It then hit me how similar these reactions were to those that face all of us in academia. We all walk the tightrope between being accessible, but not too accessible. Students who have written papers or dissertations know what I mean. We're constantly in search of some middle ground. When you do research, this tension affects not only the question you ask, but also the methods employed.
Some disciplines have it better than others.
You can also be strategic about this. I find this contrast most jarring when attending scholarly meetings. In much the same way, I've faced this same dilemma during my tenure as a columnist. I constantly struggled to keep from coming off as rather stupid, but also didn't want to end up trying so hard that the column was unfathomable. When I first met with the Opinions editors, I told them that I didn't consider myself particularly insightful, and I didn't have any profound wisdom to share.