Author: Andrew Embry

If you mixed diet mountain dew, funk music, dragons, hip hop, superheroes, and lightning in a blender you’d end up with Andrew Embry. He is part wordsmith and part alchemist, able to use his Batman utility belt to turn anything and everything into a story worth telling that is equal parts insightful, memorable, inspiring, humorous, and entertaining. Andrew is comfortably creative in almost any setting, but especially when he is performing spoken word poetry. His enthusiasm for words comes from the way he loves people and the little nuances of life that make it worth living.

Legos and Building and Rebuilding Ourselves (2-15-23)

This will be the final entry in the Lego series. We’ve looked at Legos as they relate to details/the big picture, evidence and trust, and mistakes being the beginning of something. This week is about Lego bricks and building and rebuilding ourselves.

The picture to the right is a bin filled with Legos. They come in all different sizes and shapes. Some are short. Some are long. Some are wheels. Some are oddly shaped. Some are bricks. Some are characters. Eventually, they are all brought together to build something. Maybe you build a robot or a car or a house or something else entirely. The beauty in all of this is that we can use those same blocks to build and rebuild over and over again, each time building something new and unique. You can take those exact same blocks and build masterpieces, only limited by your imagination.

What does this have to do with anything? What if I told you that your life is just a bunch of Lego bricks. All of the elements of who you are and all of the things you ever experienced are merely Lego bricks. Some are beautiful. Some are sad. Some are joyous. Some are painful. Some are quirky and unexpected. Some are calming. All of these “bricks” live inside of you. The beauty is that you have the ability to build and rebuild yourself over and over again. This is the beauty of being human. We’re not stagnant. We are always building. We always have the ability to rebuild ourselves and help rebuild each other. We can create glorious messy human masterpieces, only limited by our own imaginations. If that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is.

The challenge: What will you build with the Lego bricks of your life?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Legos, Mistakes, and How You Respond (2-8-23)

Last week was about Legos, evidence, and trust. This week is about Legos, mistakes, and how you respond. This entry is inspired by a story from Tacey Boucher.

Tacey reached out to me after the first Lego entry and shared this story. “Rob built the Mandalorian Razor Crest recently. It WAS missing an important piece. He was disappointed and concerned he’d have to fight or pay to get the piece. He contacted them and their response back was a letter detailing how the Empire had sabotaged their supply lines, but they had found another path and his piece would soon arrive. Rob was all smiles…it was suddenly almost worth it that the piece had been missing and the build was delayed. He thanked them for their reply and immediately got back a simple response: ‘This is the way.’” Not going to lie, after hearing that story I kind of want to tell Lego that they lost my Batman pieces just to see what cool stuff would happen. 😉

What does this have to do with anything? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get it in my head that making the mistake is the end of the story. If I make a mistake, then everything else stops, and that situation is remembered as the time I screwed up. This mindset prevents me from taking chances and driving myself and others to be better. Do you ever find yourself in this mindset?

This week’s story is a reminder that making a mistake does not have to be the end. Instead, making a mistake can be a powerful turning point in the story. Lego made a mistake, owned it, and made it up to Rob in a caring and compassionate way. Since hearing this story from Tacey I’ve told dozens of people, and now I’m sharing it with you because it’s so powerful. The story is no longer about Lego making a mistake. It’s about how they responded. In a similar way, some of the most powerful work experiences are when I have made a mistake, and then responded in a powerful way or when someone else has fallen short only to get up and start kicking some butt. Does that ring true for you?

The challenge: How will you respond when you make a mistake?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Lego, Building Evidence, and Trust (2-1-23)

Last week was about Legos and the importance of BOTH the details and big picture. This week is about Legos, evidence, and trust.

I am very methodical when I do my Lego builds. I sort out the pieces into containers and then gather the required pieces for the step before ever connecting anything. Sometimes, I can’t initially find the piece I’m looking for. When this happens, I immediately assume that I either missed it or I have done something to lose it vs. Lego not having the right pieces. I assume this, because I have COMPLETE faith and trust in Lego. I’ve built dozens of their kits over my lifetime. I can count on them to ALWAYS have the right pieces and the right instructions to build something amazing. As a result, I trust Lego and their process. I can’t say I feel the same way about Lego knock-off companies. I’ve built with them before, and there have been missing pieces, bad instructions, etc. Those other non-Lego companies have never given me a reason to trust them, but they’ve asked me to anyway.

What does this have to do with anything? There are a couple of parallels we can draw. First, we can look at people in our life. How many of them are trustworthy Lego vs. the untrustworthy knock-off competitors? When have you been Lego vs. the knock-off competitors? I know I’ve played both roles. What can we do to become even more trustworthy?

The other connection is around this idea of “You just need to give it a chance. You just need to trust the process.” I feel this is something that is often said in Corporate America when there is some organizational change or pivot. I’ve always found this interesting, because it puts the burden on me to buy into something that isn’t proven. My question is always, “Why should I trust the process?” I’m not saying we should all be cynical and doubt everything. I do think it’s fair to expect evidence for claims that are being made. “Why should I trust that process? What has the organization shown me that makes me believe it will all work out?” If you’re leading any kind of organizational change management, the burden is on YOU to establish the reasons why someone should buy in. I trust Lego and its process, because its actions have earned that trust over time. As you lead organizational change management, have you and/or your team earned that trust to “follow the process” over time?

The challenges: How can we become more trustworthy? If you’re leading organizational change, what are YOU doing to provide evidence for why someone should trust the process?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Legos and the Importance of Details and the Big Picture (1-25-23)

This week we are going to kick off a series inspired by Legos. We’ll start by reflecting on building and the importance of both the details and big picture.

I have always been a fan of Legos. When I was a little kid, I would play with the basic building blocks for hours making robots, houses, and airplanes. When I was a teenager, I had a room filled with various Lego technic cars and motorcycles, Star Wars ships, and more. You can imagine how excited I was when I received a super awesome Lego set for Christmas. I put on some great music and went to work building. The picture to the left is my work in progress. I’m guessing you wouldn’t have been able to tell what it is on its own, because you are so zoomed into one section of the build. Luckily for me, I had the picture on the box showing me the final product and the instructions that could get me there. Finished product is the image on the right 😉

What does this have to do with anything? This story is about taking time to understand how the details ladder up to the bigger picture. It’s a great metaphor for pausing for a moment to step out of our small world to look at the larger world around us to ensure the details and big picture are connecting. Do you ever get lost in your own small world? I know I do. Sometimes this happens at work. I get so lost in the day-to-day details of keeping the train running that I don’t pause to look at a map to ensure the train is going in the right direction. This happens in life outside of work too. I get so lost in the day-to-day grind that I don’t realize that the things I’m doing every day in the moment may not be leading me to be the version of myself that I want to be.

This story is also a metaphor for being able to take a big picture vision and operationalize it. If Lego didn’t break down the Batman portrait into steps, I would not have been able to build it. How often have you had a large goal and not been able to figure out how to make it a reality? That happens to me, and it’s usually been because I didn’t take enough time to translate my goals to specific actions.

The challenge: How are you leveraging and connecting the big pictures and the details?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Setting Expectations Relative to Your Reality and Blowing Fuses (1-18-23)

Happy Wednesday,

This is the last one in our series about protecting energy. Last week was about protecting your energy and blowing fuses. This week we will continue to think about blowing fuses as it relates to setting expectations relative to your reality.

Back in November, Cam played Legos with a friend in the garage. Cam got me and said, “The power went off in the garage.” I see that Cam and his friend have their socks and shoes off and are wearing t-shirts. I’m confused because the garage isn’t heated, and Cam explains, “We didn’t want to have to wear coats and stuff as we played so we turned on both space heaters (in the same outlet).” This blew the fuse. I reset everything and then turned to the kids. “I get that you don’t want to wear coats or anything and that the extra layers might get in the way when playing Legos. Running two space heaters is not good for the electrical system. We aren’t building a fire to warm you up. You need to put your socks, shoes, and coat on if you want to keep playing in the garage.

What does this have to do with anything? This is a story about how their original vision and expectations led to blowing a fuse. They wanted to be warm and barefoot like summertime, so they tried to do that with the space heaters, and it didn’t end well. Their expectations did NOT match the reality of the situation (it was cold 😉). How many times has this happened to you at work? It often looks something like this, “This project is critical, and it needs to be perfect,” but you look around and realize you don’t have the financial or people resources to make it happen. You also quickly realize that you aren’t going to be given more time, energy, money, or people. You still try to deliver that perfection anyway, and before you know it you have burned yourself and other people out. Does this sound familiar? I spent a fair amount of 2022 in that space, which is why I’m so focused on not ending up back there.

When Cam and his friend realized that the reality was different from their expectations, they had a CHOICE about how to proceed. They could stop playing Legos (stop the project). They could find other ways to heat up the area (get more resources). They could adjust their expectations and behaviors to match their reality. In their case this meant putting on coats. In our case at work, it might be admitting that the “perfect” deliverable is NOT possible with our current resourcing and being okay with delivering something less than perfect. The struggle to let go of perfection is real, knowing that I won’t hit the standards I hold for myself and likely will upset/disappoint others. These aren’t easy choices to make. They are necessary choices if you want to protect your energy.

The challenge: How can you set better more realistic expectations in order to protect your energy and the energy of others?

Direct bonus thoughts that might hit a little hard: As leaders we have the burden/responsibility to set the parameters and realistic expectations that enable people to protect their energy. This is especially important if you are in an official leadership position, because your actions will naturally carry extra weight. Below are a few situations where I’ve seen leaders handle situations in a way that communicated to me that they weren’t aware of or didn’t care about burning people out. I’ve seen these things, and I’ve been the leader in these situations. Have you? Something to think about.

If there is a legitimate issue with the project, and the leader tells the group they will just have to figure it out without giving them more time, people, money, or taking things off their plate through automation or prioritization, then there is a good chance that the leader’s actions are communicating, “I’m okay with you burning yourself out to make this happen.” (My new go-to move is to ask, “What do you NEED to make X happen? Do you need time, people, to take things off your plate, or something else?”)

If there is an issue and the leader responds with, “You will just have to prioritize” without being able to say what they are able let go of completely or where you they comfortable with the team giving less effort, their actions are likely communicating, “I’m okay with you burning yourself out, because everything is important and everything needs to be done.” (My new go-to move is to start by asking, “What do you NEED to make X happen?” Then, I reclarify priorities. “Here are the 2 or 3 things where we need A effort. Here are the things we need B effort. I don’t even want to talk about Q, R, and S because they aren’t important. If we have to let go of Q, R, and S, we will just have to deal with it.)

If a leader is not consistently celebrating and recognizing people who prioritize (by either saying no to work, choosing to delay unimportant work, or giving less effort to unimportant work) or are comfortable giving less effort to things that don’t matter as much), then the leader is sending a message that you don’t truly value prioritization. (I’m working hard to recognize folks here.)

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Protecting Your Energy and Blowing Fuses (1-11-23)

Last week I talked about protecting my peace. I want to continue with this idea of protecting your energy by thinking about blowing fuses and burnout.

Have you ever blown a fuse or a had to reset the circuit breaker in your house? If so, this means the fuse was doing its job of protecting electrical circuits. A fuse is blown if too much electrical current goes through it at a given time. When the fuse blows it breaks the circuit, so electricity can’t flow through it anymore. Without the fuse, an overpowered electrical current would fry anything it ran through. To get things working again, you have to pause and replace the fuse or reset the breaker.

What does this have to do with anything? When a mechanical device is overwhelmed, the fuse blows, and it stops working. It’s then OBVIOUS that something is wrong. It won’t resume working again until it is fixed. I’d argue that we have our own internal fuses that blow when we get overwhelmed. The issue is that these fuses aren’t always obvious to other people or even ourselves. Since a blown fuse isn’t always obvious, we just keep going on and on and on until we fry our whole systems and become burned out.

If you reflect for a minute, what are some signs that you have blown a fuse and are heading toward burnout? For me, it could look like any of these things: I’m not working out, not getting enough sleep, eating junk food constantly, and I’m easily irritated at work and at home. All of these are destructive behaviors that hurt me and others around me. Now, imagine what would happen if I noticed when these things started to happen AND STOPPED to figure out how to fix things vs. continuing to go and go and go. Think of how much better off I’d be mentally, emotionally, and physically. Think of how much better off you’d be if you did the same. Part of protecting my peace this year is understanding what it looks like when I’ve blown a fuse and then STOPPING to remedy the problem.

The challenges: What are signs that you’ve blown a fuse? How will you respond once that fuse is blown?

Bonus- A year ago, I wrote a blog post about surge protectors. It’s one of my favorite entries. You can read that HERE. The surge protector entry was all about being PROACTIVE to set up things that would prevent you from being overloaded. The ideas work well with this week’s entry which is about IDENTIFYING when you are overloaded.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

One Word, One Phrase, or One Question for the Year (1-4-23)

Happy Wednesday and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope you had wonderful and relaxing holidays. For the past couple of years, I’ve started January with a series to help us have a strong start to the year. This week we will reflect on our north star for 2023.

At the beginning of every year, I take time to reflect and choose a word or phrase that will be my north star for the year. I’ve found it helps ground me vs. getting lost among setting too many goals. To identify my one word/phrase I ask myself things like: What went well last year that I want to continue? Where could things have been better? What do I want to achieve? How do I want to feel about things? What do I want others to notice and say about me?

In 2022 my phrase was, “Channel the chaos” and I did that and then some 😉 Everything was crazy from the start, and while I was able to find ways to channel a majority of the chaos into progress it did take a huge toll on me. With that in mind, my phrase this year is, “Protect my peace.” The phrase is a reminder that my primary goal is to find peace, which I view as that feeling of stillness and connection with the important things in life. Protect my peace is about understanding that I will need to take ACTION in order to maintain this peace. Inaction will allow life and its challenges to erode this peace. I’ll need to be disciplined and deliberate about creating the time and space for me to find and remain in a state of peace. Part of protecting my peace will be about putting the right boundaries in place in work and life. Part of it will be about putting the right habits in place, so I have the fuel and mental/physical/emotional health to handle life’s challenges.

The challenge: What is your one word or short phrase for the year? What is your north star?

Bonus: A few weeks ago, I saw a post on LinkedIn from Eric Johnson, co-host of The Inside Job podcast along with Dr. Nayla Bahri. He shared a story about a co-worker who decides to go with a question of the year instead of a word/phrase of the year. For example, “How are my actions aligned with my vision?” “How am I growing?” I thought this was a really cool approach. Nayla and Eric dove deeper into this idea of a new question to start the year in the most recent episode of their podcast. Go HERE if you want to give it a listen. I’m going to keep noodling on my question. The first thing that pops into mind is: How would the person I want to be respond in this situation?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

I Hope We Are All Like The Grinch (12-14-22)

This will be the last blog of 2022. If you’ve been on this distribution list for a while, you might recognize that I usually end the year with this entry. I feel it is just as relevant now as it was in years past. Besides, we watch the same holiday specials every year, so we can revisit the same holiday themed blogs, right? 😉 For our final blog of the year we will look at How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

During this holiday season I hope we are all like the Grinch. Pretty strange thing to say, right? Let me explain why I feel this way. You may know the story of the Grinch. He is a grumpy creature who decides he will try to steal Christmas from the Whos He concocts an elaborate scheme and then steals all of the presents, decorations, etc. in an effort to ruin their holiday. This negative attitude is what we often associate with the Grinch, but this isn’t the end of his story. The Grinch grows as a character, and life is all about growing, changing, and becoming better.

The Grinch has stolen the gifts, and then he hears the Whos singing. All of a sudden it hits him right as his sleigh full of gifts starts to go over the cliff. “And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. And then – the true meaning of Christmas came through, and the Grinch found the strength of *ten* Grinches, plus two!” He saves the gifts from falling over the cliff, rides into Whoville, and serves the roast beast at the feast.

The reason I hope we are all like the Grinch this year is because he grows and becomes a better person. He begins filled with apathy, malice, and grumpiness, and then he allows love in and it fundamentally changes him. How have you changed and grown this year? Wherever you are right now, we have the chance to be better. Imagine how different the world be if all of our hearts grew like the Grinch’s.

Here is to all of us knowing what it feels like when our hearts grow three sizes in a day. As always, thanks so much for reading. Your reading and encouragement throughout the year is the best gift I could ever ask for. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and happy holidays for anything you might be celebrating! I hope you disconnect and recharge. I hope you find peace, love, and fulfillment.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Open Letter to 2022 (12-7-22)

As the year comes to a close, I find myself reflecting (by my Christmas tree 😊). Here is my open letter to 2022 and the lessons it gave me.

Dear 2022,

How’s it going? If 2021 was a year heading in the right direction, you were a constant barrage of curveballs and challenges.

My theme this year was “Channel the Chaos.” I don’t know if I could have picked a more accurate theme. Maybe I’m a prophet. #Embrydamus
I felt like a lion tamer for most of the year. Instead of lions, I did my best to tame internal processes, random fires, and a slew of challenges. Anyone else feel this way? I was bitten and clawed along the way, but still here. Persevering matters, even when it’s ugly.
Speaking of persevering, 2022 continued to teach me grit. I feel like I spent 49.9% of the year getting knocked down, and 50.1% of the year standing back up, shaking off the hit, and leaning in again. This seemed consistent whether it was at work or at home. I don’t think those are the ideal percentages, but as long as I get up one more time than I was knocked down, it’s a win. Next year I’m hoping to be more at 30/70 or something 😉
My goal every year is to do magic, to do something so incredible that the only explanation for it is sorcery. In my best moments this year (as a husband, dad, friend, employee), I think I had magic and then some. In my best moments I felt like I was a wizard, seeing all the elements come together. Even though those moments were fleeting, they were beautiful.
Every year I gain a deeper appreciation for health. This year I gained a deeper appreciation for how intertwined mental, emotional, and physical health are. I cherish these things on a new level and will fight harder to keep them.
I was reminded of how amazing my family is. I don’t know of too many people stronger than my wife and kids. How blessed am I to have them? In so many ways my wife is the model of the parent I want to be, and my kids have so much more resilience than I ever would have possessed at their age. #blessed
Growth is a tricky thing. You don’t always see it or feel it as it’s happening. I learned to not confuse the lack of feeling growth with the lack of growth. If I’m being super honest, I didn’t even see or think about my growth at work this year until yesterday during my end of the year conversation when my boss started pointing stuff out to me. I was too blinded by surviving the grind to see it.
At the beginning of the year, I had a goal to do 4 obstacle course races. I did 5, including my Spartan Trifecta. May not be a big deal to some folks, but it was a stretch goal for me. It reminded me of how strong I can be physically, mentally, and emotionally. We always have more strength than we think we do.
Not meeting your original goals is not the same thing as failing. Sometimes circumstances change, and the definition of success in new circumstances might be different than what it was in the prior circumstances. You can only play the cards you are dealt. Sometimes playing a good hand with bad cards is more impressive than playing a great hand with good cards, even though it won’t always be recognized as such.
I was stretched so thin this year that I always felt I was falling short and failing people, and this hurt my soul a bit. At the same time, just because I felt I was failing everyone didn’t mean everyone felt I was failing them. I learned to be careful of the stories you tell yourself, because even if there is truth in them it doesn’t always mean they are true.
People are beautiful. Also, people can have ugly actions. I try to tell myself that when people act in an ugly way, it’s because they are hurt and afraid. It helps sometimes, but not always.
Good people are all you really need to get through tough things. As long as you have a few good people in your life you are set.
Life is measured in moments. I can’t tell you what I did most days of the year, but there are some moments that stick out as clear as day.
I’m looking forward to taking time to recharge, adding some fuel to my internal fire, and getting my shine on in 2023.

Those are things going through my head. Yours might be similar or different. Whatever you’re feeling is okay. Your feelings are your truth.

The challenge: If you haven’t taken the time, take a few moments to reflect on 2022 and the lessons and emotions it gave to you this year. How will these shape you moving forward?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Why are our Challenges Challenging? (11-30-22)

I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We are winding down for the year, so the next few entries will be things to think about as you wrap up. This week is about reflecting on why our challenges were challenging this year.

As you might know, obstacle course racing is my new hobby. Let me be clear. I’m not good at these races. I fail a lot of obstacles and I’m slow. With that said, usually I can get up and over the 6-foot wall obstacle with little difficulty. I have the strength and skill to do that one (other obstacles, not so much 😉) Recently, I completed a race in Arizona. When I got to the 6-foot wall I struggled a few times before I got over it. I started thinking about why I had an issue with something that I can normally do on the first try. I realized a few things. Usually, the 6-foot wall is one of the first obstacles and happens early in the race around mile 1. Also, I was used to races in the Midwest where I was running on dirt and grass. This particular 6-foot wall came around mile 3, after I had completed other obstacles and spent a fair amount of time running on loose sand. Clearing the 6-foot wall on its own is challenging, but doable. Clearing the 6-foot wall after getting through a series of challenges BEFORE I ever got there, made it more difficult because my legs and body were more tired than usual.

What does this have to do with anything? As we finish the year, we likely will have some kind of end of year discussion. During this time, you’ll likely be asked to talk about your successes as well as the areas where you struggled and could improve. When you think about those areas where you could have improved, spend time thinking about why it was difficult. Was it difficult because you didn’t have the knowledge or skillset to do it? Or was it something you normally could have done, but it became a challenge since it came after so many other obstacles that popped up in your path? As I reflect, there were some things I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, because they were new to me. There were other situations where I had the skills and talent to handle them well, but since they came at the end of a slew of barriers, I didn’t handle them as well as I could have. As you can see, these are two different root causes for why you could struggle with something, and each root cause has its own set of solutions. I know I’m continuing to reflect on what I can do to improve in each instance.

The challenge: Why did you find certain things challenging this year?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry