For several years I have been fortunate to know a history professor at one of our country’s great universities. I’ve seen him field hundreds of questions from large and small audiences. Some of the questions he has been asked have been profound and challenging; others have been downright silly. Yet, in every instance, without exception, he finds a way to acknowledge the questioner and lift that person.

Typically, he elevates a person by using the question as a bridge to a higher order abstraction or to another important principle. Rather than answering with cold facts, he always elevates.

For example:

Factual answer: “No, I have not actually met George Washington. He died a hundred and fifty years before anyone in this class was born.”

Elevating answer: “I have not actually met George Washington, nor has anyone now living, but I think the idea you are getting at is important, and one I have pondered myself. Who are the credible contemporaries of George Washington and what did they say about him?”

SMEs are not diminished when they lift their audience. To the contrary, all parties benefit when the audience is elevated and magnified. SMEs should never hold the mistaken notion that they must seem smarter than the audience to be valuable. When someone asks a question or makes a comment, the SME should respond as positively and respectfully as possible, no matter how dimwitted or ridiculous the question may be.