Why your best mentor is not the best expert.

Sometimes a beginner will do a better job for you, depending.

Image by Towfiqu Barbhuiya on Unsplash.

You’re signing up for a class. One section is taught by a very senior professor, someone who’s done research and really knows the field. Another section is taught by a part-time teacher. Which do you prefer?

You’re choosing a new doctor. Is it important to know where he went to med school?

Or you’ve got a new business and you’re looking for guidance. Would you sign up for a program with an experienced pro or would you choose someone fairly new and largely unknown?

Believe it or not, the less senior person may be a better choice. There’s evidence from two books I just read and from my framework.

Adam Grant’s book, Hidden Potential, reports a natural university experiment. It’s the scenario presented above. Researchers compared students’ performance in a subsequent class. Some students had taken their intro course from an expert — a tenured research professor. Others had studied with a newer, much less credentialed teacher. The second group out-performed the first.

Grant wasn’t surprised. “Those who can do, can’t teach” is his re-phrase of a popular saying. He points out that we learn by teaching. He also says some people know their subject…