Retiring biz editor’s advice: Interview people smarter than you

Steve Sink, the retiring business editor at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in New York, wrote his farewell column and offered advice to those remaining in the industry.

Sink wrties, “I’m grateful to Editor Karen Magnuson for taking a chance on a 57-year-old who insisted he still had plenty of gas left in the tank.

“I started writing this column in May 2007, at Karen’s urging, so there have been roughly 300 of them.

“Your emails and calls and letters (yes, some people still write letters, God bless ’em) have made doing the column a pleasure. A reader in Hemlock, Livingston County, wrote to me recently that she appreciated my ‘intelligence, broad mindedness and openness to varied views.’ I think she wanted to change my mind about hydrofracking, but hey, I’ll accept the kind words with gratitude.

“Others have said I do a good job of making complex subjects understandable, even interesting, and I can’t tell you how good that makes me feel because that’s exactly what I’ve tried to do. My approach has been simple — find people smarter than I am (not difficult), get them talking about their field of expertise, and relay what I learn to you.”

Read more here.