know your solution before letting others adopt it

When you are an expert on a team, don't rely on the opinions of others less informed in your discipline. If you propose a solution that others quickly adopt, be sure of the solution. If the solution is incomplete or lacking in some way, the others on your team may simply reply that they relied on the expert in accepting the solution. They were understandably ignorant. You, on the other hand, are the expert.

let work work for you

I subscribed to a daily newsletter through work which provides me with regular content that is sometimes prepped for social media. I schedule these articles through an app to post on a regular basis to LinkedIn and build my positioning as an expert on the topics I care about. It takes little time and I don't have to search for the content. It's served to me ready-made.

know the theory, gain the unfair advantage

Knowing the theory of a discipline gives you an unfair advantage when discussing related topics or particularly subjects that rely on the foundational theory. A recent story serves as an example. I joined a call discussing some work requirements. All the people on the call have been working with the current company and product longer than I. However, I contributed significantly to the conversation because I know more about accounting than most of my peers.

easy question, easy expert

When faced with a new task, ask whether it’s routine for someone else. That person is your expert. An expert can quickly clue you in to the necessary steps involved in a project, particularly one that follows a regular or systematic process.

Examine how an expert does it

I watched a presentation from a colleague and paid special attention to his transitions and how closely he followed the script. This gave me specific insights as to how I could glue my presentation together and where there was room to put my own spin on it. This helped me learn two demos in less than three hours. The key takeaway for me was to find an expert and watch what they do.

If you don't have an expert, use someone who knows more than you

I was following written instructions and noted several discrepancies. I noted the questions and later met with someone one year more experienced than me on the job. He quickly explained that I had discovered several inconsistencies and told me to disregard. He also pointed out a few key concepts that I needed to focus on. One morning of working with a friend gave me two months of guidance.

It's also what you choose not to do

I received a request that at first glance appeared to be a lot of work with something I'm not familiar. I knew I had bigger priorities so I reached out to someone familiar with my situation. This person gave me several key insights and prevented me from spending any time on a very low value task. In fact, the requester completely forgot and hasn’t brought the task up in more than a month. This is one of the great benefits of Pareto analysis applied to life. Unimportant tasks can fall to the wayside leaving more, valuable time for critical tasks.