Colleague reallllly loves presenting himself as expert

[Anonymous]

I’m curious about a trait that a colleague at my federal agency. He is really interested in, fixated on, presenting at conferences, events, classes, anything really where he can speak. He does this almost more than he does his actual job. At this point, everyone on his team is actually more of a technical expert than he is because we are actually working and doing the things that he is presenting on. What motivates someone to do this? He isn’t a mean or lazy person. I have never run into this before.

[Anonymous]

Is this your first time working with a man?

[Anonymous]

There's usually one man like this every place I have worked. For some reason, they need the adulation which comes from presenting at conferences and classes.

[Anonymous]

Everyone knows a type like this. He’s doing what’s fun for him and ignoring the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this your first time working with a man?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this your first time working with a man?

It's a behavior exhibited by both genders. Pseudo experts. They know what OTHERS have written about the subject, but have never done it themselves.

These types are gunning for management, executive, or C-suite roles where they need to translate "geek speak" into "decision speak". This is a very useful skill in both government and corporate leadership. Those who need to make decisions don't need to know HOW to do something; rather, they just need to understand sufficiently to determine whether it's in the best interests of the organization to take a particular risk, invest in a project/technology, or expand into a new business area.

Be careful with this type of person. S/he may be a narcissist and ultimately your boss one day.

[Anonymous]

Part of the problem is that a lot of the real experts don't enjoy public speaking engagements so you default to the pseudo experts to go to these things.

[Anonymous]

There are men like this all over the government. They always present themselves as hugely overworked but really just sit in meetings all day. We have one that heads a multiagency working group and gets so many technical and legal points wrong internally that many ignore him. He is impressive to those who either don’t know any better or regard him highly as a function of his role in the working group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this your first time working with a man?

Shoot I snorted on my coffee and almost choked. Thanks for the laugh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this your first time working with a man?

😂😂😂😂😂

[Anonymous]

Someone has to present at conferences. That's the job he wants. Why are you slacking off on your share?

[Anonymous]

He's building his brand. He doesn't want to be a lifer as a techie in a dead-end low-end Federal job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this your first time working with a man?

It's a behavior exhibited by both genders. Pseudo experts. They know what OTHERS have written about the subject, but have never done it themselves.

These types are gunning for management, executive, or C-suite roles where they need to translate "geek speak" into "decision speak". This is a very useful skill in both government and corporate leadership. Those who need to make decisions don't need to know HOW to do something; rather, they just need to understand sufficiently to determine whether it's in the best interests of the organization to take a particular risk, invest in a project/technology, or expand into a new business area.

Be careful with this type of person. S/he may be a narcissist and ultimately your boss one day.

Op here. I probably wouldn’t mind him as a boss. He’d be better than most management around here I imagine. It’s just such a strange trait. He just seems oddly fixated on presenting as the expert in our area. He will skip work and meetings to run off to present at any event that will have him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's building his brand. He doesn't want to be a lifer as a techie in a dead-end low-end Federal job.

Yep, I assume he’s networking all over. And lots of people will be impressed with him, so he could very well get job offers out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this your first time working with a man?

It's a behavior exhibited by both genders. Pseudo experts. They know what OTHERS have written about the subject, but have never done it themselves.

These types are gunning for management, executive, or C-suite roles where they need to translate "geek speak" into "decision speak". This is a very useful skill in both government and corporate leadership. Those who need to make decisions don't need to know HOW to do something; rather, they just need to understand sufficiently to determine whether it's in the best interests of the organization to take a particular risk, invest in a project/technology, or expand into a new business area.

Be careful with this type of person. S/he may be a narcissist and ultimately your boss one day.

Op here. I probably wouldn’t mind him as a boss. He’d be better than most management around here I imagine. It’s just such a strange trait. He just seems oddly fixated on presenting as the expert in our area. He will skip work and meetings to run off to present at any event that will have him.

You should be prioritizing outside speaking events over everyday meetings as well. I am a woman and I would never skip a presenter invite that raises the profile of my company for yet another staff meeting.