Regular readers of this blog know that there are certain topics that set me off. Here’s one of them—the overuse of consultants, “experts” and “life coaches.”

Now, let me be clear: I bow to the expertise of the big consulting companies that clearly know what they’re doing and bring tremendous insight and experience to the table. You know the ones I’m talking about—Towers Perrin/Watson Wyatt, Mercer, Booz Allen Hamilton, Aon, Accenture and Deloitte, to name a few. I’ve dealt with all of them, and others, and respect what they do.

No, what I am talking about are the professional consultant wannabes. These are the folks running around masquerading as “experts” and “consultants” and “management coaches” who are just high-paid mouthpieces for the latest hot business trend. Like newly minted MBAs who jump directly into consulting without a single scrap of real-world experience—and I’ve railed before about the silly notion of a 22-year-old “consultant”—these people have no business telling you how to fix or run YOUR business, your career or your life.

I get flooded by press releases and pitches from these people every day, and I can’t tell you how many times I read them and think, “Jeez, I have a helluva lot more expertise than this bozo.”

In fact, many of them have little or no positive expertise they can bring to the table, yet have somehow hung up a shingle and are touting themselves as some sort of business expert worth listening to, and that’s why I couldn’t believe when I saw that the infamous Jayson Blair has re-created himself as a “life coach,” according a story from the Associated Press.

Don’t remember Jayson Blair? Well, here’s a little refresher on him from 2003, published by his former employer, The New York Times: “[Blair], a staff reporter for The New York Times, committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events. … The widespread fabrication and plagiarism represent a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper.”

The Times investigation found that Blair “misled readers and Times colleagues with dispatches that purported to be from Maryland, Texas and other states, when often he was far away, in New York. He fabricated comments. He concocted scenes. He lifted material from other newspapers and wire services. He selected details from photographs to create the impression he had been somewhere or seen someone, when he had not. And he used these techniques to write falsely about emotionally charged moments in recent history, from the deadly sniper attacks in suburban Washington to the anguish of families grieving for loved ones killed in Iraq.”

Blair resigned after he was found out, but the harm he inflicted on the newspaper and the journalism profession continues to this day. And that’s why the notion of Blair “working as a certified life coach for one of the most respected mental health practices in northern Virginia,” as the AP story puts it, gives me chills.

Some will undoubtedly say, “Well, who better to coach people on life’s problems than someone who has nearly destroyed their own life?” I understand that argument, but it makes me wonder: Why would you want to be coached, whether in life or in business, from someone who has little or no significant and demonstrable success and experience they can draw on? Yes, everyone has their share of ups and downs in life, but how much wisdom about life are you going to get from 33-year-old serial fabricator like Blair?

There are too many people calling themselves “experts,” “coaches” or “consultants” who have very little in the way of positive credentials or career backgrounds that they bring to the table. They leverage their marginal expertise and frequently misguided notions about what success looks like and pitch it to busy, shortsighted managers and executives desperate for some quick-fix advice.

Well, here’s a little bit of expert advice from someone (me) who has more expert credentials than half the consultants and coaches running around out there: There is no shortcut to success or quick fix for whatever life or management problem you may be looking to solve.

Everybody deserves a second chance in life, but who in their right mind would pay for a fraud like Jayson Blair as a life coach or expert? It just goes to show what I have always said: If you think you need a life coach, it just proves that you need to go out and get a real life—one where you don’t throw good money at faux experts who have little or sensible thinking worth listening to.

Get my latest blog updates on human resources and workforce management news by following me on Twitter.