Picture any networking event you’ve attended. There are crudités, complimentary beverages, and business cards being politely swapped like trading cards. There to network, you scour the room for someone giving off that strategic business partner vibe—someone who could change your career and help you take your personal brand to the next level. You spot a potential candidate, and after making a few minutes of polite small talk about the weather and the delightful array of hors d’oeuvres, he asks you the one question you were waiting to hear:

“So, what do you do?”