"What do you do for a living?"

This week I had two unusual encounters with random strangers that really made me think about how I answer the above question. The first was when I was getting my morning coffee at my local coffee shop. In the process of chatting about my weekend with the young woman who served me at the counter, she asked what I did for a job. I answered with, "I'm a principal at an elementary school." She paused and then said, "What do you really do? What is your job?" She said, "I kind of know what you do, but what is it really you do." Before I responded, I thought, here it is, it's the moment to give your "elevator" speech, about what you do. I really wasn't sure how to respond in a meaningful way that would capture all of what I do, so I answered with, "It's my job to keep everything moving forward. To make sure that students are safe, that staff are focused on learning, that parents know what's happening and that we are all moving together in the same direction." I then ended with what I always say, " I love my job and I think I have the best job."As I left, I realized that rarely do we get this opportunity to explain to strangers what we do for our job and I found I was grateful to the woman asking me the question as it really gave me pause to think. 

Later that evening I was at the Vancouver Canucks hockey game when a very chatty (and slightly nosy) fan next to us asked me what I did for a living and when I told him that I was a principal he asked what district and long story short, it turned out he is a parent in our district. What was interesting about this exchange was that he wanted to talk about the great experiences he children have had in Richmond schools. It made me very proud to talk about how terrific our schools are. He asked me for a bit more detail about my background and why I decided to become a principal. He seemed surprised when I said that I had never actually wanted to have the job I have and that I really enjoyed being a teacher and that I was glad that I still got to teach a fair bit. He was genuinely appreciative of the job all teachers do and it was gratifying to hear his thoughts.

Both of these exchanges were interesting in that it occurred to me first of all how seldom we actually chat with strangers and take the time to find out more about each other. We are so consumed with the importance of what we do that we don't often wonder about others. I think that is more of a comment of society that may be left for another blog post. 

What made me even more reflective is that I had an opportunity to share what I believe is so amazing about what I get to do each day and to give a first hand account of what happens in our schools. My goal is to continue to look for more of these opportunities and perhaps have my "elevator speech" in my back pocket so that I am more prepared the next time I am asked, "What do you do for a living?"