There was a time a few years back when the running joke was that I had the answer to everything.
Yes, everything.
Everyone in the building was coming to me with questions on any issues in the building. Sales. Programming. Graphic design. Hospitality. Strategic planning. Fashion.
I do not profess to be an expert at a single thing from that eclectic list of topics, but people asked me questions consistently on those topics and more just about everything else.
People kept coming to me with questions because I would always give an answer. It didn’t matter if I had no clue what the answer should be, I offered something plausible, or told them straight up ‘I don’t know.’
Guess what. Often, I was wrong.
Sometimes the answers were not correct. Sometimes the questions needed more information to give the full answer. Sometimes I just wanted to be left alone and I would just say something to get people to leave me alone.
I was often wrong then, and I am often wrong now. I have fewer qualms with being wrong than people believe because I learn from every question asked, and often learn more when I am proven wrong since I am forced to find out what really is right.