“What do you do?”

You probably get this question so frequently that you have a boilerplate response. “I’m in sales.” “I design enterprise software.” “I work in a hospital.”

In other words: yaaaawn. “That’s just boring,” says Craig Wortmann, a clinical professor of marketing at Kellogg. And why be boring when you can be memorable?

But this isn’t just about being the “cool kid” at the office. How we talk about ourselves has concrete benefits. With a better response, we could create a strong impression in a work meeting, stand out in a job interview, or become a colleague our peers turn to for clarity on issues.

In a recent The Insightful Leader Live webinar, Wortmann shared advice on how to more engagingly talk about ourselves and our work. This week, we’ll share our favorite tip from his presentation. Then I’ll tell you about our new podcast miniseries—and one of the coolest projects I’ve ever been a part of.

How to talk about yourself and your work

As you consider how to discuss your work in a less-boring, more-memorable way, here’s a tip: don’t overexplain. Instead, Wortmann advises being “crisp.” A crisp answer is one that is to the point, but packed with information, giving your response vitality that draws someone one in.

For example, here’s a response Wortmann often provides to describe his work: “I’m a professor at Kellogg where my partner, David Schonthal, and I teach a course that demystifies the fuzzy front end of starting businesses.”

This is clearly not an exhaustive explanation of what Wortmann does, but it might naturally lead someone to ask for more details about the class or how long he’s been teaching or what all counts as the “fuzzy front end” of entrepreneurship.

“Now we’re having a conversation,” says Wortmann, “rather than me talking at them.”

You can watch Wortmann’s webinar (or read our summary of it) on Kellogg Insight.

Insight Unpacked: American healthcare and its web of misaligned incentives

I am so, so, so excited to tell you about a new podcast miniseries we’ve been working on. It’s all about the economics of healthcare, so, yes, it’s pretty nerdy (in the best possible way). It’s also legitimately entertaining.

Basically, in five parts, we ask why healthcare in America is so expensive and unwieldy. In search of answers, we travel back to 1800s America, head across the Atlantic to present-day Italy, and, most heroically of all, attempt to get a quote on a meniscus surgery. Throughout, we ask Kellogg faculty what it would take to get more for our healthcare dollars. And whether you agree or disagree with our ultimate conclusions, we can almost guarantee that you will learn something.

I’m incredibly proud of this work, and it would mean so much to me if you gave this series a listen—and recommended it to your friends.

You can find the podcast miniseries here. Our first two episodes, The Problem with Megaproviders and The Power of the Physician’s Pen, are both available now; subsequent episodes will appear on Mondays.