A little something about experts

Posted on January 6, 2010 by Bill Wren

I saw a rather disturbing comment in the letters area of the local paper (Fredericton’s Daily Gleaner). It went thus:

“The average New Brunswicker is not qualified to make the final decision concerning the sale of NB Power. We do not have access to those in the know and the massive amounts of information required to make a sound decision.”

The letter essentially argues for the need for experts. And I certainly agree experts — their knowledge and opinions — have value but if I may take a tangent for a moment …

Edmonton Oilers, Carolina Hurricanes 2005-2006.If I recall correctly, in the 2005-2006 NHL season the experts said the Detroit Red Wings would win the Stanley Cup. They were the team that placed first overall in the regular season. As it turned out, they were turfed in the first round, 4 games to 2, by the Edmonton Oilers who squeaked into the playoffs just ahead of the Vancouver Canucks. The Oilers, who the experts said would have their butts handed to them by Detroit, went on to the Stanley Cup final where they lost in the 7th game to the Carolina Hurricanes.

My point? Experts are fine but I ain’t bettin’ the farm on what they say. I’d also like to add what I left in the comments area of the online letters area. It reads:

“The NBPower deal involves many things such as economics, the energy industry and legal aspects and ideally we would all be experts in every area required to make an informed decision. However, it is a false argument to say that expertise leads to a correct decision.

“To the best of my knowledge, we have many economic and financial experts throughout the world and yet we are in an unprecedented global recession. This would not be the case if we could depend on experts to always get it right. Experts, like all of us, make mistakes so it is appropriate to ask questions such as: how did it come about, what will its impact be, what are the legal and economic ramifications, long term? The average person is also qualified to decide whether the answers to the questions are sufficient or ring of obfuscation.

“Much of this NBPower debate could have been avoided, I think, had any of the experts consulted had a background in communications but I guess that’s the one area they just winged it.”

About Bill Wren

Writer, editor, social media practitioner and observer of how and where people connect and engage online.
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  • http://www.none.com/ Prefer Not

    Actually, the NB government hired Hill & Knowlton, Revolution, Bristol and Color and more. These are all communications companies. Additionally, they used the strategy of their own communications guru, Maurice Robichaud. Their strategy was to lie about the deal and that we are too stupid to really understand these things. Once again, the “experts” didn’t get it.

  • http://www.none.com Prefer Not

    Actually, the NB government hired Hill & Knowlton, Revolution, Bristol and Color and more. These are all communications companies. Additionally, they used the strategy of their own communications guru, Maurice Robichaud. Their strategy was to lie about the deal and that we are too stupid to really understand these things. Once again, the “experts” didn’t get it.

  • http://writelife.net/ Bill

    I suppose I threw that last paragraph in there with only a hint at what I meant. I’m sure there were communications people/companies involved but from what I can guess at, from what I’ve seen, they’ve taken a pretty old school approach — trying to control the message. In a world of the web, particularly social media, you can’t do that. And the more you try to, the deeper you dig the hole you’re in. I’m not sure it’s the fault of the communications people either. Even if they know and have the skill to do it the right way, I doubt they would have been given a go ahead to do it. The world of politics still doesn’t get it.

  • http://writelife.net Bill

    I suppose I threw that last paragraph in there with only a hint at what I meant. I’m sure there were communications people/companies involved but from what I can guess at, from what I’ve seen, they’ve taken a pretty old school approach — trying to control the message. In a world of the web, particularly social media, you can’t do that. And the more you try to, the deeper you dig the hole you’re in. I’m not sure it’s the fault of the communications people either. Even if they know and have the skill to do it the right way, I doubt they would have been given a go ahead to do it. The world of politics still doesn’t get it.