Does anyone have any ideas on this Topic? I’ve done a lot of research (I’m interested in writing a manual on how to become a guru in a niche. A Non-religious guru).
Obviously, speaking, writing an influential book or being in the right place at the right time has come to mind… But if anyone has any Guru stories, please post your answers.
What separates “Guru with followers” from your run of the mill expert? Both might have the same level of training and expertise. The two features involve personal character and the goal of educating others.
One big difference between Authorities and Gurus is in their humility, or more accurately in their self-honesty. I’ve repeatedly noticed that the brutally self-honest types tend to attract worshipful followers, while the self-aggrandizing experts only achive the status of “recognized authorities” rather than well-loved teachers. We can’t trust an Authority 100%, since authorities try to improve their image by hiding their shortcomings and covering up their past blunders. Gurus do the very opposite: they let it all hang out, and so they engender far more trust.
The word “guru” points out another big issue. “Guru” simply means “teacher.” If a person is out to create an image of authoritivness, they will try to convince you that you could never rise to their high level. “Not just anybody can become an Authority.” Yeah, right. But if a person is out to educate the world, then they try to make learning easy, and they want others to become experts themselves.
So, if you want to be just an expert in your field, get lots of training and experience. But if you want to be a full fledged Guru, then take pains to clearly expose all your embarassing mistakes in public, to clearly and constantly state your limits, and also make it your goal to bring others up to your level. Avoid behaving like a self-important “expert” who is convinced of his own superiority and who hides his impefections while trying to stop anyone else from learning his secrets.
I don’t think there’s a factual answer to this question, so I’ll move this thread to IMHO.
I am not sure about other fields, so I am only going to speak about my own, which is computing (some call it Information Technology).
There is in fact an article on “The Profession of IT” in the September 2002 issue of the Communications of the ACM. The author opined that there are two levels above “Expert:” “Master” and “Legend.”
For “Master,” this is what it is required in the field of Software Engineering:
In other words, not only you have to have extensive knowledge about what you are doing, but you must contribute significantly to the body of knowledge in the field.
Well, I’ve never met a run of the mill expert who sat on a mountaintop wearing only a loincloth, but admittedly I’ve never met a guru who did that either.
A few random thoughts:
It might help to hook up with an old guru and develop a mentor/protege relationship.
Also, it takes a little boldness, but I think one should turn down work outside one’s chosen area of expertise. So, if you’re an attorney who is a UCC guru, and somebody offers you a juicy slip-n-fall case, and you turn it down, it will reinforce the idea that you’re an expert.
Since you’ve already mentioned writing books, I won’t mention it. However, articles help too. In fact, I would go so far as to say that in many fields, articles give you more reputational bang for the buck.
In addition, many newspapers and magazines keep lists of “sources” when they need quotes on various issues. It may be helpful to contact these media outlets and tell them you’re an expert on whatever.
Also, there are books out there on how to promote oneself - there may be a lot of ideas in those books.
Finally, I would note that in many fields, you need to be fairly shameless to achieve guru status.
Funny, in business (marketing, in particular) just the opposite seems to be true. The people who are called (or, more frequently, call themselves) ‘gurus’ are more often than not more skilled in spinning a line of BS than actually doing any of the things they advise.
In the 80’s I saw a book, HOW TO START YOUR OWN RELIGIOUS CULT,
which kinda answered the question 
Sublight:
while there are exceptions, many marketing gurus (Outside the ad agency biz) do let it all hang out.
Do you have any examples, either way?
(PS: I’d like to take this space to thank all responses so far)
PhilAlex, I thought you meant a religious guru, sorry about that.
Handy: No, I’m talking about how to become, say, a Car-Guru or something.
Obviously, there’s a LOT of different types of Gurus.
In Car Guru’s… fr’instance…
what kind of Guru are you talking about?
Well, a NON religious one.
Anything else is fine.
For example: Wanna become the leading expert in repairing old houses? That’s Bob Villa.
But… Who is the leading expert at repairing old church steeples?
(I used to know his name)
Any ideas on becoming either are welcome.