I’m happy to admit that I’m partial to the odd round of golf. I play at the weekends, just in case you’re thinking the “work is done on a golf course” thing (which is a whole other blog). I find it helps me relax, despite how frustrating it can be.
Whenever there’s a competition on I always try to put my name down next to someone I haven’t met before. Which means you generally engage in the same small talk as you start walking around the course: “How long have you been a member?” “Do you live locally” and inevitably “What do you do?”
A conversation stopper
If I say I’m a Management Consultant then the conversation normally stalls right there. Eyes glaze over and we move on to another topic.
Which got me thinking – What is it that I actually do?
Keeping the conversation going
These days I have numerous responses. For example:
“I help companies to understand how they should spend their project budgets this year in order to get a better return on investment”
“I challenge companies to help facilitate them through some tough decision making about the future look and feel of their company or department”, or
“I help companies to engage with their people and make them feel they are part of any change that is happening, rather than feeling that change is being done to them.”
It probably won’t surprise you that the conversation no longer ends. My playing partners are now genuinely interested in what I do for a living.
Keeping it simple
I think it’s amazing what you can do when you get rid of generic labels, keep things simple and don’t throw in jargon. It’s something that’s really important to us at Curium.
So next time someone asks you what you do for a living, think carefully about your response.
