What makes an expert?

What makes an expert? And how can traders develop their own expertise? Three elements:

1) “Measures of general basic capacities do not predict success in a domain”
Experts cannot be distinguished by superior intellects or other cognitive talents.

2) “The superior performance of experts is often very domain specific and transfer outside their narrow area of expertise is surprisingly limited”

Being an expert in one domain does not predict expertise in others; a person can be a highly accomplished trader, but not expert in other areas. Think “niche” — the successful trader has found a particular sphere of success that expresses his skills and interests.

3) “Systematic differences between experts and less proficient individuals nearly always reflect attributes acquired by the experts during their lengthy training”

The expert is one who has undergone a structured, deliberate process of training that builds competencies, offers extensive feedback, and draws upon intensive effort over time to internalize knowledge and skills.

So what might this mean? Here are the good doctor’s conclusions:

1) The majority of traders are looking for expertise in all the wrong places. Learning to trade does not involve finding magic indicators or systems.

2) The vast majority of offerings in trader education are not structured for expertise development. Seminars, books, Web articles and blogs, weekend courses–all can be useful in imparting information. But expertise development is not simply about the accumulation of information; it is about skill development under realistic, challenging conditions.

3) Most traders fail because they never enter a path of expertise development. What does a trader need to progress from being a novice toward becoming competent toward exhibiting expertise? A curriculum: a structured process, that begins with information and understanding and then progresses steadily through skill development.