Being a subject matter expert today is more difficult than it was ten years ago and far more difficult than twenty years ago. In just a few decades, less time than it takes to navigate a full career, the entire concept of expertise has shifted. We have gone from viewing experts as talented and sought-after sources of power and influence to viewing them as either arrogant or irrelevant.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump summarized the mood of many when he said, “You know, I’ve always wanted to say this—I’ve never said this before . . . The experts are terrible.” He was not alone in his criticism. In 2017 Dr. Tom Nichols of the US Naval War College (and no fan of Donald Trump, by the way) wrote an entire book about the plight of expertise. In it, Nichols said, “I fear we are witnessing the death of the ideal of expertise itself.” Two years later, Washington Monthly magazine enumerated an intentional and systematic purge of experts from the federal government.

While I do not share former President Trump’s view nor Tom Nichols’ pessimism, I agree with a growing sentiment that SMEs are underappreciated and, more important, depreciating in value. Being an SME is hard and getting harder.

Many forces are at work against SMEs, and they are multiplying steadily. Each factor individually can be addressed and overcome, but their combined influence is material and growing. They combine to buff et the SME at every turn. In this section we will outline several of the challenges facing SMEs. A few years from now the list will undoubtedly be different and longer. Let’s start with the biggies.