Last Friday night at bedtime, I was reading a chapter book about Eva the owl with my seven year old daughter, Avery. Eva’s owl class was having a show and tell about their hobbies, and each student brought in something to share about what they like to do for fun. After all the owls shared, they talked about their parents’ hobbies. But while other kids could easily say what their parent enjoyed doing, Eva wasn’t quite so sure.

I turned to Avery before flipping the page and asked: “What do you think Daddy and my hobbies are?”

She thought for a quiet moment and then said: “Ummm…lying down and working??”

That hit me in the gut. This is why…

“Let’s start with some introductions,” he says, getting the meeting going.

Cue the cold sweat. My mind starts racing.

Instead of listening to everyone else share their backgrounds, I'm internally panicking about how I'm going to communicate who I am as a professional.

Does this happen to you?

I hear it from my clients all the time—they're not really sure how to articulate who they are professionally.

Our default is to blurt out our job title and company, but we're so much more than that…