My ancestors fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War; I was raised in Natchez, Miss.; I performed in the Confederate Pageant for a decade; I dug ditches and loaded trucks with black men who taught me more than any book ever could; and I graduated from Ole Miss. Anyone who survived that is a de facto expert on the South.
I'm no editor, no artisan, no expert. And certainly no arbiter of what you should buy, wear, or eat.
I look at myself more as a storyteller than a screenwriter, as pretentious as that may sound, but that's what really attracts me to TED Talks. For me, the really effective ones are being presented by expert storytellers.
In the fields I know best, among the life sciences, it is required that the most expert and sophisticated minds be capable of changing course - often with a great lurch - every few years.
I heard somewhere that whenever you write a book, people will ask you One Question about it over and over. And while I'm no expert in these matters, this is proving to be true. My first book dealt with a not-that-pleasant degenerate type, and the One Question was, 'Is this an autobiographical story?'
Startups are often very undercapitalised, but I found that to be very beneficial because it forces you not to throw money at problems. Instead, you learn all the nuts and bolts of what you're doing and become an expert.
Polo really is a European sport. It's not really that popular in America. I'm not an expert on the sport, but it's fun to watch.
Theatre is about people, not buildings. Incalculable damage has been done to the expert talent a company needs - from wardrobe to lighting technicians.
The reason we went into jewelry was we were trying to cater to our consigner base, who was saying, 'Can you sell this for me? Can you sell that?' And we said, 'You can bring in your jewelry and watches; we have a gemology and a watch expert on site.' And it just exploded our business.
As a playwright, you can cover a lot of waterfront without being able to hold your own against an expert in any of those areas. I have no illusions about that.
I don't perm my hair anymore, but I'm not a natural hair expert just because it grows out of my head like that.
My job is to hire the best and brightest employees and empower them to do their best work. As a manager, I am not a mind reader nor an expert at every job function. Therefore, it is incumbent on all hires to feel empowered to tell me what resources they need to do their job.
My belief, for what it is worth, is that city dwellers cannot understand the world. Insulated from reality by complex and expert systems of provision and police, baffled by fashion and spectacle, city dwellers can distinguish neither the sources of their existence nor the consequences.
I'm not an expert in instruments, beat programming, or electronics. For some people it's all about doing it themselves. But for me, it's all about find the people that can help make my vision come true.
I've never believed it's a fiction writer's job to create an exact replica of the past, a diorama the reader can step right into. But it is my responsibility to learn everything of the world I'm writing about, to become an expert in the politics and history that formed my characters' identities.
I'd try to become known as a world expert on 'something,' to take a small niche you can define.
Mainstream news covers war and gets everything wrong. I'd rather learn what's happening from soldiers with combat experience. It's like a former NFL player giving play-by-play. We bring the expert commentary.
I don't profess to be an expert on anything, or have the memory for who ran in 1952. I am an informed American citizen, that's my position.
