I've always had a sneaking suspicion that the best folks I've worked with just ("just") had the breadth to immediately drop into an associative mode, and as I've gotten older and realized that I so very rarely actually encounter anything remotely new that I'm doing it now, too. Having grown into being on the other side of the table, recognizing that "yes I understand, yes this is the first time I've seen this, it's fine, go on" capability in myself is neat. (I try to be as delicate with it as my own mentors were.)