Why Charlatans Build Bigger Audiences Than MDs and PhDs

What every expert needs to know before posting content

Last week, my mom texted me:

“Annmary just passed away.”

Annmary was an older lady living next to my granny’s house, and what she said to me when I was a kid stuck with me until today:

“Matthew, study hard in school– because it’s better to command than be commanded.”

I believed her.

But here’s what nobody tells you about the internet age: Your PhD means nada if you can’t connect with people.

It’s messed up. But it’s reality.

Why your creds are repelling people

I have a master’s in law and economics. But you don’t care.

You probably didn’t even know that about me until right now. And it doesn’t change how you feel about this article or whether you’ll keep reading.

But when I started building an online business, nobody gave a damn about my fancy degree.

Why? Because degrees don’t command attention.

Worse, we associate PhDs & other academic talking heads with boredom.

I’ve seen doctors with 20 years of experience get 2 likes on a post. While some 17-year-old “entrepreneur” with no real business experience gets 57,000 views talking about “mindset.”

The difference? The doctor talks like a doctor. The kid talks like a human.

Why charlatans win the attention game

They know how to talk to emotions.

A real doctor knows the dry medical terminology. They understand the science. But they’ve been so deep in their field for so long, they’ve forgotten what it feels like.

When someone with chronic pain is searching for answers online, who do you think they connect with more?

The MD who says: “You’re experiencing inflammation in your synovial joints due to autoimmune dysfunction.”

Or the wellness guy who says: “I know exactly how you feel. I used to wake up every morning feeling like I got hit by a truck. Here’s what changed my life...”

The second person might be full of it. But they’re speaking human.

They’re meeting people where they are emotionally.

Real experts often forget that knowledge without empathy is boring.

Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.

The perception game has changed

2 or 3 decades ago, people cared about your degrees.

Today, they’re just a nice bonus point. They’re something you sprinkle on top once you’ve already got the attention.

Then you can say: “By the way, I have a PhD in this stuff.”

Look at the most successful content creators in any field. They don’t lead with their credentials. They lead with their personality, their story, their ability to connect.

The credentials come later. In the bio. In the about page. At the bottom of the sales page. As a trust signal for people who are already interested.

But if you lead with credentials, you sound like everyone else with the same degree. But if you lead with empathy, you sound like yourself.

And yourself is the only thing that can’t be replicated. Especially in a new AI-generated world.

How to earn authority

Respect isn’t commanded through titles. It’s earned through understanding.

The most successful people I know online combine both: They have the knowledge AND the ability to communicate it like a human being.

They’re not afraid to admit when they’re wrong. They’re not afraid to show vulnerability. They remember what it was like before they knew what they know now.

So if you’re sitting on expertise but struggling to get attention, ask yourself:

Are you talking to people or at them?

Are you solving their problems or showing off your knowledge?

Are you meeting them where they are or expecting them to rise to your level?

The charlatans figured out the second part. But they’re missing the first.

You can have both.