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The Trust Placed in the Wrong Proxy

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October 26, 2026

Credentials, titles, and institutional affiliations function as proxies for competence. They are useful because competence is hard to observe directly and proxies are easy to read. They are dangerous because the correlation is imperfect and the errors are systematic.

The proxy fails most visibly in unfamiliar domains. The credential signals capability in the domain it certifies and says nothing about adjacent domains where the holder may speak with identical confidence. Audiences, having learned to trust the proxy, extend trust past its boundaries.

Calibrating trust to demonstrated competence rather than its proxies requires effort. For those making consequential judgments about people, this calibration is essential to reliable career growth in uncertain economies. Our assessment framework provides proxy-validation methods.

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