Deranged Penguin

Something I saw today on a forum I frequent reminded me of an old story that a friend of mine used to tell when he was doing keynotes for financial institutions. Usually his topic was sales and service, and he was good at what he did. But I always thought that for all the hyperbole and clowning around, this was always the most effective part of his presentation. He would open it like this:

When you’re at a party, and someone asks you what you do, you give them a job title. That’s a “what” answer to a “what” question. Every now and then people don’t have a good name for their career, and so they give a “how” answer – “I connect authors with interested publishers” or “I do risk management analyses for governments.” Those are more interesting, right? Compare it to “I work at a bank” or “I’m a financial rep for [insert name of company paying the check here].” But neither of them are great conversation starters. And I’m guessing neither of them would get you up in the morning on a bad day.

What gets you up is your why. Why do you do what you do? Money, sure, health benefits, but there are lots of ways to get those. Why did you decide that this job was right for you? Not only is that a more interesting question, it’s a MUCH more interesting answer. So let’s get that answer.

Then he would pick someone out of the audience and get the answer. It would take a while, because inevitably people start with answers like “I like helping people” or even just “I love what I do.” You can see how that’s not a complete Why – sure, it’s part of it. But it’s also necessary to go deeper, to find out where you’re deriving benefit from the work that you do.

It’s not a conversation about strengths, either. I’m good at strategy, ideation, communication, and concept-building. I’m in my head all the time, thinking about language and concepts and how to fit them together. That’s applicable to a lot of things, and indeed, my day job requires me to apply those strengths quite often. But saying “because I’m good at it” is not a Why either.

Do you know your Why? What part of your day to day grind is motivated by core principles? How much more powerful would your work become if you connected it to a sense of greater purpose?

And when people ask “what do you do?” how much cooler is it to say “I make meaning for people who believe that their role is meaningless?” That’s my Why. Or at least, that’s as close as I’ve gotten so far. A Why is a journey unto itself, and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t stop until you’re dead or you die inside. Pick up the challenge.