What makes an Expert?

As I was responding to questions posted in a free Business Administration forum I was told that I could not promote myself / business by including my blog link. I was told that people in the forum were paid to give professional ‘counsel’. I asked what the difference was between paid professional counsel and free advice from someone who has 10 years of business experience. The question went unanswered.

I believe this is a legitimate question that goes beyond a title. Was I out of place for posting my advice with my blog link because I was not being paid by the free forum owners? I have met Professional Counsel of different industries that had only 2 to 5 years of experience.

I believe this is misleading to the people who choose to follow those who decide their small minimum amount of years of experience classifies them as ‘Experts’. Further, I believe that probably all industries should have a minimum number of years before a person can claim they are experts or even allowed to say they offer experienced counsel in their field. Who wants to go a Heart Surgeon ‘Expert’ with only 3 or 4 years of experience? An expert to me means they have several years of experience and continuingly updates their skills with continued education in their chosen field of business.

Most of the replies I saw to legitimate questions were false, rude or negative. Yet we constantly hear other people talk about how rude and heartless the world has become. How can this ‘change’ materialize if we as individuals do not become the change we want.

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

Niels Bohr, father of modern theories of atomic energy, said that "an expert is a person who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field."

As our knowledge of things expands, the ability of an individual to know all things about a field diminishes. Computer manufacturing is broken into several subfields

Large mainframes, components of the machines, personal computers, business machines, laptops and then, of course, there’s all the software needed to run the gizmos smoothly.

Assuming that a field of knowledge exists, then learning a great deal about the subject can make you an expert. Knowing as much as there is to know about the subject and doing something with that knowledge can make you a great expert. Expertise is a prerequisite to responsible and important writing on a topic.

No, I’m not an expert, I am only offering my opinions.