If I ask, do they think I'm thick ?

Not always easy to ask : would the one I'm asking think I'm not clever and I can't find by myself ? You have two options : don't ask (and stay ignorant), or dare to ask, and take the risk to have a helpful answer ! Asking for a direction is something that managers at a certain level do not like to do, fearing they might be perceived as weak. Asking from an upper manager is one thing, not so easy. But asking from a subordinate might be tricky. For the first case, thanks to @JoannMoretti on twitter (see twitter links on the right hand side), I found a good article on the net : http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/11/asking_for_help_the_smart_way.html . For the latter case, you will see that your troops will find endless energy in being made responsible : tell them they are the king in that question, and that you're proud to learn from them on that specific subject, but never fake it !