“So…what do you do?”

The inevitable [exciting yet pressure-filled] question.

I’m engaged in a lot of conversation about the organizations I’ve founded and for years I fought – uncomfortably – to find the right answer to that question. Do I stay high level and not bore them or do I drill down to some details and hopefully strike a chord with a business need or some similarity within our businesses? It’s been an ongoing evolution of how I see what it is that we do and then soliciting an interest that goes beyond the casual smile and head nod.

Then, a spark went off that helped me really change the conversation.

I was giving an answer to the wrong question. What people really want to know is not what I do but why I’ve chosen to do it. Even when they don’t specifically ask about the why, people enjoy the answer all the same. So what does that mean?

It means that people care more about why you are a teacher, a cook, a valet, or a business owner far more than they care about exactly what it entails. A conversation about a cook’s passion for food or a valet’s love for cars will be far more of an engaging moment and it’s what makes the heart come alive. Once I was able to connect with people and say I started a social design agency because I wanted to engage people in the worthwhile, it resinated. Even the dad in a dead-end job can put a spin on a job he hates – it’s a decision to invest in his family that he loves or to find stability in a crazy world. I’ve talked to janitors just as excited about their ability to influence children as teachers. In the end, it’s their why and their passion that will be a far more engaging story than the what.

So the next time you’re asked about what you do, dive into the reasoning behind it and see how interesting your next conversation can be.