Does Expertise Even Matter Anymore?

Amanda Goodall shares 5 key insights from Credible: The Power of Expert Leaders.

As President-elect Donald Trump continues to announce some surprising picks for cabinet posts and agency heads, opinions vary on the qualifications of some of the nominees. But it begs the question: how much does expertise even matter? Is subject-area proficiency the most important quality in a political or business leader, or do traits like loyalty, decisiveness, and original thinking matter more?

Well, it turns out that knowing your stuff is pretty important, according to Amanda Goodall, author of the recent book Credible: The Power of Expert Leaders. Amanda is a professor at London's Bayes Business School and has been a visiting scholar at Cornell, the University of Zurich, and Yale. In her book, she argues that leaders who deeply understand their industries have more successful businesses and happier, more productive employees. Scroll down to hear Amanda present 5 of her big ideas.

The 5 Key Insights:

1. We need credible core business experts (not generalists) to lead organizations.

2. Why aren’t all organizations led by core business experts?

3. How do expert leaders achieve great organizational performance?

4. How do expert line managers raise employee job satisfaction and retention?

5. What do the best expert-friendly organizations do?

Hear Amanda explain why expertise still matters: