Subject Matter Experts

People want to feel important and needed, so they seek ways to feel important and needed. To accomplish this, some people learn to do things that few others can do, but wish they could do, becoming “subject matter experts,” hereafter referred to as SMEs. People seek the services of SMEs to:

• Learn to perform the subject matter skills, such as going to a school to obtain a college degree or to earn a black belt.
• Obtain the subject matter services, such as the services of doctors, mechanics, plumbers, etc.
• Belong to a group of like-minded believers, such as joining a fan club, a religious group, or a group of conspiracy believers.

Performing any task requires both mental and physical prowess; therefore, SMEs need both physical and mental prowess. SMEs may need, and have, a lot of physical prowess, or a lot of mental prowess or, in rare cases, they may need or have a lot of both.