When is a source credible?

I get quite a few e-mails from readers and publishers asking me for my resume. I am reluctant to give out my curriculum vitae because I believe that the quality of the content on these pages speaks for itself. The bigger you are the less you have to shout about it.

I want people to embrace the ideas on these pages because they are right for the times and truthful, not for my personal sake. They have to be right for you if you are to embrace and implement them. Its my ideas that matter, not me. As Robert W. Woodruff said, there are no limits to what can be achieved if you don’t mind who takes the credit.

Actually, when I have given out this personal information, there has been occasional discrimination against me because of my age. I have been considered too young to credibly and authoritatively state the views that I do. This is of course utter nonsense- the world changes so quickly that experience is a myth. The only prejudice is content. Knowledge should confer respect but unfortunately some older people often cannot mentally engage with the fact that young people may know a lot more about some things (but not others) than them- and deny it all by receding into talk of the (irrelevant) past.

The very fact that there are low entry barriers to publishing on the Internet means that all sorts of information stating every side of the argument is available- so we tend to turn to sources we have heard of- brands. Ultimately, understandably but wrongly, we are trying to reduce the need to find out for ourselves and make our own decision about someone’s worthiness.

I can understand why using resume information does establish credibility quickly. Have you noticed how it is always mentioned in articles when somebody studied at Harvard or Oxford. But so what- they could have only scored poor marks or got a place because their relations once studied there too.

Credibility is unrelated to titles, qualifications or experience. The architect Frank Lloyd-Wright was right when he said that he had spent his life fighting to retain amateur status- he felt that the best qualification was an open mind.

Whether we consider someone else’s views and ideas credible is a product of our own intelligence, investigation and impartiality. This is a two-way street- both the content originator and viewer have to go through that thought process and weigh up those ideas.

When I weigh up the value and importance of new ideas on my thinking, I consider other points of view, my own discoveries in relevant areas of my life, the underlying theories and patterns and the ideas not their originator. The ideas matter, not their source. Focusing on the source and not the idea is a false entry barrier those thinking belongs to the old outmoded organized world.

We need to rethink what constitutes credible sources in the unorganized world- and be prepared to keep an open mind and think for ourselves what we think of that particular content whoever originated it. At the end of the day, I think, therefore I am.

Author: Simon Buckingham

What do you think?

To make a comment to the author, send e-mail to simon@unorgan.com

 

Click Here to return to Dispatches from the unorganized World