Another Way to Consider Expertise
Posted November 25th, 2010 @ 08:04pm by Erik J. Barzeski
A story:
One day a lady ran into Pablo Picasso. "It's you - Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist."
So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.
"It's perfect!" she gushed. "You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?"
"Five thousand dollars," the artist replied.
"B-b-but, what?" the woman sputtered. "How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!"
To which Picasso responded, "Madame, it took me my entire life."
Kinda reminds me of the joke that a good golf instructor can spot a student's biggest flaw and tell them what to work on inside of five minutes, then spends the next 55 minutes justifying the fact that they're going to charge $50 or $100 or so.