Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Everybody's an expert at what they do, or at least thinks they are, and it's true: anybody who's been doing a job for 2 years is more expert than any new straight-A college graduate. Unfortunately, the competence that comes from doing something repeatedly gives a false sense of confidence when people think what they do is special, making them assume they are difficult to replace, but the reality is that any job has 10,000 people who could perform it just as well, and 10x that number given a minimum of training.

There's also the awkward situation when you realize you're more competent than the expert you've hired: courtesy makes it difficult to tell them so; that plus a bit of cowardliness and you end up paying for something you could have done better yourself. Also, claiming expertise is considered boorish behavior, but to let an undistinguished hack insinuate themselves above you in the chain of command by doing just, is even worse; which is why competitive people, men especially, will deny the expertise of others while claiming unjustified superiority for themselves. Apparently there is no happy medium somewhere between under-performance and overconfidence.