I had a debate about the merits of Ben Stein as a ‘career expert‘ on my blog, yesterday. There is so much bogus career advice out there. I wonder —
- How do you define someone as a workplace expert?
- Who is qualified to give career advice?
I often hear that people who work hard and succeed are qualified to give out career advice. How do you define hard work? What if someone works smart but not hard? Are they qualified?
If I had to pull together a list of celebrities who might offer better career advice than Ben Stein, it would be
- Adam Carolla,
- Tyra Banks,
- and Wolf Blitzer.
Who’s on your list?
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Wolf Blitzer is totally personal- you have a ginormous crush on the guy :p
If you weren’t asking for celebrities my parents would be at the top of the list. They’ve both been at the same place for 20+ years and can teach you alot! (My mom’s in HR and she rocks). They work hard and smart and thanks to them I know what it is to be a professional…
Celebrity wise I would consider:
1. Sidney Poitier
2. Tina Fey
3. Oprah
For Ben Stein, I consider him more of an idiot savant than a workplace expert. Sitting everyday to win a maximum of $5000 answering questions does not account to workplace expert, although he’s a great “teacher.”
Anyway, for a female celebrity talking about the workforce, I would go for Mary Tyler Moore and for the guy perspective…Ricky Gervais.
Here are my celebrity experts:
Judd Apatow – dudes an industry unto himself
David Letterman – mostly because he has the job I want
Kevin Smith – Giving hope to fanboys everywhere
I guess it really depends on the career you want to go into:
If I wanted to go into radio, is there really a better expert than Howard Stern?
I’m curious….why Tyra Banks? That one has escaped me.
I would choose:
1. Larry King
2. Oprah
3. Ron Howard
I would say
1. peyton manning’s dad
2. Lorene Michaels
3. Will Smith.
I think it totally depends on your career. I mean, right now, I’m listening hard to professional genealogists, because I want to eventually be one of them (because 14 years in HR made me sick of living people, so now I only want to hang out with dead people, who are rarely annoying and don’t fill up your voice mail). For me right now, those are career experts…but none of you would recognize their names.
I will say, I look at someone like Tyra Banks and say, okay, well, clearly she knows something. She managed her career as a model with a non-traditional body and look, and then when that ended, she’s started all kinds of money-making ventures. She has all sorts of revenue streams. That’s smart. People like that, who successfully take their experience in one arena and use it to propel themselves into another, and don’t just do the same thing for 40 years…yeah, for me, that’s something of a career expert. I think a lot of her stuff sucks, but SOMEBODY must like it, because she’s raking in the dough.
I had no idea Ben Stein was an expert on anything. I had to google to find out who he was, and when I saw the picture, I was like, “Isn’t that the dude from the Visine commercials?”
So it’s all relative.
Men:
1. David Bowie
2. Marcell Duchamp
3. Walter Cronkite
Women:
1. Arianna Huffington
2. Frida
3. Dolly Parton
Cartoon Characters:
1. Yosemite Sam
2. Kermit the Frog
3. SpongeBob
First, I was once told that you are an expert if you have been published or spoken 3 times on a select subject…at least you can lay claim…that makes a lot of experts out there…
As far as my list, it has to be Mr. Crabby from Spongebob…he runs such a great restaurant…no one else qualifies…alas their too busy being “experts”…
M
@Karen I dunno, Wolf runs a huge Situation Room.
@Tracy I agree on Ricky Gervais. That’s very good.
@Puf If I’m looking to find an expert on being big & happy, Kev Smith is the dude followed by Jon Favreau.
@akaBruno I think you’re right about looking at the field & identifying experts based on success. Stern is a good example.
@HR Chick Say what you will about Tyra, she has built an empire and stands as an example of a woman (Gen X) who succeeds on her own merits. I like that about her. I like her thighs, too.
@TeresaHR Why Peyton Manning’s dad? If your kids are successful, does that reflect on the parent?
@Kerry I know a woman in Ann Arbor who is a self-taught genealogist and a damn fine receptionist. She was raised Christian Scientist, married a Jew, and studied genealogy with the Mormons. Her life story is amazing. She is an expert.
@MattyMat Your breakdown between genders & cartoon characters are interesting. Why the differentiation?
@MarkF I’ve never seen an episode of Sponge Bob. I might be the luckiest woman alive. I like your 3-ratio rule. That’s a good one, but I’m not sure it delineates between experts and opinionated blowhards.
@mattymat – Kermit is a Muppet, not a cartoon. I’d take any of Jim Henson’s creations as a better expert than Ben Stein, however.
@Amy2 I would accept Kermit based on the Muppet Babies cartoon, but it slides by on a technicality. I agree with you on the Ben Stein comment!
You have to admit, though, that for a character actor who’s biggest role was merely a roll call (“Buehler? Buehler?”) he’s done pretty well for himself. The fact that many of us know who he is, confirms this. I’d be hard pressed to find a celebrity who’s career advice I’d find more useful. I can’t think of a celebrity that knows all that much about HR or how I can advance in such a career.
@HRputer Believe it or not, I think he is an economist and political pundit by training. Had a role with Nixon. Long history before acting. I wonder which role is more profitable??
Peyton Manning’s Dad because both Eli and Peyton were groomed for their careers by him. I didn’t choose him because of his daddy role, but because of his savvy manager role. He recognized the talent, fostered it and gave them the opportunities: so he succeeded in his own right as thier groomer. I don’t know anything about his daddy skills.
Just my opinion.
@Teresa Well that is a really keen observation. I never thought about the Manning family that way. Good eye on that one.
I’d say a career expert is one who:
1) Has at least moderate success at their career to great success (thus that covers a good chunk of people)
2) Can explain how they achieved that success effectively and understand how they succeeded.
3) Can generalize what they learned from their career AND from other sources to impart that information to others.
4) Can then communicate this advice effectively.
It’s easier to find #1, less easy to find #2, and #3 and #4 make it much, much harder to find an expert. In short, an expert can succeed, knows why, and can explain it.
Slight disclaimer: some people who study careers, coach, etc. in a way may skip #1 since their goal is to be knowledgeable about all the other factors involved.
I feel it’s the collected effort behind the cartoon that’s creating an impression on the American Psyche that’s lasting— and I always liked the “Razza-Frack-Mazzah-Fang-Nabbit-Chack-Fragga” every time Yosemite Sam fell down a flight of stairs! Priceless!!
One who helps you in deciding a career and helping u to choose the right one.