Why Are You Asking Me For Advice?

Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay 

If you ask me for my opinion on a particular topic, I like to think I’m level headed enough to tell you if I have a perspective worth sharing or not. If I don’t know much about the subject, it doesn’t bother me to say I’m not up to speed, or it’s not really my area of expertise. 

And the reason I do that is because I recognize - and am quite comfortable with the fact - that I don’t know everything. (Hard to believe, I know.) 

I’m knowledgeable in a bunch of areas where I have (I believe) ideas worth sharing, moderately knowledgeable in others where I am happy to share a point of view (and caveat it as such) and far less knowledgeable in many others - where I have no issue in saying, I don’t really have a view.

I don’t think that says anything special about me. It simply says I’m comfortable with who I am and that I’m not interested in trying to be anything more than that. 

It took me a while to get there but it was important for me to realize this. I didn’t need to know everything, and frankly, it wasn’t actually expected of me. It was completely OK and said nothing about me other than the fact that I just didn’t know this specific aspect of this specific subject. No big deal. 

Similarly, I also realized that my heroes in specific spheres of my life couldn’t necessarily transport that heroism into other spheres of life that were important to me. In other words, just because Eddie Van Halen is an amazing guitarist doesn’t necessarily mean I should go to him for advice on business and start-ups. Or Elizabeth Taylor (a great actress) for marital advice.

Yet, this sort of thing happens time and again, with ourselves in our own heads and with successful and/or famous people we come into contact with or read about. They’re constantly asked for their views on areas they don’t have any particular expertise in - from family life to medical issues and more. 

I was reminded of this in a video blurb where a reporter asked the manager of Liverpool Football Club, Jurgen Klopp, about his views on the Coronavirus and his response was, essentially, I know about as much as you do. Just because I’m a well known football manager doesn't make me qualified in any way to respond knowledgeably. Because he knew that, because of his position and fame, many folks would take his perspective seriously and hence there was a risk of misinformation, etc. 

And that’s exactly right. Why do we think someone knows more about something just because they’re famous, or rich, or good looking, etc.? 

Better, perhaps, to critically assess who we’re seeking advice from and why. Better to not get caught up in the ‘aura of positive association’. Better to get our advice from those who’ve earned the right to give it to us.