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.

The 500th Blog- Growth and Appreciating the Journey (8-17-22)

Today is a special Wednesday for me.  This is the 500th blog entry I’ve written.  It’s about growth and appreciating the journey.

This is my 10th year of blogging. My first blog was sent on September 26, 2022.  Over the weekend, I realized that the 500th blog would be sent out today.  I started walking down memory lane and reading through my old entries, and I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.  If you’d go back and read my first few entries, you’d probably chuckle too.  It just wasn’t as good as it is now.  I started the blog when I worked in training as a way to explore customer experience and our selling model.  It was so limited in scope compared to what it is now.  The writing wasn’t crisp or clear.  I was trying hard to be funny and clever and wasn’t always succeeding.  The real raw authentic vulnerability wasn’t present for the first few years.  People initially didn’t quite get what I was doing with the blog and was mainly wondering why I felt the need to do something so weird.  If you look back through the original entries, it becomes really apparent that I had no idea what I was doing.

As I looked back, on one hand I saw so many mistakes and things that now drive me nuts.  On the other, I saw so much growth and transformation. I can see how the writing is better, more focused, and more real.  I can still remember how incredibly nervous I’d get before sharing anything remotely vulnerable, like being on the border of getting sick.  Now, I’ve gained more strength and courage to make this a little easier.  Now as I look at myself I can see a writer who still doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing but does have a better grasp on who he is. 

As I look back through the years, I am also incredibly thankful for all of you who have ever read an entry or sent me a note telling me it made you smile, gave you inspiration, or felt like a warm hug.  All I want to do in life is spread a little joy, love, and light.  Thanks for giving me a chance to do that every week. (I’m not crying when I write this paragraph.  You’re crying.)

What does this have to do with anything?  Maybe you’re just starting a journey.  If you are, just know it’s okay if the journey is a little ugly, bumpy, and weird for a bit.  Experiencing all of those things, just means you are human.  Maybe, you’ve been on the journey longer.  If so, please take a second to look back.  Look back and see the mistakes.  Look back and smile when you see the growth.  Look back and see all the people you’ve touched.

The challenge: Will you appreciate the ride?  Will you appreciate your growth?

Bonus 1- Thank again for reading.

Bonus 2- I know this is totally selfish.  If you have a favorite entry, series, or topic from the blog over the past 500 entries I’d love to hear what they are.  It will fill my bucket.

Bonus 3- Here is a list of some of my favorite entries throughout the year linked to my blog site.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Sandman and “I am hope.” (8-10-22)

See the source imageHappy Wednesday,

This is the final entry focused on words and phrases that have inspired me.  This week the words come from The Sandman, an amazing graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman.  The Sandman follows Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, the one responsible for shaping the world of our dreams and nightmares.  It’s a mix of superheroes, mythology, horror, and wild imagination. 

One of my favorite scenes is when Morpheus is having a verbal battle with a demon, where they constantly try to one up each other.  Kids play this game, and it sounds like this.  Kid 1: “I have super strength, so I’m the best.”  Kid 2: “Well, I have super strength AND I can fly.”  Kid 1: “Then, I have super strength, can fly, and I can teleport.” And they go back and forth trying to one up each other.  Does this sound at all familiar or is this just my kids?

Anyway, in the graphic novel, Morpheus plays a similar game against a demon.  The game has escalated, and the demon goes for what he thinks is the final blow.  The demon says, “I am anti-life, the Beast of Judgment. I am the dark at the end of everything. The end of universes, gods, worlds…of everything. And what will you be then, Dreamlord?”  Morpheus replies, “I am hope.”  The demon and the audience go silent.  They know that nothing can defeat hope because hope finds a way to persevere through everything.  Morpheus wins the game.

What does this have to do with anything?  I don’t know about you, but sometimes when things are going wrong it’s easy for it to start snowballing out of control.  It’s easy for the problems to stack and stack and stack until I’m so overwhelmed I can’t see anything else.  This moment from The Sandman is a perfect rebuttal to this feeling of helplessness and being overwhelmed.  It’s the simplicity and the power of the phrase, “I am hope.”  It serves as another reminder to me that even when things get tough, when the worlds feels too big, when things feel out of control, hope can always help you see a path forward and a better day.  This sentiment is enough to get me through tough times.  What about you?

The challenge: Will you remember that hope is always there?

Bonus: I wrote this entry like 1.5 or 2 years ago, and Netflix just recently turned The Sandman into a show that we released last week.  If you’d like to see the battle, I describe play out you can go to YouTube and search Dream Lord vs. Lucifer.  Fair warning: There are some adult words and violent images in the series.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry


Wifi, Signal Strength, and Meaningful Connections (8-3-22)

Last week was about rethinking impossible.  This week the words that inspired me come from a computer alert about Wi-fi and stronger connections.  I was working on my computer on my back patio, trying to get caught up on everything, when the below message popped up and struck a chord with me. 

I looked at it for a moment and my first instinct was to say, “Thanks Captain Obvious!”  My second instinct was to say, “I’m not that far away from the router.”  Then, I had a mini epiphany, which just goes to show that sometimes inspiration comes from strange places.  As I looked at the message, I started substituting words.

  • “The strength of your connection between you and the people you care about could be improved by moving closer to them.”
  • “The strength of your connection between you and yourself could be improved by moving closer to who you are.”

You might be wondering what this has to do with anything.  If I’m being entirely honest, work (and life for that matter) has been kicking by butt for the past few months.  The expectations are high, and the pressure to meet them (whether external or internal) is even higher.  It’s a flurry of early mornings, long nights, fire drills, and last-minute pivots.  It’s been sprinting and sprinting and sprinting with little rest.  Have you felt like this lately?

With all of this, I’ve felt myself getting lost in the swirl.  It is kind of like being on a boat where each wave took me further and further from shore.  Suddenly, you look up and realize how far you have drifted away, and that you need to get back.  That pop up from IT was the nudge to get back to shore.  My mini epiphany made me pause and realize that I had moved AWAY from the people/things that make me whole, and I needed to focus my energy on moving CLOSER to the people/things I care about (myself included).  After all, life is all about having meaningful connections with people and things you love.  It was just the nudge I needed to step back and refocus after a chaotic few months.  

The challenge: Who or what do you need to move closer to?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

“Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week.” (7-27-22)

Happy Wednesday,

Last week was about being intentional about the weight we carry.  This week we will look at song lyrics and the idea of impossible.

Back in 2000, Kanye West was at the height of his popularity.  During this time, he released a song called “Diamonds are Forever.”  Eventually, he released a remix of that song featuring Jay-Z.  Not only does the song have an awesome beat and some great flows from Kanye and Jay-Z, but it also has lyrics that have been burned into my mind.  On the remix Jay-Z raps,

“This ain’t no tall order, this is nothing to me.

Difficult take a day, impossible takes a week.”

You might be wondering what this has to do with anything.  Think about work for a minute.  How often are you told something is impossible?  How often are we told it can’t be done?  How often do you end up believing that something is impossible?  These lines from Jay-Z are a counter to this thinking.  I love the premise that those short two lines create.  In those two short lines Jay communicates a few things.

  1. There is no such thing as impossible.
  2. It’s not a question of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN he will accomplish a great task.
  3. He has the confidence to lean into the situation.  He believes in himself.

Whenever I face a task that has been described as impossible, I often think of this song and those lines.  I remind myself it’s a matter of time, NOT a matter of possibility.  I then take a deep breath and lean in with confidence to make something amazing happen.  Imagine what would happen if we all embraced this mentality.

The challenge: How will you respond when things are “impossible”?

I stand in solidarity against injustice and in support of humanity.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

It’s only heavy if you lift it (7-20-22)

This week we are going to kick off a series about words and phrases that have struck a chord with me.  We’ll start with a story I recently heard from a Tim Ferriss podcast with Jack Kornfield.  The story is about heaviness and lifting things.

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma before coming back to the US to co-found the Insight Meditation Society.  During the podcast, Jack shared a story from his monk days about being on a walk with his fellow monks by a field.  As they were on their walk, one of the elder monks saw a large rock in the middle of the field and noticed the farmers all working around it.  The elder monk asked his fellow monks, “Do you think that rock is heavy?”  They responded, “Yes.  It’s huge.  It’s extremely heavy.”  The elder monk replied, “Only if you lift it.”  The monk was making the point that just because the rock was there, did NOT mean you had to engage with it.  Just because the rock was there, did NOT mean you had to move it.  It’s only heavy if you CHOOSE to take on that burden.  The farmers were working around the rock, instead of trying to lift and move it.

What does this have to do with work?  Like farming, there are thing we will need to do in order to prosper in our jobs.  However, just because we have things we must do, we do NOT have to pick up all the extra weight just because it’s lying around work.  The rock is only heavy IF you try to lift it.  I do NOT have to pick up the additional emotional baggage.  I do NOT have to pick up weight of additional stress.  I do NOT need to carry the weight of unrealistic expectations.  I can choose to leave all this extra weight where it is.  In full transparency, I’m not good at this.  This is not easy for me.  As I look at where I am now, I’m carrying weight for work, and I know I’m allowing myself to carry a bunch of additional weight that I don’t need to hold.  It’s exhausting.  I’ll have to find a way to let go of all of that.

The challenge: Will you be intentional about the weight you carry? 

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

15 Years- Encouraging Strengths in Others (7-13-22)

This will be the final entry in the series about memorable moments throughout my 15-year career.  This week is about a moment that led to other moments for me.  More specifically, it’s about encouraging strengths we see in others.

Back in my training days, I worked with a gentleman named Bill Fanelli.  He was a different cat, always looking for new ways to help people connect and lead from their humanity.  I had mentioned to Bill in a 1 on 1 that I was a writer and that I performed poetry.  One day he asked me if I’d ever be willing to do some poetry for an experience he created.  He was convinced that this approach would engage the audience and open them up to new ways of thinking.  I told him yes, because I never thought he’d actually follow through.  Then, one day he comes up to me and says, “So I have this day long training for leaders of varying levels across the company.  How would you feel about doing some poetry about leadership and building culture?”  I nervously agreed, but only because I had promised I would.  I wrote a poem that became, “Let’s Build” and I performed it for the room of leaders. Not going to lie, performing poetry in my corporate job was weird, because I never thought that side of me belonged at work.  I was wrong.  Imagine my surprise when I saw how it moved them.  Since then, I’ve been blessed with other opportunities to speak and perform for folks, which still blows my mind and fills my bucket. Beyond the poetry, Bill was one of the initial supporters of my blog and was one of the ones who encouraged me to keep writing.  You probably wouldn’t be reading this without him.

What does this have to do with anything?  It would be easy to think this story is about me performing poetry, but it’s not.  It’s a story about Bill Fanelli. It’s a story about a guy who didn’t just see poetry and blogging, but saw that I had a knack for communicating in a way that could reach people.  It’s a story about a guy who saw something in me that I didn’t particularly think to value at the time.  It’s a story about a person who saw this strength and coaxed it out of me, and then watched as it flourished and opened other doors for me.  Those doors have included speaking at other events, growing the blog, and leveraging my storytelling in marketing and market research roles.  As leaders, it is our responsibility to see the strengths inside of others.  It is our responsibility to help them see how powerful and impactful they can be. 

The challenge: Are you appreciating, bringing out, and leveraging the strengths in others?

Bonus 1: Throughout this series I explored some of memorable moments.  You might have noticed the moments weren’t ever really about me.  They were about a colleague or supervisor somehow showing that they cared for me or valued me.  Never underestimate the power you have to make a positive impact on someone.

Bonus 2: I’ve been blessed to speak/perform at a few events.  Here are two of my favorites:

  • Eli Lilly and Company: Andrew Embry Shares #WeAreLilly Poem – YouTube– The “We Are Lilly” poem.  Not going to lie, being asked by the CEO to write/perform poetry was sweet.
  • Waymakers (poem starts at 3:55 left in the video)- A poem I performed at a WILL event.  I had the opportunity to support WILL, show some love and respect for my mom, and I threw down so hard in the poem that halfway through I received mini-standing ovation and had to slow down for a second before I finished.  Best response ever!  I can still feel that energy.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

15 Years- NOT Jumping in to Save the Day (6-29-22)

Last week was about letters of intent and the power of small gestures.  This week is about a moment when a leader was strong enough to NOT jump in to save the day.

Let’s go back a few years.  I was in our marketing academy working on the the market research team for a launch brand. I had a meeting with the marketing team about the targeting project I was leading.  Have you ever had a presentation/led a meeting where things went great and you left feeling like a rockstar?  This was NOT one of those meetings.  By the end, I was limping over the finish line with bruised legs and a black eye.  It was ugly.  There were questions I wasn’t prepared for, tangents that got us lost in rabbit holes, and I just wasn’t all that effective.  Has that ever happened to you?

Anyway, I talked to my boss after the meeting and we were debriefing how it went.  She kind of chuckled and said something like, “Yeah, I saw it getting a little rocky for you, and you were getting beat up a bit.  I knew it wasn’t anything you couldn’t handle, so I didn’t jump in to save you.  It’s good to learn from those things sometimes.”  I busted out laughing and was like, “Thanks boss!” and then we finished discussing how to improve.  She was right.  I learned a lot from that not so successful interaction with folks, and I was able to apply those learnings in the future in multiple situations.

You might already see where this is going.  Whether it’s being a parent and seeing your kids in a smidge of trouble or being a supervisor and seeing your employee struggle a bit, all too often we dive in WAY TOO EARLY to save the day.  Have you done this as a parent or leader?  When we do this, we “save the day”, but we also rob the person of tremendous growth.  My boss not jumping in was the best help I could ask for.  The stakes were low, the situation uncomfortable, AND it was a great environment to learn in.  Since she didn’t jump in, I had to learn to save myself.  During the course of that botched meeting, I learned I could take a punch to the face and not die, take punches and still have the energy to throw some counter jabs, and how to dodge punches in the future 😉  These lessons helped me in that role and in future roles.  That was one moment where I discovered I had more strength, skills, and tenacity than I previously had known, but I would have never learned that if she had saved me.

The challenge: Are you a strong enough leader to let your people take their lumps and learn from them?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

15 Years- The Power of Small Gestures (6-22-22)

Last week was about caring enough to give tough feedback.  This week is about the power of small gestures.

Let me take you back a few years.  I had graduated from our marketing rotational program and was looking for my first official role in the marketing world.  I had my heart and hopes set on market research, because I love sifting through chaos, connecting dots, turning insights into stories, and allowing my curiosity to run free.  I was lucky to land a role with a market research team.

After my boss officially hired me, we sat down together for the first time and he said something like, “I’m a big Kentucky basketball fan.  I think we need to do this right.”  He grabbed a piece of flipchart paper and wrote up a letter of intent and had me sign it was like I was a top college prospect.  We had someone snap a photo, and then he shared it with everyone as a way to say I had joined the team.  It was a little thing, but it makes me smile whenever I think of it.

What does this have to do with anything?  Can you think of a time when someone did something small to welcome you?  How did it make you feel?  This is a great example of how a small gesture can have a big impact on making someone feel welcome.  My boss didn’t have to do that.  I would have been happy just knowing I was part of the team.  However, by putting in a little extra effort he turned a routine moment into something special.  On top of that, he brought me in and made me part of his love for basketball.  It was that little extra energy, which set the tone for a great adventure with the market research team.  

The challenge: What small things can you do to help people feel more welcome and valued?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

15 Years- Care and Tough Feedback

Last week we started the series about memorable moments over my 15-year career.  This week is a story about a leader showing care by giving me tough feedback.   

It was time for my mid-year check in for my first internal role.  I was doing okay, but I wasn’t setting the world on fire.  I met my supervisor and in a kind, caring, and straight forward way, he said, “You will not meet expectations if you continue to do what you’re doing.  The organization needs you to own this work and drive it forward to deliver X and right now you are delivering Y.  I think you’re currently not delivering X, because you aren’t good at stakeholder management or creating project plans with clear objectives.  How can I help you deliver X?”  I’m not going to lie.  That conversation didn’t make me happy.  I felt like I was coming up short…because I was.  While the feedback hurt a bit, I was incredibly thankful for his candor.  By the time the conversation had ended, I had clarity on what I needed to deliver, and my boss helped me come up with a plan to improve.  By the end of the year, I was delivering X and then some.  I had crushed it!  By the way, I’d work for that boss again in a heartbeat, because of this story and more.  Everyone needs a someone like him in their life.

What does this have to do with anything?  Have you ever experienced a situation where you wish people would have just given you honest feedback and they hadn’t?  How did that make you feel?  Have you ever been the person to NOT give that honest feedback?  Why didn’t you give the feedback?  I’ve been in both situations.  I’ve experienced that we are often “Lilly nice” and we avoid these tough conversations.  Avoiding these conversations isn’t “nice”. It’s harmful.  While these conversations are hard, they are critical to be successful.  If you truly care about people, you’ll share truth with them.  If my boss had been “nice” and never given me the feedback, I would have kept on my path, got to the end of the year, and then been blindsided by not delivering to the level I was supposed to.  However, he cared enough about me to be real.  His feedback was what I needed to get better.  His feedback led me to develop skills that helped in that role and beyond, so I could grow AND deliver for the business.

The challenge:  Are you being “nice” or are you delivering the truth that needs to be told?

Bonus: If you are looking for help in this area I’d suggest you check out Radical Candor by Kim Scott or watch her talk on the subject.  

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

15 Years and Muscle Up Buttercup (6-8-22)

This month marks 15 years for me at Eli Lilly.  Throughout my career I’ve spent time in sales, training, ghost writing for the CMO, market research, and marketing.  It’s been a wild ride, and with that in mind I’d like to kick off a series about the moments that have stuck with me throughout my career.  Some will be positive and some won’t be so rosy.  This week is about the power of showing your belief in someone.

A few years ago I was on the market research team.  I was leading the team in some pivotal messaging research, and EVERYTHING was going wrong.  We were having problems with recruiting.  We were having problems with technology.  The interviews were clunky.  Everything was falling apart.  I felt like a failure and I was so frustrated.

While all this was going on my key business partner at the time wrote me a little note.  It said something like, “If I had to be in a burning clown car of market research it would be with you.  Muscle up, buttercup!”  First, this made me chuckle.  Second, it was great leadership.  By writing this note to me she was saying, “I get that everything is falling apart, but I believe in you.  If you won’t believe in yourself right now on your own, at least believe in yourself because I see what you can do.  I trust you to lead us out of this.”  That few words meant the world to me.  Eventually, we were able to make everything come together, and we created an awesome message that helped us hit our goals and help out a lot of patients.

What does this have to do with anything?  As a leader, sometimes it is our job to encourage people when they are at their low point.  This isn’t about lying to them.  It’s not about telling them that everything is okay.  It’s about seeing their strength, demonstrating you believe in them, and then showing them that you have faith they will deliver.  I don’t know about you, but often when I’m at a low point, the mere act of someone else showing their faith in me is enough to help me keep going.

The challenge: How are you demonstrating your faith in others?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry