Awesome! Scott Berkun has an entertaining but true article on how to call bullshit on a guru, and how not to become a ‘guru asshole’.
He’s got a list of things you should do, in order to keep your ego under control:
- Ask “have you done this yourself?”
- Ask “How do you know what you know?”
- Ask “When is the theory you are advocating wrong?”
- Look for admissions of mistakes and failures.
- Ask “Why do so many people fail at this?”
And he has a few things not to do; my personal favourite is this:
One factual error doesn’t dismiss a theory or a person.
Too often I see or hear someone invalidate an idea simply because it didn’t work once in the past. Dealing with this response requires irrefutable evidence and patience and the ability to contrast differences, but sometimes you just have to move around these people – they’re dead-set in their opinions.
But generally speaking, this suggestion can apply to almost anyone. People aren’t perfect and what they say or do may contain tiny errors in judgement. It’s important to look at the overall picture before dismissing their efforts.