What do you do?
No matter how long it has been since you graduated from college (or graduate school, or post graduate school), people are going to come up to you and ask “What do you do?” Whenever I get that question, I stumble trying to find the right “box” to fit myself into. I am a lawyer by training, but I don’t practice. I work in Talent, but I am not a human resources practitioner. My kids call me a professional feminist, but that’s more like an inside joke than a job description! See why I struggle?
But actually, the reason I struggle is that I’ve been trying to answer the wrong question. This realization came to me listening to Peter Fiske, who wrote Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists (and also have a monthly on-line entrepreneurship column “Opportunities,” published at http://www.sciencecareers.org/.). Peter was a fellow panelist at the 8th Annual Princeton University Reunions Career Colloquium (which is pretty cool, just by itself). The panel was titled “Career Mapping: Navigating Choices & Circumstances in a Plan for Life” and Peter talked about how he made the transition from academic science to business. He said the first step was to reframe what he did – from “I am a chemist” to “I conduct large scale research to solve complex problems.”
The trick is to stop thinking about what you “do” from the point of view of your function or, your training, and start thinking about it from the vantage point of what value you bring, or what purpose you serve. This reframing needs to happen at both the individual and at the organizational level. One of the things we learned at the Forte 2008 Corporate Best Practices Summit is that people, particularly women, want to work for companies that have a strong sense of purpose. But most companies do a terrible job explaining what their mission is. One exception is Avon. Ask Avon’s CEO, Andrea Jung, “what does Avon do?” and she won’t say “We’re a cosmetics company.” Instead, she will tell you that Avon is the largest microfinance lender to women in the world. Because that is, actually, what Avon does – it extends credit to women so they can buy Avon products and then sell them at a profit.
So, the next time you’re at a networking event, or talking to a recruiter about your company, and wondering how to answer that age-old question, try reframing the question. Try answering “what purpose do you serve?” The answer to that will come more easily. Because it turns out we all want to answer that question. And, please, let us know, “what do you do?”
But actually, the reason I struggle is that I’ve been trying to answer the wrong question. This realization came to me listening to Peter Fiske, who wrote Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists (and also have a monthly on-line entrepreneurship column “Opportunities,” published at http://www.sciencecareers.org/.). Peter was a fellow panelist at the 8th Annual Princeton University Reunions Career Colloquium (which is pretty cool, just by itself). The panel was titled “Career Mapping: Navigating Choices & Circumstances in a Plan for Life” and Peter talked about how he made the transition from academic science to business. He said the first step was to reframe what he did – from “I am a chemist” to “I conduct large scale research to solve complex problems.”
The trick is to stop thinking about what you “do” from the point of view of your function or, your training, and start thinking about it from the vantage point of what value you bring, or what purpose you serve. This reframing needs to happen at both the individual and at the organizational level. One of the things we learned at the Forte 2008 Corporate Best Practices Summit is that people, particularly women, want to work for companies that have a strong sense of purpose. But most companies do a terrible job explaining what their mission is. One exception is Avon. Ask Avon’s CEO, Andrea Jung, “what does Avon do?” and she won’t say “We’re a cosmetics company.” Instead, she will tell you that Avon is the largest microfinance lender to women in the world. Because that is, actually, what Avon does – it extends credit to women so they can buy Avon products and then sell them at a profit.
So, the next time you’re at a networking event, or talking to a recruiter about your company, and wondering how to answer that age-old question, try reframing the question. Try answering “what purpose do you serve?” The answer to that will come more easily. Because it turns out we all want to answer that question. And, please, let us know, “what do you do?”
posted by Anne Weisberg at
10:55 AM
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