In today’s episode of the Idea to Value podcast, we speak with Prof Roger Kneebone. Prof Kneebone is the author of Expert: Understanding the Path to Mastery and directs the Imperial College Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science (ICCESS) in London.
We speak about what it takes to go from beginner to expert, the hurdles and changes along the way and the impact of expertise on creative thinking.
Topics covered in this episode:
- 00:03:00 – What it means to be an expert, and how it requires wisdom
- 00:05:00 – The apprentice, journeyman, master progression
- 00:07:00 – What it feels like to go through these stages, across various industries
- 00:08:45 – The starting stages of being a journeyman may feel quite boring and frustrating as you build the fundamentals
- 00:12:30 – Nobody cares about your accomplishments, they only care about what you can do for your audience
- 00:15:00 – The dangers of making errors when you are responsible for yourself
- 00:18:00 – The balance of repetition what has worked before and beginning to be creative
- 00:23:00 – You never reach the status of an pure expert who knows everything, you instead continually develop expertise
- 00:27:30 – You need to go a lot of time and deliberate practice before you reach mastery
- 00:31:00 – Building expertise almost always involves a support network around you
- 00:35:00 – The curse of expertise and how it can make you less creative
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Prof Kneebone’s faculty page: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/r.kneebone
- Expert: Understanding the path to Mastery: https://amzn.to/34D0x5U
- Countercurrent podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/countercurrent-conversations-with-professor-roger/id1121211583