Reading Books and Expertise: Blurry Accolades

Reading books and expertise is the subject of this video for business owners weighing the claims of coaches, consultants and experts. I don’t care how many books you read last month.

This video first went up on YouTube on May 13, 2025. The written post was added on November 8, 2026.

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Table of Contents

What Is the Link Between Reading Books and Expertise?

Reading books and expertise may have little link when someone brags about a book count without saying what they gathered or how it applies to you. Experience, and how it connects to what someone can deliver, can say more than the number of books read, in Loren Weisman’s view.

Book counts and wake up times may say little about the authenticity and authority someone can deliver.
Getting up at 4:30 may not mean getting more done than someone effective who gets up at 10.
A bookshelf heavy on motivation over information can be a red flag.
Many business books may have been formulated by AI or built on one linear story of success.
Asking what someone gathered from a book, and how it might help you, can show more than a count.

Reading Books and Expertise: The Full Transcription

Book Counts and Wake Up Times

I don’t care how many books you read last month. I don’t care what time you woke up in the morning. I don’t care if you hit this action list and how proud and humbled you are by it.

And a lot of other people don’t care too. My name is Loren Weisman. I’m a brand communications and optics strategist. And this whole regurgitated hype of taking this look how many books I read, so I’m a genius.

Look at what time I get up, so I’m committed. Look at how I operate in my day, look at what I eat, look at this, look at that. If it doesn’t do directly correlate to the authenticity and the authority of you and what you can deliver, then it just comes off as regurgitated Tony Robbins esque hype.

Early Mornings Are Not a Blanket Rule

I don’t believe people that get up at 4:30 in the morning are getting more done than someone that might be getting up at 10 in the morning and being just as effective. And maybe they have a different schedule yet that kind of stuff is still shoved down people’s throat.

Yes, there are certain people that are better in the I’m better in the morning, I wake up at 4:45. But it’s for who I am, it’s for where I am, it’s for how old I am, it’s for the level of my health.

It has nothing to do with some kind of blanket statement that if I get up at this hour I’m better than you or I’m the best option for you. The same thing goes with the books.

The Bookshelf as a Warning Sign

There are so many out there. I read this book, I read this book. Some of them even being honest saying I listen to this book or I listen to all these books again, is that actually helping?

If you’ve gone through the series of all the fluff and all the motivational and that was one of the warning signs when I was doing more on site visits with clients.

If I walked in and I saw a bookshelf that had more books that seemed to be focused on motivation and inspiration than it did information and the given expertise that would put up a red flag and then tend to be someone I wouldn’t want to work with. It’s important.

Business Books Formulated by AI

If you’re reading, do you really need to be bragging about how much you’re reading? There are a lot of fiction books out there. There are a truckload of business books that have been formulated by AI.

These people popping together a little book or they take a very linearized experience of their Success dial it into a book and say, this is how success works for everyone. So in a sense, some of these people.

Tell Me What You Gathered From It

I’m not worried. Oh, great. You read 500 books this year. Wonderful.

What 500 did you read or. I read this book. You need to read it too. Tell me why.

Tell me what you gathered from it. Tell me how it may have helped you and then at the same time how it might help me or how it might help a client. We’re lost in the details from so many so often that are trying to go for.

The Blurry Accolade

I call it a blurry accolade. Look at what I’m doing, okay? But I can’t really see it in focus. So you read a whole bunch of books or you get up every morning and work out.

I’m the same way. I’d rather get my cardio and certain things out of the way before breakfast. There’s some people that operate better and work out better at night. It goes to the same thing with the health crap too.

You can’t eat this. You need to eat this. You need to do that. Not necessarily true for everyone.

The Weight Loss Guru Comparison

I loved it. Who was the weight loss self proclaimed guru? It was about 25 years back. So he says, I’m gonna gain a whole bunch of weight.

I’m gonna pack on candy and pizza and pasta and, you know, sugar and soda and this and that. And then he sits on it was, I think it was a Tonight show next to this other woman explaining, we’re going to do this together.

How are you going to do that together? You’ve been a professional bodybuilder. Now you’re into your nutritional consulting has been in peak performance for a very long time. In some ways you started using a, you know, a lesser quality gas.

You let the tire, you let the air out of the tires. Now you fill the air back up, you go back to health. Your body is ready to get back there. Not necessarily so for the person that’s been eating McDonald’s or living a larger, unhealthy life.

Looking Up the Number Count

The point I’m trying to get to is this is the same thing when it comes to business. Whether you’re working with someone like me in optics, communication and messaging, branding, or you’re working with someone else in business development.

Dig deeper to find out not the hype story, but what their experience is and how that experience can help go into, okay, you know, if you’re seeing them and they’re bragging about a number count, look up that number count. Because a lot of other people, maybe they’re tracking that trend.

Oh, I read all these books or I tried to read this many books in a month. Did they skim through them too fast? Did they learn? How does that apply to you?

Standing Out by Explaining Where You Come From

We have so many online pretending to be something that they aren’t. It can be refreshing, it can be honorable. It can be moral if you stand out. Not by making these hype claims, not by making these overarching claims, not making these accolade, blurry claims, but more so, explain.

This is where you come from. This is why someone may work well with you. This is how you operate and this is how you continue to hone your skills, how you continue to build your authority, how you continue to expand your education.

And inside of those details and those intricacies, you may invite that many more people than those out there just trying to scream from the rooftops how great they are, but showing no greatness whatsoever.

Examining the Claims in My Talks

Examining the claims: vetting a strategist, consultant, coach, trainer or expert.

Questions and Answers

Does reading a lot of books make someone an expert?

Reading a lot of books may not make someone an expert if they cannot say what they gathered or how it applies to you. Some may have skimmed through too fast, and a count alone can hide that, as Loren Weisman sees it.

What is a blurry accolade?

A blurry accolade, as I call it, is a claim such as reading a whole bunch of books or getting up early every morning that I cannot see in focus. It may point to effort without showing how it connects to what someone can do for you.

Do people who wake up early get more done?

In my view, people who wake up early may or may not get more done than people who start later and are as effective. Waking time can fit who a person is, their age and their health, rather than a blanket rule.

Why can a shelf of motivational books be a red flag?

In my view, a shelf with more books on motivation and inspiration than on information and expertise is a warning sign. It may suggest someone has gone through the fluff more than the knowledge their work calls for.

How can you check whether someone’s expertise is real?

In my view, checking someone’s experience, and how that experience applies to you, says more than the hype story. When someone brags about a number count, looking up that number can help.

Reading Books and Expertise: Beyond the Blurry Accolade