A few weeks ago, I had the chance to learn some knife skills from an expert. Not "I'll cut you" knife skills, but the kind of skils that only expert chefs or cooks possess. What I got from the lesson, more than new and exciting ways to peel an orange, was a reminder of just how cool it is to learn from someone who's an expert at what they do.
Our instructor was Shuna, who started her (excellent) TypePad blog a little while ago, and has worked in some of the best restaurants in the country. The one thing she said that really showed her domain knowledge was an offhand comment, when listing some of the things she'd learned in the kitchen, that "If you drop the Saran Wrap, you don't try to catch it. Let the box fall."
It took me a full 10 seconds before I had the "aha!" moment that made me realize what genius that was. Now I find myself hoping for the chance to meet other people who are that good at what they do, and who are willing to share that knowledge with me.
Seriously, listen to that woman. I fumbled a box of Saran Wrap in college and caught it with the serrated edge slicing my wrist, resulting in a permanent scart that looks like a botched suicide. There is no way to spin that scar story to sound cool.
Sure there is, Nils. It's a scar from "an ugly Wrap incident". You don't like to talk about it.
Or, for girls, you can twang the Foodie and Sweetie chords with you were "desperately trying to save some home-cooked leftovers". As needed, they were made by your college girlfriend, or your mom.
I also learned this the hard way in a commercial kitchen when I was 17. My reflexes betrayed me and I tried to catch a nearly full industrial-sized roll of wrap. The serration came down across both wrists, cutting me pretty good. I don't have scars, but the lesson is seared in my brain.
It's always great to see experts doing their work - in my opinion, it doesn't even depend on the subject (so I'm no cook, but it's always astounding and amazing to see cooks conjuring with food, for example). Consequently, it's fantastic if you yourself can master things on an expert level - but it's hard work, of course. - By the way, in his book "Sources of Power - How People Make Decisions" (which is really good), Gary Klein recommends to ask experts to tell you stories about their work and their experiences to learn most of them - stories are a great way to transfer knowledge anyway.