By: Lee Davenport, Ph.D

When a popular podcast host — who presents herself as Dr. Cheyenne Bryant — sat down with The Breakfast Club, she wasn’t just there for entertainment. She appeared, in part, to address online scrutiny regarding the legitimacy of her credentials.⁣
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She explained that she earned a doctorate from Argosy University, one of several for-profit universities embroiled in controversy amid allegations of predatory lending practices and misrepresented job placement rates. But here’s the thing: when she went to retrieve her official transcripts to apply for a teaching position at a law school, she discovered the records were lost. All of them. Bryant stated this happened because Argosy University shut down abruptly in 2019. In the trending Breakfast Club clip, Bryant cursed any naysayers. Some commenters came to her defense, while others who were fellow Argosy graduates noted they had access to their transcripts and degree information.
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With all that is going on in the world, why does this trending conversation on credentials matter?

The scrutiny of Dr. Cheyenne Bryant’s professional status, along with her defensiveness, is a lesson for all professionals, including real estate and mortgage pros, especially amid the prevalence of disinformation surrounding our careers. Ultimately, we all serve the public. So it behooves us as client-facing business owners to be transparent about the state licenses we hold, along with any other credentials, if we are using them to substantiate our expertise. Don’t just claim it. Make sure people can confirm it. That’s not about proving you’re right. That’s just being transparent to build public trust.

⁣You may not have actual paper copies of your different credentials because things happen. I can say, unfortunately, I know personally that one’s home and every possession can be gone in a split second. Just last year, my parents’ home had a horrific fire. I am so thankful to God that the firefighters were able to rescue my dad, who was trapped in the home. My mom got out. My ninety-seven-year-old grandmother got out. They all, as of this writing, are alive and well today, and I’m so thankful. But unfortunately, we lost almost everything. We are still right now working with insurance and contractors to get that home rebuilt. All my childhood memories and documents are gone.
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So yes, to Bryant’s point, you can lose your documentation.⁣
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But here’s the difference. If I ever lose all my physical documentation, I want you all to know that as a former licensed broker and member of NAR who has transitioned to working now as a consultant/coach and MBA professor: if you need to verify my current and former credentials, in the spirit of transparency, I have gone the extra mile by having my doctoral dissertation published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, which is currently available to everyone on ProQuest. But I did not stop there. Beyond having my doctoral dissertation published in a peer-reviewed journal, I then wrote a follow-up article about my same dissertation research in a well-respected trade publication, which is also available on ProQuest. Beyond that, I have over 200 bylines in various reputable publications, which, as of now, can all be verified online, provided these websites remain active.⁣

So if you’re someone who works with me, you can verify the research I’ve done, as well as the areas that I have been a subject matter expert in. This is a call to increase public trust via voluntary transparency
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Bryant has been called to the front of the line and asked to do the same. Frankly, I do not see this as a time to put Bryant down but rather to shore up how voluntarily transparent we all are with those whom we serve. In short, as experts in our fields, whether you are a first-year licensed rookie who has studied for hours or a thirty-year industry veteran, how can we ensure we are building public trust by being voluntarily transparent with how we obtained our expertise?

Here are 9 questions to ask of ourselves now so we do not have to be defensive later:

1. Have I ever listed a credential or certification on my bio, website, or social media that I cannot currently produce original documentation for?⁣
2. Am I relying on a school or institution that has closed, lost records, or is under question, and if so, what have I done to proactively verify my own history?⁣
3. Do I have my degrees, licenses, and continuing education certificates stored in more than one place (physical copy, cloud, trusted third party/state-run site)?⁣
4. If a client, employer, or regulator questioned my qualifications tomorrow, would my first reaction be defensiveness or a clear, calm list of how to verify everything?⁣
5. Have I published, presented, or otherwise made my work publicly available so others can see my expertise in action, not just take my word for it?⁣
6. Am I transparent about the limits of my expertise, meaning, do I clearly communicate what I don’t hold credentials for?⁣
7. Have I ever intentionally or unintentionally inflated a title, degree, or license in a way that might mislead a reasonable person?⁣
8. Do I treat transparency as a one-time event (like a background check) or as an ongoing practice in how I communicate with the public?⁣
9. If every record I owned suddenly disappeared (God forbid through a fire, flood, school closure, etc.), could I still prove what I’ve earned through peer-reviewed work, third-party publications, or verifiable public records?

Let’s continue to be proactively transparent to build public trust in our professions.

Dr. Lee Davenport is an MBA graduate school professor, executive business coach, and author (including Be a Fair Housing D.E.C.O.D.E.R., How to Profit with Your Personality, and over 270 news bylines).  Dr. Lee trains and empowers business students, executives, and real estate professionals around the globe on how to work smarter with their unique personalities and how to “advocate, not alienate,” so everyone has access and opportunity in real estate and business.