Trigger eg: [[MindOverBusiness]] author (Ken) is a high-school dropout without a degree. He pointed out that “master’s and PhD students are researching my work” but hey, what universities are these students in? Is the mention of Ken some one-liner in a 20-page research, along with 50 other entrepreneurs? So this author is trying to hint a chain of credibility. Some unproven “things” greatly benefit from or need a chain of credibility:

• eg: new educational entity or product
• eg: unfamiliar, unproven investment products
• eg: bachelors on a dating market [1]
• eg: candidates competing for a top-tier company or university [1]
• eg: When applying for visa, PR, citizenship [1]

[1] Recurring theme: In general, the most important “product” in need of chain of credibility is the individual person. Branding, credentials/qualifications, quality-of-candidate,,, are the terms we use.

— eg: entrepreneurs [1] often badly want a reputable university affiliation. It can lend credibility in a crowded field.
Many start-up would try to recruit individuals with credibility, including graduates of world-renowned universities, and ex-employees of world-renowned organizations like WorldBank, BellLab, NASA, FBook

special case: a new bccy .. treated like a start-up .. See ##key players legitimizing bccy

— source_of_credibility: big reputable market player .. CapitaLand lending credibility to MIH
— source_of_credibility: government, but some governments lend more credibility, such as Japan, Canada, Germany
source_of_credibility: ambassadors… of Brazil invited at RitzG5 lavish dinner
— source_of_credibility: leading research institutions .. university branding (and national academies, but to a lesser extent) lend credibility to their researchers
— source_of_credibility: major newspapers (and news agencies) .. lend credibility to their journalists.
— source_of_credibility: international standardization committee
IEEE .. is an eg
— source_of_credibility: Swedish Nobel committee [1] over the decades.. Nobel committee lends credibility to the laureats… most commonly in Econs and bio-medical domains.
— source_of_credibility: top colleges … Note only top, reputable colleges can lend credibility
Their graduates [1] often stand out in the (forever crowded) dating “market”

When applying for visa, long-term pass, PR, citizenship, my top-college degree lent credibility in no small measure.

See also my email to Gary Guo [[branding of college]]

source_of_credibility: PhDs and professors [1] .. Most folks don’t question what domain, from which university

In some cases, the “professor” is just a short-term visitor or part-time teaching staff.