Don't blindly follow the word of self-titled experts. Instead, examine their line of reasoning and decide if it applies to you Dear Bob …What makes you such an expert?[ Want to cash in on your IT experiences? InfoWorld is looking for stories of an amazing or amusing IT adventure, lesson learned, or war tale from the trenches for our Off the Record blog. Send your story to offtherecord@infoworld.com. If we publish it, we’ll keep you anonymous and send you a $50 American Express gift cheque. ] I’m serious. One day you’re giving career advice, the next you’re weighing in on leadership techniques, and then, before you know it, you’re talking about project management or technical architecture.Are you really that smart?– Skeptical Dear Skeptical …You should be skeptical. More to the point, when it comes to self-proclaimed experts, which includes anyone who writes for a business publication, don’t trust us. The 90 percent who are charlatans ruin it for the rest.I wish I was exaggerating, but I can say this, having been one much earlier in my career: Any real scientist would howl like a hyena at what passes for research in the average business journal. To the best of my recollection, I’ve never once asked anyone to trust my judgment or opinion about anything. That isn’t because I have any more integrity than anyone else. It’s because once someone who trades on his or her expertise starts asking for trust, it’s just one short step before they rely on it. If you listen to any expert who tells you to trust them because they wrote a book, published an article, or horror of horrors, posted a blog, tune them out. If that’s the only reason to believe their words, there’s no reason to pay any attention.What I try to present is persuasive logic, backed by my own experience and whatever solid evidence I can find. What I ask is this: Evaluate what I have to say based on whether or not it makes sense. If you can poke lots of holes in it, ignore the advice. If my experience appears to be very different from yours, you’ll have to decide whether you think I have more or less broad exposure than you do.If I cite sources of evidence you consider unreliable, we’ll have a hard time reaching agreement on whatever the subject happens to be (unless you can persuade me they’re unreliable, at which point our positions will be harmonious). And treat every other expert you read the same way. Back when I worked for a living, before becoming a self-proclaimed expert, I ran across far too many who relied far too much on their ability to make confident assertions and tabulate questionnaires.It’s one reason I was confident I could be one too, in fact.– Bob This story, “Experts are not to be trusted,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Bob Lewis’s Advice Line blog on InfoWorld.com. CareersIT Skills and Training