Image courtesy of MIV pre-school classroom
What's the day-to-day commonality between a lawyer, actuary, event organizer, web developer, nutritionist, and game warden? Not very much, huh? Their purposes, environments, markets, and activities look quite a bit different, but by zooming out, you can see this basic commonality: they are all meant to serve others by solving some set of problems. Even a great musician is producing an art which addresses an emotion or fills a hole. It's true of your position too.
We all are paid to problem-solve in some way and within a larger problem that many others are working to solve. For example, a surgeon helps a portion of those served within a hospital, which serves a segment of the service area for a hospital systems, which is working to change health metrics in a region to contribute to improving a nation's health.
And, it's worth noting that the surgeon is compensated highly because they solve a large problem. Likewise, you and I are compensated partially based upon how large society deems the problem we're working on. Some, like Dr. Elliott Jaques, may even say that we're predisposed to gravitate toward a certain amount of risk with greater problems.
Interestingly, it is common that experts within a field are those who are the best problem solvers. It may even be fair to say that great problem-solving is the formula for professional success. A chief technology officer likely holds their position because of a solid track record for overcoming IT issues. Likewise, in an election for mayor, city voters tend to opt for a candidate who has successfully met needs from another city government position. In each case, it's likely they've worked their way forward by delivering well, then being referred, then delivering again, and so on.
A characteristic of the best problem-solvers is their ability to empathize by putting themselves in others shoes. Among other things, this allows them to solve issues at the root, versus providing superficial cover-ups.