Who is the smartest person you know? Explain your answer.

How to Answer
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Community Answers

You can have fun with this question and choose a family member, friend, mentor, author, or celebrity. Just be sure that you can back your answer! If you can relate your response to an influencer in your industry, that's the best way to approach this question. A great way to keep this conversation going would be to ask the interviewer the same matter in the end.

"To me, the smartest person I know is the author, Brene Brown. She has such unique concepts, and I have never seen anyone be able to dissect and analyze statistics quite like her. She's brilliant. Who do you feel is the smartest person you know?"

"I gain much of my influence, as a person immersed in the online and tech world, from Neil Patel. He was making a splash in the entrepreneurial and marketing space before he even hit 30 and President Obama even recognized his work. I admire his ability to take chances at a young age, and I always try to apply that same type of drive in my career."

Anonymous Answer

"I do not have a particular person in mind that I find to be the smartest. There are many exceptionally smart people alive out there and those who passed. I learn from all of them. However, if to name one person I am fascinated with it would be Stephen Hawkings, simply because I like Astrophysics so much and believe the scientific papers that man wrote are highly fascinated. Just to imagine what that man went through, pain, despair, depression, and yet he emerged as one of the greatest minds ever lived. He is, as most of us know, the greatest physicist since Einstein, though in one of the interviews he did reply, "Rubbish, it's a mere media hype"."

Marcie's Feedback

Wow! Stephen Hawkings is undoubtedly an amazing person and someone to admire for his intelligence and perseverance in the face of challenges. Interesting pick! Note that the question does ask who the smartest person is that you personally know, however. It's likely okay to bend the rules and talk about Hawkings, but to be on the safe side you might want to reevaluate and discuss a smart person who you know. Perhaps a professor at your college? Maybe one of your parents or siblings? It's up to you, but just something to consider in case the interviewer is a stickler!