Folks with credentials have three distinct advantages over the folks they are working with: (1) they have permission to “not know,” (2) they have permission to “not tell,” and (3) their objectivity is not questioned. When most people are asked a question or put on the spot for information, they feel tremendous pressure to come up with an answer—preferably the right one. If we can’t produce an answer or we supply the wrong information, we often feel judged. If we are credentialed, however, we automatically have the right not to know or the right not to answer.
