Holiday Inn Express Syndrome

And my “expert” opinions.

If you know, you know. If you don’t, I’ll fill you in. After all, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (not really).

It’s a commercial (a well written commercial at that) for a popular hotel chain called Holiday Inn Express. In these commercials, a person shown in the midst of some highly skilled or highly critical roles (performing surgery, etc.), is asked in one form or another whether they know what they are doing. The answer always seems to be something like, “well, no. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” Well done Holiday Inn Express. Brilliant. I’ve linked one here so you can see for yourself.

It was supposed to be a joke. The prime objective being to highlight the obvious. Just because you stayed at a particular hotel, it did not mean you actually had any clue as to what you were doing. This is (or should be) common knowledge right?

If only. These days, there seems to be this idea floating around that just because someone saw something or heard something that they are now an expert in whatever subject matter to which they are referring. And honestly, it’s kind of annoying.

If there’s one thing talking to medical doctors day in and day out has taught me, it’s that even the “experts” often don’t know what they’re doing. Like parenthood, you can read all the books, take all the classes, even listen to all the “experts” talk your ear off. Still, the majority of medicine, parenthood, and many other things, seems to have a fair amount of guesswork involved.

So, do real “experts” actually exist? Maybe, maybe not. It really depends on your definition. But, I would argue, there are those out there worth listening to about certain things. Do you want your long term relationship to last? Go talk to someone who’s been happily married for twenty plus years. Want to know what it’s like going to space? Ask someone who’s been there. People who have lived it. That's where the real expertise comes into play. Even then, it is limited to their experience. So, what may work for one, doesn't work for all.

The truth is, we're all just winging it.

And please, while we all know you watched that highly edited video clip like a million times, don’t say you know everything there is to know about it. Chances are, you really don’t.

Challenge: Open your mind. What does that mean? It means gathering information from more than one source. It means doing your research and putting away your “jump to conclusions” mat. It means staying humble, not pretending as though you have all the answers and admitting when you’re wrong.

Song: “Life’s A Dance” - John Michael Montgomery

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