You should be prepared at any time to explain quickly and simply what you do. Why is that? Because if people don't understand what you do they will not appreciate what you achieve. To say this very bluntly is you will get stuck in your career because people (managers, peers, direct reports) don't know what you can help them with. To make sure that people understand what you do you have to take some time to think about it and then tell them without jargon or long winded explanations. In short you have to sell yourself on a regular basis and in a non-intrusive manner. Just make sure that the people that most influence your career understand why it is good to have you on their team.
Here is an example: If I tell you (as my manager) that I'm working to optimize Sales Processes and Tools in the High Tech Industry does that mean anything to you? This is so generic that it is useless. It has to be something more specific like I'm working on the quoting process for my company to make sure that our quotes get faster to the customer (e.g. within x hours) and by ensuring we do that with less money and effort (e.g. cut our current costs by 20%) by June 2011.
