While knowledge is an important quality of expertise, it’s only one of several factors that makes someone an expert in their field. There are five characteristics of real experts:
Knowledge: Being an expert requires an immense working knowledge of your subject, whether it’s memorized information, or knowing where to find information you haven’t memorized.
Experience: In addition to knowledge, an expert needs to have significant experience working with that knowledge, and be able apply it in creative ways.
Communication Ability: Expertise without the ability to communicate it is practically pointless.
Connectedness: Expertise is, ultimately, social; experts are embedded in a web of other experts who exchange ideas and approaches to problems. These experts are likewise embedded in a wider social web that connects them to people who need their expertise.
Curiosity: Experts are curious about their fields, and recognize the limitations of their own understanding of it.
Sometimes becoming an expert just kind of happens. But most of the time, it requires the careful pursuit of expertise. There’s no "quick and easy" path, but you can become an expert by focusing on these things:
Perpetual learning: Being an expert means being aware of the limitations of your current level of knowledge.
Networking: Build strong connections with other people in your field. Seek out mentors, and also make yourself available to the less experienced.
Practice: Not just in the "gain experience" sense but in your the "practice what you preach" sense -- your daily habits needs to reflect your expertise, or people will not trust you as an expert.
Presentation skills: Learn to present your expertise in the best possible way.
Sharing: Share your knowledge widely.
There are a lot of people out there passing themselves off as experts who aren’t experts at all. They may not even be competent. How can you tell if someone’s putting you on? Here are a few things to look for:
Commitment: Experts are enthusiastic about their fields of expertise. Look for serious, obvious commitment to the field.
Authenticity: A real expert doesn’t need to scam anyone. If you feel that someone is trying to pull one over on you, find someone else.
Openness: Expertise speaks for itself. Trade secrets are for people who aren’t confident in their abilities.
Open-mindedness: Experts are always looking for new approaches to problems. If your expert is dismissive when you explain what you thought might be the problem, it usually means they think they have all the answers. Real experts know they don’t.
Clarity: An expert should be able to explain to you exactly what they’re doing and why.