I’ve thought about that scenario quite a few times since then. There have been occasions where I was clearly out of my league at work. As a young consultant, I struggled so much with the ambiguity of my role that I was frequently unable to sleep at night. I didn’t know what I didn’t know – and worse, I didn’t know who I could ask for help since I was expected to perform anyway. I didn’t want to be like the woman in the first NGO: a friendly and enthusiastic person who couldn’t be taken seriously as a professional.

Expertise isn’t the only critical factor in getting a job done, but it certainly is one of them. In its absence, ideas can’t “tip,” planning gets skewed and results suffer.

Not all of us are required to be the ultimate expert on any given day, but some of us are. Regardless, any expertise you can acquire will go a long way. Here are six ways to build your expertise – regardless of your field.

Learn from the True Experts

The ideal source of expertise is the people who already possess it. An old proverb states, “Walk with the wise and become wise.” If you are proactive, you may be able to find an opportunity to work or partner with an expert. Otherwise, learn all you can from their thought leadership.

Learn from Best Practice

For virtually every process or function, there are many accessible best practices – for things as simple as leading meetings or as complicated as evaluating learning programs. For critical items, never start from scratch when you have access to existing best practices from people who have already been where you’re trying to go.

Learn from Experience

If you don’t accumulate new experiences, your expertise will grow stale. Try new things – and be careful to evaluate as you go. Soon you’ll be able to articulate your own best practices that can serve as a guide for the future.

Learn from Experimentation

It’s not enough to try new things, we also need to try old things in new ways. Otherwise we operate only from memory instead of curiosity. As author and businessman Bob Buford says, “As long as we breathe, it is never too late in life to discover a better way.”

Enlist Your Team

I’m convinced that teamwork is the greatest untapped competitive advantage of the 21st century. That’s another discussion, but in terms of expertise, be careful to include the thoughts, insights and feedback of others in any important endeavor – regardless if they are superiors, peers or subordinates. Even if everyone lacks true expertise, multiple sources of input can make a solution better than it otherwise would have been.

Pass it On

One of the best ways to hone expertise is to pass it on. In fact, some have made the case that you don’t truly understand something until you can teach it to others. Don’t wait until you’re a full-blown expert to teach someone else – start where you are.

At the end of the day, there’s some good news. You are almost assuredly already to expert to someone else. That means you have a meaningful opportunity to contribute what you know. Just don’t stop there. There are so many more opportunities to learn, grow and share.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

You don’t have to be special to be a leader and you don’t have to be an expert to help other leaders succeed. You can start right now, right where you are.

Trusted Leadership Advisor is a compilation of some of my previous posts on this topic. In the ebook, I show you how to think about your role as a trusted leadership advisor, what to say and how to get started. Take a look – and if you find it helpful, please share it.

I’d also appreciate your feedback. This is my first ebook and I want to know if the format, structure and ideas prove to be helpful for you. You can leave me a comment below or contact me directly.

There’s so much work to do – let’s work together!

Engage others in leadership conversations and listen well

I recently shared the three leadership questions I always ask, no matter if I am talking to someone for the first time or to my best friend. They actually don’t feel like “leadership” questions at all, but by the end of the conversation, I have a good understanding of the basic leadership situation they are dealing with. I know what’s working and what’s not. Leadership isn’t always about sharing what you know with others. In fact, that’s never the right place to start. The better you become at encouraging others to talk about themselves, listening to them and truly understanding their situation, it is uncanny how much you will grow as a leadership expert in their eyes.

Share what you’ve observed

No matter how much or how little “real world” experience you have, you’ve observed leadership in action. You’ve seen things that have worked well and you’ve seen things that haven’t worked at all. You’ve seen things that started out well but ended up poorly. Always pay attention to the leadership mindsets, decision-making process and execution that happens around you. Use those learning points to inform what you know about leadership, and then share them with others. Learning from the successes and failures of others is as free a leadership education as it gets. (Click to Tweet that).

Share the things you’ve learned through experience

It’s hard to learn how to lead people if you never do it yourself. Therefore, your own experiences in leading others can be quickest and sharpest developmental points you get. For better or worse, you are always the expert on your own experience. It won’t take long before you have a list of what works well and what doesn’t work at all. Don’t keep this to yourself! Help others go further faster by sharing what you’ve learned through experience. And incidentally, don’t be afraid to share your mistakes – sometimes people relate to them much more than to your successes.

Share the ideas you’ve developed

As a student of leadership, you’re probably on the lookout for ways to lead more effectively. At the beginning, all you have are untested theories. Keep it up and eventually you may discover the “Higgs Boson” of leadership. (Hey, it’s possible!) But regardless of your progress, don’t keep from sharing your ideas with others who could use them, whether it’s on a napkin at a restaurant or publishing a white paper. Even scientists have to start with a hypothesis in order find the solutions they are looking for. (You’ll need to get your own peer-reviews just like they do!)  Even if your ideas aren’t perfect, they are better than none and often a great place to start.

Share what other experts are saying

Don’t just develop your own ideas in isolation. Even the top leadership experts pull from what others have said about leadership. You can use the best of the incredible things you’ve found that others have shared. Another perk is that you benefit from the association. On top of that, if people don’t like what you’ve passed along, they aren’t disagreeing with you but with the person you referenced!

Subtly self-promote around areas of competence

Depending on your personality, you could be the most competent leadership expert available but still have a hard time tooting your own leadership horn. (Disclaimer: I’m not sure these instruments actually exist.) Reconciling humility and leadership can be difficult for some of us. Learn to subtly self-promote around your areas of competence. If you don’t, not only will you miss a huge opportunity to share your influence, more importantly, those around you could end up following second-rate (or just plain terrible) leadership ideas instead of yours.

Serve.

I mentioned this in my last post as well, but it bears repeating. You are never too unqualified to set a good example, and that includes setting a good leadership example. Leadership is about putting others first and working toward the success of something bigger than yourself. There is no better way to earn the opportunity to influence others than to be willing to serve them.

What other ways would you include to establish yourself as a leadership expert?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.

It was such a great question. Who are the real leadership experts anyway? Are they the people who manage Fortune 500 companies, hold elected positions, or write bestselling books? They certainly qualify, but are there others?

I’m convinced everyone can become not only a leader but an expert as well because we all have the ability to influence and to learn and grow. That means you! And it can happen much sooner than you think. What a great loss it would be for anyone to sidestep their leadership potential because they felt unqualified. So let me share my rationale with you. You can become a leadership expert from right where you are, starting today.

You are most likely already a leadership expert to someone.

Each of us has a leadership community – people we influence and are influenced by; people we’re responsible for and who are responsible for us. Some of our leadership communities are large and some are small. As we grow, our communities grow as well.

But regardless of the size of your leadership community or platform, it is almost certain that someone looks to you for influence. This means you are an “expert” to them. If you are a supervisor, your leadership expertise probably influences your subordinates more than another other person’s. The same can be said if you are the parent of young children. If you operate a business, at some level you are an expert to your customers. If you write or blog, you influence your readers. If you interact with, instruct, or teach others, you are an expert to them. Friends who value your advice on anything at all (including leadership) consider you an expert enough to ask.

A title does not make a leader.

Just because people don’t introduce you as a “leadership expert” doesn’t mean you can’t be one. John Maxwell says that everything rises and falls on leadership. That means no matter what title you hold or what profession you’re in, you are also in the leadership business. Very few people are solely leadership specialists. Virtually all of the high profile leadership experts are considered as such because of knowledge, skill or experience in a certain industry or organization. So whether you are in psychology, fitness, or anything else, succeeding in that field makes you a leader. Taking the opportunity to develop and share your knowledge and experience with others makes you an expert.

Leadership is a journey, not a destination.

If no one could become a leadership expert until they figured out everything there is to know about leadership, we simply wouldn’t have any leadership experts around. There’s always much more to learn! We’re all works in progress, which means you’ll never have it completely figured out. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert on what you’ve learned so far – and your expertise will deepen as your grow. The insight you gain today can be someone else’s breakthrough tomorrow – provided you share it with them. (Click here to Tweet that).

You’re never too unqualified to set a good example – and that includes setting a good leadership example.

If you don’t remember any of the other points, remember this one. Sometimes we do need certain titles or certifications to make specific leadership decisions. But we are never too unqualified to set a good leadership example. At its pure foundation, leadership is about serving others – something anyone can do. Being a leadership expert is a volunteer opportunity. Many times it’s not particularly glamorous, but it’s one of the only ways to truly earn the opportunity to influence.

In the second post of this series, I’ll share some practical ways you can take the leadership expertise you currently possess and share it with others.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.