I read Seth Godin’s blog every day and for some reason I never share my favorite parts from it.  Yesterday’s post on Who is Easily Manipulated had one point that stuck out to me:

Allowing the clothes of the messenger (a uniform, a suit and tie, a hat) to influence your perception of the information he delivers (add gender, fame, age and race to this too).

Richard Feynman talks about his ability to evaluate statements from messengers , whether it was his cab driver or a 5 star general he was consulting.  The key is not to fake it and to be confident in what you do know.