I’ve been asked the question countless times and it usually goes down like this:
New acquaintance: “So, what do you do for work?”
Me: “I’m in marketing.”
New acquaintance: “Cool. What type of marketing?”
Me: “Services marketing for a high tech company.”
New acquaintance: “Cool.”
Pretty stale conversation and doesn’t tell them anything about me as a person, my aspirations or abilities. It doesn’t represent what I stand for. And I’d venture to guess your answer is similar to mine above and it doesn’t represent your being or aspirations either.
Imagine if instead we offered up what we are passionate about and believe in?
New acquaintance: “So, what do you do for work?”
Me: “I help people actuate the life they’ve always wanted.”
New acquaintance: “Whoa! That’s really cool. Tell me more!”
Me: “You represent something amazing too. You just need to recognize it.”
New acquaintance: “What do you mean? Tell me how.”
Me: “Your answer is what you are passionate about, what you believe in. That tells me what you are about, not what you’ve been labeled by your corporation. That is what you do for work which isn’t representative of your unique self.”
The conversation changed from a completely stale uninteresting introduction to an engaging discussion where two people can actually get to know something valuable about each other. Nice!
I challenge each of you to think about your work and life this way. Start today! Write out what you want your answer to be. If you’re not there yet, keep working towards it. If you are, own it. Write a vision statement and manifesto to declare it and share it with the world.
So, I ask you again…
What is your answer to this question you will be asked several hundred more times during your lifetime?
“So, what do you do for work?”
I hope it’s different than how you’ve answered it in the past.
#leadingfromyourpower #leadership #followme @kendradahlstro on Facebook