemed like the perfect person to oversee the response to the storm. “Been there, done that,” he said when describing his qualifications for the role.

Yet Broderick didn’t trigger key elements of the rescue-and-relief efforts until more than a day after Katrina hit. He underestimated the extent of the catastrophe with tragic consequences, owing in part to his expert mindset, which prevented him from appreciating that adept as he was at handling crises in military contexts, he had little experience with natural disasters in the civilian realm. Trained to verify every fact, thereby avoiding decisions made in the “fog of war,” he failed to recognize that in this case speed was more important. He relied too heavily on military intelligence instead of trusting local or state sources. And because of his extensive Marine Corps expertise, he assumed—wrongly—that key federal emergency officials would automatically report information up the chain of command. He seems to have believed that his brilliance in one area would render him competent in another.

This type of overconfidence is one form of what I call the expertise trap. Another is when leaders’ deep knowledge and experience leaves them incurious, blinkered, and vulnerable—even in their own fields. Motorola executives in the 1990s became so obsessed with the Six Sigma continuous improvement methodology, in which they had developed considerable expertise, that they missed the significance of the industry’s shift to digital technologies and fell dramatically behind their competitors. A decade or so later, when Apple first released its iPhone, technology experts were quick to call it a failure, with then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who’d been steeped in the company’s PC and connected computing business, proclaiming that a device without the traditional QWERTY keypad had no chance of garnering significant market share. More recently, large retailers have struggled to compete with Amazon because senior executives have relied too much on their established expertise as merchandisers and on familiar tactics such as store design, closures, and alterations to the marketing mix. In each of these cases experts assumed that what they knew was right and always would be. As reality shifted, that closed-mindedness led to poor execution and subpar results.

When we begin to identify as experts, our outlook can narrow, both in daily work and in times of crisis. We become reluctant to admit mistakes and failings, thus hindering our development. We distance ourselves from those “beneath” us, making it harder to earn their affection and trust. And as the dynamics of our businesses change, we risk being bypassed or replaced by colleagues on the rise, outsiders adept at learning new things, or artificial intelligence algorithms that can perform rote tasks faster and better than we can. Over time the very expertise that led to our success can leave us feeling unhappy, unsatisfied, and stuck.

Have you fallen into a creative rut? Do you feel “old” and out of touch in your job? Do others seem uncomfortable challenging your assumptions and ideas? Are market developments beginning to take you by surprise? These are just a few of the warning signs that you’ve fallen into the expertise trap. (For others, see the sidebar below.) The solution is clear: Rededicate yourself to learning and growth. Turn back the clock and rediscover just a bit of what the Buddhists call beginner’s mind.

But how? Many executives I encounter tell me they don’t want to be handcuffed by their own expertise, but in the endless stream of meetings, emails, deadlines, and goals, they can’t seem to find the time to learn new skills and approaches. They might attend a training session or two, or try to read the latest business best seller in their spare time, but they remain wedded to their expert mindset and the same old, familiar ideas.

A few extraordinary leaders, however—some of the busiest and most productive—have developed strategies for escaping or avoiding the expertise trap. We can learn from their example.

Challenge Your Own Expertise

Experts cling to their beliefs in large part because their egos are attached to being “smart” or “the best” in their area of focus. To break this pattern, untether yourself from that identity, cultivate more modesty, and remind yourself of your intellectual limitations.

Check your ego.

Do you sometimes overshadow others so that you can look good? Do you dictate solutions to team members rather than rely on their capabilities? Do you put pressure on yourself to always appear “right”? How much pride do you take in the companywide accolades, the conference invitations, the industry awards?

If you are excessively gratified by the status that comes with your hard-won knowledge, try grounding yourself a little. Michael Bloomberg famously eschewed a lavish private office at his media company for a small, unremarkable cubicle. IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad likewise lived simply, traveling inexpensively and driving an old car. Ian Cook, formerly Colgate-Palmolive’s CEO and now its executive chairman, made sure to visit the locker room at plants and facilities to find out what was really going on. Some executives I’ve worked with also forgo their reserved parking spots and park in the back lot so that they can ride the shuttle with rank-and-file employees. They spotlight others’ accomplishments at meetings and industry events and resist the urge to take credit for every success. They also spend time listening to team members instead of telling them what to do.

Methodically revisit your assumptions.

General Broderick made a number of ill-advised assumptions in his initial response to Katrina. You can avoid similar errors by regularly surfacing and testing your ingrained ideas. At the start of a new project or assignment, jot down three or more “theories” that underpin it. For instance, if your goal is to spur revenue growth by entering a new geographic market, you may be assuming that the market in question is attractive, that your products or services are appropriate for it, that you understand it as well as you do others, and so on. Analyze these assumptions one by one; decide which are valid and which you should discard; and change your strategy or approach accordingly.

One executive I coached, a senior leader in a midsize medical device company, was struggling to build market share, even though her company possessed great technology. When I asked her to do this exercise, she responded, “Medical specialists are the key gatekeepers. Our largest competitors have locked up relationships with the largest hospital systems. Our technology is the best on the market.” When she analyzed those statements, she realized that although the specialists were gatekeepers, the more entrepreneurial among them might be open to working with new partners. And her company could support doctors who sought to break away from the big hospital systems and form their own, independent clinics. This thinking allowed her to bust out of the expertise trap and lead her company to compete in a nontraditional way, with excellent results.

Seek Out Fresh Ideas

Learning requires exposure to novelty. But when you’re an expert, it’s easy to become intellectually cloistered. Others don’t or can’t challenge you as often as they used to, and your authority or status can insulate you from pressure to learn and grow. Practiced regularly, the following exercises will introduce you to more diverse perspectives without detracting from other priorities.

Look to teammates as teachers.

Set aside a few minutes every month to reflect on the most important lessons or insights you gleaned from your team members, especially those whose expertise is less than or different from yours. Ask them open-ended questions to trigger their thoughts and encourage them to challenge your thinking and give you feedback. Then make certain that you take their comments seriously. Reward, rather than dismiss or criticize, those who speak up. Aron Ain, the CEO of the software company Kronos, has described his habit of walking around the office to kibitz or hold impromptu focus groups with employees at all levels of his organization to get their opinions on pressing business issues and glean new insights.

Deep knowledge can leave leaders blinkered—even in their own fields.

Another tactic is to create opportunities for junior colleagues to present on topics or issues that they find important but that you and other senior leaders aren’t currently considering. These talks not only provide a great growth opportunity for younger people but also build your awareness of trends, technologies, or conditions relevant to your market. Kevin Cox took this approach in 2016, when he was the chief human resources officer at American Express: He asked some of the company’s young high performers to participate in a special three-day ideation session and then present their best proposals for the business to senior leaders. But such events need not be so structured. The hedge fund legend Julian Robertson was known for holding informal sessions in which his junior analysts had a chance to argue for their ideas in front of their peers. Although he regularly pushed back, everyone understood and appreciated the spirit of lively debate he was trying to inculcate.

Tap new sources of talent.

Experts become creatively stuck and unable to learn because they surround themselves with people who look and sound just like them. The solution, of course, is to hire people with different functional, industry, or cultural backgrounds. Bill Walsh, the legendary San Francisco 49ers head coach, is venerated in the National Football League for hiring African-American assistant coaches and for creating an internship program that allowed the league to benefit from this formerly untapped talent pool. When Boston-based Eastern Bank set up an innovation lab in 2014, it brought in a category of worker previously unseen in its peer group of financial institutions: young creative types in jeans and flip-flops.

Think about your own team, company, and industry. Are any forms of diversity—ethnic, experiential, or other—unrepresented? What unique ideas or perspectives might your workplace gain from people with the missing background? Try recruiting some of them through atypical channels and then onboarding them with a light touch to retain their originality and curiosity. If you’re not in a position to hire, seek out new voices at conferences or in your community, engage them in conversation, and bring them into your circle.

Add a role model or a learning buddy.

Marcus Samuelsson, the Ethiopian-Swedish executive chef at New York’s acclaimed Red Rooster, looks to peers young and old for the inspiration to keep learning. One of them, Samuelsson says, is Leah Chase, a New Orleans chef in her nineties, who’s “still questioning things with this same sense of excitement.” Whom can you look to in the same way? Is anyone at your company or in your industry unusually dedicated to creativity and growth? Look up that person, follow her activities, and ask if you can check in regularly to compare ideas. What is she thinking about or reading? What does she do to broaden her horizons and stay current?

You can also cultivate “learning buddies”—colleagues who challenge your thinking and with whom you bounce around new ideas. The CEO of Scripps Health, Chris Van Gorder, consults with a group of “loyal friends” inside and outside the organization who he knows will provide “honest and sometimes tough feedback about my performance.” The next time you’re at an executive development program with participants from other businesses, make it a priority to connect with one or two people who might act as sounding boards for you.

Embrace Experimentalism

Leaders and managers stuck in the expertise trap don’t just blind themselves to new ideas—they stop experimenting and taking risks, which ultimately leads to their downfall, because they’re seldom learning anything new. It’s important to push the limits of your comfort zone, even if there’s a danger you’ll fall on your face.

Pose frequent creative challenges for yourself.

Don’t wait for others to spur you to experiment. Challenge yourself to break new ground by welcoming any unfamiliar or unusual assignments you get and treating them as “science experiments.” Give yourself permission to set aside established rules and try different ways of accomplishing tasks. Doing things differently may not necessarily take longer (and may even lead to new efficiencies), but it’s still worth asking your boss for leeway, pointing out that you’re actively experimenting and taking some risks for the team’s benefit. Resist the urge to say no to novelty.

Challenging yourself with new pursuits outside work helps as well. Many successful leaders maintain creative hobbies as a way of staying fresh and “young” and bringing that mindset back to the office. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly taught himself a new language—Mandarin Chinese. David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, makes a hobby of deejaying at Manhattan nightspots. The former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold writes cookbooks.

Learn from mistakes.

Many expert managers downplay or ignore their own slipups, perhaps to protect their elevated view of their own capabilities. The outstanding leaders I’ve studied know that mistakes are to be acknowledged, not swept under the rug—especially when they themselves make them. How self-aware are you in this respect? Set aside time each month to think about the errors you made, big and small. Do you notice any patterns? Were you misaligned with your team? Did you rush to judgment when making a decision? Did any mistakes result from experiments you were trying? If so, what lessons can you capture? And what new experiments might you try to improve your performance?

Don’t be afraid to go public with the fruits of this exercise. Hold quarterly “mistake” meetings at which you describe the biggest error you made in recent months and what you learned. Then invite team members to do the same. The Indian industrial magnate Ratan Tata has tried to institutionalize this practice by presiding over an annual award called Dare to Try, which recognizes employees for pursuing worthy but unsuccessful projects.

CONCLUSION

Exceptional leaders know that learning isn’t ever “finished”—it must be a lifelong pursuit, as humbling as it is joyful. Their greatest fear isn’t that their expertise and authority will be challenged but, rather, that they’ll become complacent. Happily, we all have the power to meld learning into the very substance of our work.

Prevalent and dangerous as the expertise trap is, we can escape it—or avoid it entirely—by rebalancing our professional identities, checking our assumptions, listening to teammates, engaging different voices, finding new role models, challenging ourselves with new pursuits, and learning from our mistakes. We can cultivate a beginner’s mind to go along with our expert perspective, pushing ourselves to new levels of creativity and performance.

This is from the May–June 2019 issue (pp.153–158) of Harvard Business Review.

Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, the author of The Superbosses Playbook (Penguin Portfolio, 2019), and the host of The Sydcast podcast. Twitter: @sydfinkelstein.