“Consultating,” Paddleboarding, and Purpose

My mom used to tell people my dad goes to work, takes off his clothes, and cuts people up.

He’s a surgeon, so it’s not entirely inaccurate. But is that a good answer to “what does he do at work?”

He knows a lot about the human body. He helps people when they are sick. He saves lives.

And in order to do that, he engages in ongoing learning, sees patients in the office, and performs surgery.

And yes, that does mean that sometimes he cuts people up.

One of my kids recently told me he wants to do what I do when he grows up. When I asked what that meant, he proudly replied, “Consultating.” It’s not wrong.

When people ask me what I do, I usually say something like: “I empower excellence and innovation in education.” If they ask for more, I tell them I work primarily with Jewish day schools and the nonprofits and foundations that support them, often serving as a strategic project manager, thought partner, or content expert.

But what do I really do?

My son asked me that the other day when I picked him up from day camp. He’d spent the day paddleboarding. I had spent the day...well, what had I spent the day doing?

Depending on the day, it might have been designing a professional development structure, presenting a workshop, coaching a leadership team through a difficult decision, facilitating a visioning session, mapping out systems for efficacy and efficiency, writing an evaluation report, collaborating with a team member, editing a theory of change, or researching a variety of topics to stay up-to-date. Sometimes I travel. And there’s always a lot of emails. 

But the real answer? I help schools and organizations get closer to the version of themselves they’re trying to be.

And that brings me to you.

Because I’d wager that you, too, could answer the “what do you do all day?” question in a few different ways.

There’s the snappy title. There’s the long list of responsibilities. And then there’s the real answer.

The real answer is likely something like:

You cultivate culture.

You nurture potential.

You steward purpose.

And yet, most days – amid the budget meetings, personnel decisions, security protocols, board emails, and “just a quick question” interruptions – it’s easy to lose track of that real answer.

The Everyday vs. the Essential

It’s not that the day-to-day work isn’t important. It’s that it isn’t enough. It doesn’t fully capture why we do what we do.

And when the work gets tough (as it inevitably does), reconnecting with that “why” becomes more than just a feel-good exercise; it becomes a leadership necessity.

When I work with schools and organizations, I often start by helping them articulate three things:

• Who they are

• What they’re trying to achieve

• And how they will know if they’re on the right path

This isn’t just visioning. It’s anchoring.

When you can name your why, your work becomes more intentional.When your actions align with that why, your leadership becomes more impactful.When your team sees that alignment, trust deepens and clarity grows.

And when your child asks what you do all day, your answer becomes more than a list of tasks. It becomes a story worth telling.

This Week’s Leadership Nudge

Take ten minutes. No really, ten quiet minutes.

Grab a notebook, close your door, and reflect:

• What’s your real answer to “what do you do all day?”

• Does that answer connect to why you got into this work in the first place?

• Where do you see alignment between your daily actions and your deeper mission?

• And where might you need to recalibrate?

Because whether you’re “consultating,” paddleboarding, or cutting people up (in a licensed medical setting, of course), we all do better work when we remember our why – and make sure our how matches up.