At some point in my consulting career, I got sold to a client as an “expert” in Data Center cost optimisation. I learned that fact on my way to the airport as I got a call from the partner who had sold my services very well to the unsuspecting customer,. I also learned I had the duration of the flight to go through the sales document and a 150 page primer document on the topic. That last minor detail was important as, in reality, far from being an expert, I had never even contemplated data center strategy or the relevant cost optimisation levers up to that moment. And in truth, I still am not enamoured by the topic.
Luckily this is long enough ago for that customer to even remember my passage, and I trust that legally the offence will have subscribed. I also trust that the delivered work was useful and satisfying to the unsuspecting client.
I learned from that episode a few things. First, and more pedestrian, is a bit or two about data center strategy, operations and cost management. More important is how necessity can make one become an expert in a topic very quickly, and that insight has been inserted into my professional operating model. A wide curiosity combines well with deliberately studying new topics and every time again become somewhat of an expert. I guess I should thank that partner for the valuable lesson that developing expertise – up to some level – is not impossible and can bring lots of value.
However everything has its limits, and some humility should be inserted. True experts are a whole different matter. You recognise them from a mile away. These are the people capable of working on the same topic for years on end and every time slightly improving and gathering more insight. These true experts will blow dilettantes like myself out of the water and can see through that. Treat them with respect, and they will become allies and sources of learning! These experts are also incredibly valuable to society.
We are all “experts” now
Moving forward in time 15 years and technology and society have accelerated the speed with which we can now become “experts”. During crises, we are exposed to a barrage of expertise publications whereby it seems we all can become “experts” at the speed of light. Think of MRNA vaccines during Covid, drone warfare since the 2022 Russian invasion into Ukraine (or “special military operation”), the importance of the Strait of Hormuz for global shipping and petrol prices, the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems (specifically LLMs) on Software as a Service business models, and so forth.
Our access to these last AI systems has even further accelerated our capability to become “experts”. Chat GPT, perplexity and Gemini, well crafted stochastic parrots up to some level, seem to be a great tool for speeding up learning, if we trust that what they regurgitate is actually correct, that is.
And that trust is the snag, as the likelihood of being served fully new quotes from Einstein or Gandhi appears to be uncomfortably high. As things stand in April 2026, while I have fully endorsed AI systems in my daily working model, it is still necessary to check and double check. Getting to trust is still a work in progress. I expect we will get there and we are only at the beginning. So at some point, the value of current True Expert knowledge may become significantly discounted. When that happens, be ready for a world of AI enhanced “experts”, including yours truly.