From the newsfeed:

"The proliferation of AI has led to a growing "faux-expert" crisis, allowing those with little actual leadership skills to gain influence through AI-generated insights and polished narratives" (John Winsor, the founder and chairman of Open Assembly)

Yep, now we are competing with AI-infused personas.

Predictable and unfortunate but hardly a crisis.

Here's the deal: Every one of exists on a spectrum for every conceivable topic. In simple, 1 to 100 terms, consider this:

• Know nothing about quantum physics? Welcome to the 0 out of 100 club.
• Know how to stop the microwave at the exact second to earn maximum yield of fluffy popped popcorn? Congrats, your score is 92 out of 100.

Someone presenting themselves as an 'all-knowing expert'? Seldom will that claim stand to even the slightest scrutiny, regardless how eloquently AI presents it.

Leadership is even harder to measure. And even if we could, consensus would be rare.

A client recently told me that he didn't need any additional leadership training because he "spent 4 years in the military".

I don't besmirch someone's lived experience so I let it be. However I do wonder how well their 4 years of exposure to military leadership would fare in a room full of 'typical' Gen Z's with, uh, different expectations about sacrifice, grit, serving something bigger than them, etc?

Among us right now are bona fide advisors with lots of successful experience working with ____ audience (Gen Z, pipe-fitters, NGO boards, sports teams, etc.). Let's give them an 85 out of 100 on their chosen audience.

But that same leadership advisor may struggle with earning the trust of a different audience (i.e. sales teams, etc.) because the disparate audience simply isn't in their wheelhouse.

Crossover leadership skills? Of course. A healthy slice of leadership aptitude applies to across all domains before a specialist is relevant.

But at some point, the pursuit of a specialist in one domain runs counter to embracing the benefits of a generalist across multiple domains.

Enter Maslow ... "when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail."

The antidote for the faux expert? Face to face Q&A. If the claims are inflated by AI, a few sharp questions will pop that balloon.

Remember, people have been faking it get a date, a job, etc. long before AI and will likely continue to do so. Expose them to the light of inquiry - some will flourish and some will wither.

Or, to quote one of my early search dog training mentors D. Brownell:

"The BS stops when the tailgate drops"

[post by Mike]