5 Ways to Detect a Phony Ph.D. |
I was sharing the regional Toastmaster's International podium with a fine, enthusiastic speaker.
He was fun, his stories were crisp, and the audience loved him.
So, when one of my clients asked if I knew a speaker they could hire for an annual sales meeting in Palm Springs, I mentioned this guy. But as I did, I felt just a little uneasy about recommending him, so I decided to perform a little due diligence by researching his credentials.
What really stood out for me was the fact that he called himself "Doctor." In itself, this is no big deal, as my trade name is Dr. Gary S. Goodman, so who am I to take issue with this?
If you have a Ph.D. or an M.D. or other "doctoral" credentials, you've earned the right to use them, especially in professional settings. Dr. Robert Schuller, for example, earned his degree in ministerial studies, so he is entitled to use it, and of course, he does.
But I felt the speaker I was recommending wasn't the real deal. So, I called him and asked where, when and in what subject area he earned his doctorate, and he mentioned a place I had never heard of before.
I contacted the research librarian at USC, where I earned my Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication, and I asked him to look into this obscure school. After a few hours, he phoned back as said, flatly: "It's a degree mill!"
Here are five ways to detect a phony before your hire him to speak before your next sales meeting or convention, according to an international speaker and consultant, best-selling author, and popular commentator on radio and TV.
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