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.

Love, Patience, Authentic Selves, and the Dark Side of the Moon (12-4-19)

This will be the end of our series focused on authentic selves.  We started focused on the need to bring our authentic selves to work.  From there we talked about creating a place that is safe enough for people to bring their authentic selves, and last week was about leveraging the different sides of people.  This week is about the dark side of the moon, extending grace, having patience, and understanding that it’s okay that there are the sides of people you may not initially see.

Recently, Alice (2nd grade) had an assignment where she went recorded the phases of the moon.  This got her excited, because she could see the moon change as it moved from a waxing crescent to a half moon to waning gibbous and eventually a new moon.  The other interesting wrinkle in all of this was explaining to her that she only saw one side of the moon.  Because of the way the moon revolves around the earth, there is a side of the moon that we never see.  This side is often called the far side of the moon or the dark side of the moon (if you are a Pink Floyd fan).  The reason you can’t see the other side of the moon is because of something called tidal locking where tidal forces from earth have slowed down the moon’s rotation to the point where the same side is always facing the earth (Wikipedia.org).  Even though we may not have seen the other side of the moon, it is always there.

So what does this have to do with anything?  This series has been about bringing your authentic selves to work.  This isn’t easy.  This isn’t natural for many people.  In fact it’s harder for some people to bring their authentic selves than others for a wide variety of reasons.  At first when people seem distant, it’s easy to say, “They need to try harder.  They need to be more vulnerable.”  However, maybe they are like the moon.  We only see part of the moon because of tidal locking, something out of the moon’s control.  In the same way, maybe the reason we only partially see some people at work is because of forces beyond their control.  Maybe they were raised in a tough situation, where showing different sides of themselves was a sign of weakness.  Maybe they are wired a different way, so they aren’t as comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work.  Maybe they are stretched too thin in an impossible situation, where they can’t bring these different sides of themselves to fruition.  Maybe they haven’t fully come to love who they are.  Maybe they don’t feel safe enough to be who they are yet.

Instead of judging them or jumping to conclusions, we need to extend a little grace and have a little patience.  With all people, my job is to love them and to be patient.  My job is to love them, to build the environment where they can bring their authentic selves to work, and to wait because love works on their terms, not mine.  And if I never see that other side of them, that’s okay, just as long as they know I care for them. 

The challenge: How can you extend grace, patience, and love to other people as they look to bring their authentic selves to wherever they are?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Haggis Milkshakes and Leveraging our Authentic Selves (11-26-19)

Switching it up and coming at you on a Tuesday due to Thanksgiving.  Last week was about creating a space where people can bring their authentic selves.  This week is about leveraging different versions of others and haggis milkshakes.

Alice, my oldest daughter, likes watching cooking shows.  The other day we were watching a cooking show on Netflix and the challenge was to create an awesome milkshake.  Here’s the kicker.  One of the main ingredients you had to use was haggis.  In case you aren’t familiar Haggis is a savory pudding containing sheep’s pluck, minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal’s stomach though now often in an artificial casing instead (Wikipedia).  That blew my mind.  I’ve never had haggis, but I couldn’t see how it would fit into a milkshake.  How was anyone ever going to do this and make it taste good?

Some contestants on the show didn’t really know/understand haggis, so while they tried to make a milkshake they failed.  It either tasted horrible, or the milkshake focused so much on covering the taste of the haggis that it wasn’t good.  There was one person who succeeded.  As you watched her prepare, she talked about understanding haggis and its flavor profile.  From there, she added in ingredients that would accent and complement the flavor in a way that would make it delicious.  As the judges tried her milkshake they were all pleasantly surprised.

So what does a haggis milkshake have to do with leveraging different versions of ourselves?  Creating an environment where people can bring their authentic selves to work is crucial, but it is only the first step.  The next step is finding ways to leverage the different sides of people.  Similar to a milkshake, our sense of self is made of various ingredients.  Some of these ingredients are sweeter and initially easier to digest than others.  Similar to the challenge, the trick is finding a way to leverage various flavors to create something delicious.  In the milkshake example, the first step was understanding the ingredients.  Once she understood the ingredients and what they could offer, she then was able to take action and find ways to leverage those strengths.  We can do the exact same thing with people. 

How often have you seen (or been) a person who wasn’t as effective, because they weren’t leveraged the right way?  Think about the different people you have worked with and worked for.  How many of them took the time to understand you and your authentic selves?  How many of them gave you a chance to be you and get your shine on vs. expecting you to conform?  Now reflect on yourself.  How often are you taking the time to truly understand your teammates and who they are?  How are you helping them leverage these different sides of them?

The challenge: How are you understanding and leveraging someone’s authentic selves?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Restaurants and Creating Space to Bring your Authentic Selves (11-20-19)

Last week was about bringing different versions of yourself to work.  This week is an extension of that and is more focused on creating the right atmosphere, so people can bring different versions of themselves to work, including the fragile ego side of ourselves as Pat put it.  This email is a little longer, because I want to keep it real and share a Embry story with you.

Let’s pretend I asked you to assess three different restaurants.  You start by going to restaurant A, but you can’t ever find it.  Next, you go to restaurant B.  The parking lot is filled with potholes and trash.  Once you’re at the entrance, you see people, but the lights are off.  You enter and eat, but never quite feel comfortable.  Finally, you go to restaurant C.  Everything is clean, and as you enter you feel warmth and comfort.  There is a place waiting for you and the food is great.  The server is attentive to you and what you need.  Which restaurant is the best? 

What does this have to do with anything?  In the above situation, each restaurant creates its own vibe.  Each vibe makes you feel different, and some make you feel more welcome than others.  I’d argue as leaders, we are all like restaurants creating an environment that does or does not welcome people.  Restaurant A is those leaders, where you’re not ever sure if they are there for you, because when you need them, you can’t find them physically or metaphorically.  Restaurant B is those leaders, who might be open to you, but you’re not quite sure.  They feel more hidden, and make you feel like you’re a burden to them.  Restaurant C is those leaders, who create a welcoming, warm, and safe space for you to show up.  It’s a space where you can bring different versions of yourself, and feel comfortable doing so.  Have you worked with these different kinds of leaders?  How did each one make you feel?

Embry story – Life had straight up kicked my butt, and Self-Doubt Andrew had taken over for weeks.  I couldn’t shake him.  I was trapped.  I needed a Restaurant C, a safe place to talk about this.  I send an email written by Self-Doubt Andrew to my boss that starts like this, “The short version- I feel like I’m not fulfilling my role and providing enough value to the team, and as a result I feel like I’m letting down you and the team.  I don’t feel like I’m a total disaster, but I don’t feel great about what I’ve done so far either.  My current mind state is feeling like I’m crawling out of a pit after being stuck in a hole for a few weeks.”  Believe it or not, from there the email downward spirals even further.  (I realize that sharing all of this is probably me being a little too honest, but I never claimed to be anything more than human.) 

The mere fact that I sent my boss that email, shows she’s built a Restaurant C with me, a safe place to be me, any kind of me.  We sit down and talk.  She tells me she could tell I was in a funk, so I felt seen.  She listens and asks questions to understand, postponing judgment while I’m a complete hot mess.  She challenges the self-defeating narrative I keep repeating.  She helps reframe things and tries to get me to crawl outside of my head.  She does all this, but she doesn’t lie and tell me everything is okay either.  She acknowledges I’m falling short in some places, and she helps me find direction.  Throughout the conversation I know she cares, and she keeps offering to help.  It’s this interaction, and all the interactions over time where she has shown she cares that has made her a Restaurant C for me, a safe place, a safe person.  As we talk, Self-Doubt Andrew realizes he no longer has a place, so he shrinks back to his dark cage over the next few days and life loving Andrew shows up again.  It’s not like my problems went away.  It’s that I found a safe place to be with my problems with someone else, and that made the difference.

The challenge: Reflect on the conversations you have with teammates and the people you lead.  How many of them are the type of vulnerable conversations like that one I described.  If you’re never having those conversations, maybe everything just happens to be going well, or maybe you’re closer to being a Restaurant A or B than you realize.  Maybe, you aren’t creating a safe space.  Which restaurant will you be?  What vibes will you create?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Bringing your Authentic Selves to Work (11-13-19)

This week we will start a series about bringing your authentic self to work.  We’ll start by looking back at Halloween and bringing different versions of yourself to work. 

The cool part about dressing up for Halloween is that you have the chance to share different sides of yourself.  Every Halloween my family dresses up in a theme.  This year we were all Harry Potter characters.  I was Voldemort (with the worst mask ever), which gave me a chance to bring out my bald evil side aka just another day for me.  In previous years I’ve been Green Lantern, Super Mario, and the Mad Hatter.  Each instance gave me a chance to be someone slightly different.  All of the outfits were still me, just different versions of me.

What does this have to do with anything?  For the longest time people talked about bringing your “full self” to work.  Over the past year or so, the conversation has changed slightly and people have talked about being able to safely and comfortably bring the different versions of yourself to work.  This is an interesting concept, because we are all comprised of so many different versions/angles that come together to make us who we are.  I believe this is important, because the different versions of ourselves have something unique to offer.  You want Creative Andrew to show up to help you analyze things and connect dots in different ways.  You want Storyteller Andrew to show up to help with communication.  You want Performer Andrew to raise the energy in the room.  You want Driver Andrew to show up when you need to get crap moving.  You want Friend Andrew when you need someone to vent to.

All of the Andrews mentioned so far are positive Andrews.  The thing is you want the not so positive Andrews to show up too.  For example, you want Self-Doubt Andrew to show up and feel like he can talk to people at work.  Self-Doubt Andrew is just as skilled with words as Storytelling Andrew, and has a knack for weaving a powerful narrative that sends Andrew into a downward spiral of self-doubt and feeling like garbage.  Do you have a Self-Doubt version of yourself that does those things?  If Self-Doubt Andrew can come to work, he can usually be dealt with by other people in a quick and effective manner.  All it takes is a little empathy, a little “Andrew you’re overthinking this and stop worrying about this,” and a little let’s figure out how to solve the problem.  If that stuff occurs, Self-Doubt Andrew is managed and doesn’t do any more damage.  If Self-Doubt Andrew can’t show up at work, he’s still there, but he is never seen by other people.  Instead of talking to other people and finding resolution, Self-Doubt Andrew will keep harassing all of the other Andrews, and sooner or later Andrew starts performing worse than he should and ends up losing his joy.  While it’s important to be able to bring the different positive versions of yourself to work, I’d say it’s just as important to be able to bring the more fragile and vulnerable versions of yourself to work, so they can be talked to appropriately. 

Something to consider:  What versions of yourself do you bring to work?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Pizza, Good Ingredients, Process, and Culture (11-6-19)

This is the final entry in the series about pizza.  I believe the insights have been pretty deep dish, and I hope you’ve found the food for thought particularly tasty 😉 (#dadjokesfordays).  Last week was about diversity, inclusion, and cheese on pizza.  This week is about good ingredients, process, and building a positive culture.

Imagine there are three pizza places.  Pizza place A has the best and freshest ingredients.  Pizza place B has good ingredients.  Pizza place C has okay ingredients.  Which place serves the best pizza?  The first temptation would be to say Pizza place A, because it has the best ingredients.  However, it’s hard to know if they have the best pizza.  What if their method for cooking pizzas result in pizzas that are undercooked or burnt?  What if their delivery process ends up ruining pizzas (See Domino’s picture)?  Even if they have the best ingredients, if they don’t have the right methods and processes in place the pizza may not be great. 

What do pizza ingredients and processes have to do with culture?  Having great ingredients is the FIRST step in being able to create great pizza.  You have to also have the right cooking techniques, methods, and processes.  It’s the combination of the best ingredients and the right processes that can create pizza magic.  Often when we talk about building positive inclusive cultures we talk about how important it is to have the right people.  I’ve heard people say, “You ONLY need to have the right people together.”  Or “If people could only be good people that would solve inclusion problems.”  I agree that having the right people who care about inclusion and building powerful cultures is an important step, BUT it’s NOT the only step.  Great people on their own can only go so far, just like the best pizza ingredients can only go so far.  On top of having the right people, you also have to have the discipline and the right processes.  What do I mean by that?  How often do we take time to be intentional about what we are building our culture to be?  How often do we pause to reflect on the pulse of the team and how to improve?  How do we think through roles and responsibilities and how that impacts the culture we are creating?  How often do we look at the processes we interact with to determine which ones help accelerate a positive culture vs. get in the way of building a good culture?

Confession.  On my best days, I’d like to think I’m a pretty good person with enough love in my heart to change and shape the culture around me with ONLY my heart and good intentions.  However, even when I’m at my best I make mistakes.  Even at my best I get caught up in the swirl, and forget to keep a pulse on the people I care about.  Even at my best, I succumb to my unconscious bias from time to time.  Even at my best, I’m still human and that means I’ll fall short.  For me, combining the best of my heart and intentions, goes so much further if I also have the discipline and processes in place to make a difference.  What about you? 

The challenge: How can you combine the right ingredients (people) AND the right processes to build the best pizza (culture)?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Don’t Take Pizza Crust for Granted (10-23-19)

Last week was about pizza, nostalgia, and being objective.  This week is about pizza and not taking crust for granted.

When I go to order a pizza the first thing I think about is the toppings I’m going to get on it.  Is it going to be meat lovers?  Is it going to be bbq chicken?  Is it going to be a supreme?  So many options!  I rarely ever think about the crust.  Crust is just crust right?  It’s not worth thinking a second thought about, right?  I used to believe that, then two separate things happened.  One time I got a pizza and all the toppings were right, but the crust was burnt.  It ruined the entire pizza.  In a different situation, my family ate at this pizza place and the crust was wheat with a touch of honey.  It was incredible and completely enhanced the flavor of everything else on the pizza.  Between the two of these events I realized that I shouldn’t take crust for granted.

What does pizza crust have to do with anything?  First, there is a connection to the work we do.  I’m sure we all want to work on the toppings, the things that are supposed to matter the most and will be noticed and appreciated.  Sometimes we work on these things, but sometimes we work on the crust, the things that aren’t as flashy and impressive, the things that may be taken for granted.  When we work on “the crust”, it’s easy to think that what we are doing doesn’t matter, and that behind the scenes foundational like work won’t be seen or impactful.  This is when we need to remember that these things do matter, that crust matters.  It’s about the full pizza experience, and you can’t have good pizza if the crust is bad.

The other connection is similar, and is about how you view yourself and your contributions.  If we’re being real I get jealous of other people sometimes.  I look at them and say, “Whoa, they can do X, Y, and Z incredibly well!  That’s awesome and those skills are so important.  Maybe I’d be better if I could do X, Y, and Z just like them, because I only do A, B, C.”  Using our pizza analogy, I get jealous of people because I view them as being the awesome toppings and I’m JUST crust.  If I’m just providing crust, then I’m not providing much.  I’m not providing the right things.  I’m not providing value.  (#selfconciousdownwardspiral)  Have you ever been there?  Here are the things I struggle to remember.  First, you never quite know who looks at what you do and how much they value what you do.  Over the years I’m always surprised when people value things in me that I don’t think are worth anything.  Second, even if you are “just” crust, you have the chance to be great crust, the type of crust that makes everything else better.  It’s all a matter of perspective.

The challenge: Don’t take crust or yourself for granted.  Realize that you are worth more than you know. 

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Pizza, Nostalgia, and Objectivity (10-16-19)

Last week was about pizza and decision criteria.  When people told me about their favorite pizza, they often referenced nostalgia, so this week is about pizza, nostalgia, and objectivity.

My wife is from the Evansville, IN area.  In Evansville, there is a popular pizza place called Turoni’s (pizza pic to the right).  I remember going down to hang out with her family and they decided that they wanted to get a Turoni’s pizza.  I had never had it before.  The entire family ranted and raved about how awesome the pizza from there was.  They talked about how Turoni’s had been there ever since they were kids and what a treat it was to go there when they were growing up.  When I tried the pizza, it was good, but it wasn’t great.  I don’t know if it would make my top 10.  While I felt that way, her family ate the pizza and talked about how amazing it was.  

So what was happening?  I believe that nostalgia was playing a huge role in how they were experiencing the pizza.  They had grown up with this place.  This pizza wasn’t just pizza.  It was also good memories and celebrations.  They were attached to the pizza place, and I feel that got in the way of them being objective enough to realize the pizza is okay, but not amazing like they said.  If you think about it, you probably are nostalgic about a certain kind of pizza or some other restaurant.  I’m nostalgic about Pizza King (pizza pic at the bottom).  I’m convinced their Washburn pizza is the best ever!  It has ham, pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese, BBQ sauce, and a crisp thin crust.  At the same time, people who don’t have as much nostalgia about Pizza King often feel it’s good, but not the best ever.  My nostalgia is biasing me in one direction.

What does pizza and nostalgia have to do with anything?  In the above situations we both inflate how good the pizza is because of our nostalgia and our comfort with the pizza.  However, if we were more objective, we’d realize the pizza we are in love with is good, but not the most amazing thing ever.  Have you ever done something similar? 

We are all human and creatures of comfort and habit.  In work and in life, it’s too easy to do something because we are more accustomed to it vs. because it objectively being the best thing to do.  Think about the processes we follow.  How often do we blindly follow a process because we are used to it vs. objectively analyzing the process to see if it serves its purpose?  Think about the people we hire onto teams.  How often do we value a certain style and personality type vs. objectively realizing that different types of people can all solve the problem?  Think about evaluating someone doing a job that you have done in the past.  How often do we prefer people to do things our way, just because we are used to that?  We do all of these things, because we have emotional attachment to something.  In a way, we are nostalgic, and that blinds us from being truly objective.  The first step is acknowledging that nostalgia can blind us.  The second step is working to become more objective.

The challenge: How can we be more objective vs. just going along with where we are comfortable?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Best Pizza and Decision Criteria (10-9-19)

This week we are going to start a series about the lessons you can learn from pizza.  We’ll start by looking at the “best “pizza and decision criteria.

Let’s start with a simple, yet important question 😉  What is the best pizza?  Why is it the best pizza?  What criteria did you use?  Did you base it on price, fresh vs. frozen, New York vs. Chicago style, the sauce, the availability of toppings, how good of a leftover it makes, the cheese, the best deals, dine in vs. carry-out, or some other criteria?  I’d assume that if I asked you the question using different criteria you’d give me different answers about which pizza is the best.  For example, my favorite deep dish pizza, Roselli’s, is different from my favorite frozen cheese pizza, Home Run Inn.

Now assume that your team needs to decide what the “best” pizza is and you’ll have to defend that decision to others.  How do you make that decision?  Would you leave it wide open or would you try to establish some kind of decision criteria?  I’d imagine that you’d have to discuss and align on the key variables that you’re going to consider.  Having this decision criteria makes the decision more objective, focused, and easier to make. 

What does a series of questions about the “best” pizza have to do with anything?  This story isn’t about pizza, it’s about how to try make an objective decision.  When I first asked you, “What is the best pizza?” you used your own criteria to determine what best is.  This is fine, UNTIL you have to align as a team.  Then, the team needs more clarity around the decision criteria to help focus the conversation and drive a decision.

Maybe your teams don’t make decisions about pizza on a regular basis (maybe they should).  However, they probably make other decisions like:  What is the best HCP campaign?  What should the Payer value message be?  Which concept is best for Consumers?  How successful is ____ tactic?  These decisions don’t have clear cut obvious answers.  How often have you been involved in decisions about these types of things that swirled and swirled and swirled, because the group didn’t have clear decision criteria?  I know I’ve been there.  When there aren’t clear decision criteria then any opinion can be “good”, so there’s no way to judge one thought vs. another.  In these cases it is often the person with the most seniority, the person who talks the most/loudest, or the person who won’t stop talking or listen to other viewpoints that eventually “wins”.  That’s not a good way to make a decision.  However, once you finally have clear decision criteria, then you have something you can measure against.  This removes a lot of the subjectivity, so the group can have a more objective conversation.  In my experience, I’ve found that the more clarity you have around decision criteria, the easier it is to make a decision.

The challenge: Are you establishing AND communicating the decision criteria you’ll use to make a decision?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Going through Closets and Letting Things Go (10-2-19)

We started this series focused on socks and nudges.  From there we explored how our choices can communicate things, and we spent time reflecting on power outfits and triggers.  We also looked at embracing other styles.  This final entry in the clothing series is about going through the stuff in your closet to see what is worth keeping.

Everyone has their own unique method of going through the stuff in their closet.  Maybe you use the KonMari method, which is about asking if something sparks joy in your life.  If it does, you keep it, and if it doesn’t you get rid of it.  Here is what I do.  I have a system where after I wear a shirt, I move it to the other side of the closet.  This lets me know what shirts I’ve worn in the past month.  As I get down to the final shirts I haven’t worn, I take a look through them and ask myself a few questions.  Why haven’t I worn this yet?  Do I still like it?  Does it fit right?  Did I just not have the occasion to wear it?  Is it ripped/broken?  After I ask those questions I either keep the shirt, donate it, or trash it.

Where is this going?  Going through your closet is about taking the time to pause and reflect to determine if the clothing still serves the purpose it was originally meant to serve.  If it does, you keep it.  If it doesn’t, you either get rid of it or figure out how to make it work.  I believe that we could all do a better job of going through our actual closets as well as our metaphorical closets.  For example, metaphorical closets could be the people we surround ourselves with, the goals we have, and the behaviors we exhibit.  How often do you take the time to reflect on those things to determine if you should keep them or not?

The other day I had a conversation with one of my neighbors.  He was talking about this job he wanted and was excited about.  Then, as he did some self-reflection, he realized that this job he initially was excited about didn’t really fit him.  This job would give him a title and lead him down a prestigious path, but that path isn’t where he wanted to be.  Since then, he’s spent time trying to figure out how to change his path to make it the one he wants to walk down.  I have a lot of admiration for him, because he is one of the brave souls who paused and realized something didn’t quite fit before going too far.

Two Sundays ago was my birthday, and on the eve of my birthday I found myself reflecting.  On the people side, I feel over the years I’ve done a better job of keeping myself surrounded by the people who matter and letting go the people who just take from me.  On the life side, I feel I have a lot of things figured out, but I still have some habits, some fears, some doubts that don’t fit who I am and who I want to be, so I need to find a way to get rid of those and replace them with something new.  On the work side, I looked through 9 months of reflections, and there were things that made me smile and mistakes that made me face palm (and then chuckle that I could have done something that is now so obviously dumb).  Hopefully, I can change some of those face palm things for the future.

The challenge: Are you going through the various closets in your life to determine what you need to keep and what you need to let go?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Diversity, Inclusion, and Cheese on Pizza (10-30-19)

Last week we reflected on why we shouldn’t take the crust for granted.  This week we will think about diversity, inclusion, and cheese on a pizza.

A few months ago I called a pizza place and ordered a pizza that was ½ meat lovers and ½ just cheese.  What I got from the pizza place was a pizza that was 100% meat lovers, and no cheese on the pizza.  That’s right, someone made a pizza without cheese on it.  #unforgiveable  Anyway, you wouldn’t think that the absence of cheese would be such a big deal, but it was.  The absence of cheese messed up the flavor balance of the entire thing.  The absence of cheese meant that there was not a binding agent to hold everything together in place, so as I tried to eat the pizza the toppings would slide around.  As I took bites it was more like biting into individual toppings vs. having the combined flavor of a pizza in one bite.  Not a good experience.

What does a cheeseless pizza have to do with diversity and inclusion?  Pizza is a great analogy for diversity and inclusion.  Each topic brings its own unique strengths and flavor profile, and together they create something more than the sum of the individual parts.  At least that’s what happens when there is cheese.  When there isn’t cheese, it’s just a bunch of individual parts moving around. 

In this metaphor, I’d argue that cheese on a pizza is the trust that we build between each other.  Much like cheese, trust starts as small individual shreds of mozzarella and it grows and spreads with the application of warmth and time.  Much like cheese on a pizza, trust is the bond that holds everything together and in place.  It’s the thing that connects all of the individual toppings (people), and helps them unleash their inner awesomeness.  Think about a time when you were on a team that was built on trust.  What did that feel like?  More importantly, what did it enable you to be and to do?  I always do my best work, when I’m rooted in a relationship of trust.  Now, think of a time you were in a group where the trust wasn’t there.  How did that feel?  Did you feel like an individual component, disconnected from people and purpose?  That’s the way I’ve felt in those situations.  If cheese is the ultimate connector on pizza and trust is the connector that brings out the best in us, then it’s important we are putting in the work to build trust and help trust grow. 

The challenge: What are you doing to build trust?  How are you creating the warm environment to ensure trust grows and spreads?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry