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The Problem with Industry Experts

Albert BarraFebruary 24, 2023 · 2 min read
THE IDEA

Abraham Maslow’s thinking offers a useful lens on industry experience and its impact on problem-solving. In hospitality change management, context and a deep understanding of people are essential to finding effective solutions.

The Problem with Industry Experts
Abraham Maslow was an optimist, famous for his hierarchy of needs. He is also credited with the phrase: “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” That is somewhat how I feel about experts in our industry. Sometimes industry expertise is needed to help solve technical problems when that expertise does not exist within the company, but for overall change management it can actually be an obstacle. Industry experience is more impressive from a marketing perspective than from a practical operational one. A long list of relevant experience and familiarity with local industry jargon is understandably reassuring for the people who must decide whether or not to trust their help. But experience is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it is worse than arriving without preconceived ideas and with an open mind about what the root problems and viable solutions might be. When experience allows you to jump to conclusions without considering the facts, you find yourself in trouble. The reason is reflected in Maslow’s thinking. As you become familiar with any subject, you are likely to take shortcuts, whether you are aware of it or not. Experts tend (or we tend) to treat the problems they encounter as similar to those they have encountered in the past. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes problems are similar, and history certainly has a way of repeating itself, but we have learned that problems are highly context-specific. And, generally, the biggest individual contextual variable is people. The team composition and management style can be radically different from one place to another, even when the process and systems may be virtually identical.
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