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.

Investing Time in People (11-15-17)

Last week we kicked off a series on time and focused on spending time vs. spending money.  This week I’d like to challenge us to think about how we are choosing to invest our time in people.

Let’s pretend for a minute that you walked into the office and you saw a nickel on the ground.  You picked it up and put it in your pocket.  Later on when you see me, for grins and giggles you say, “I found this nickel.  It’s yours!”  Then you flip it in my direction.  I catch the nickel and say thanks.  Then, I say, “This is yours,” and I flip a dime over to you.  I walk away before you can ask me why I flipped you a dime.  A few days later you find a dime on the ground, you go through the same thing, and after you toss me the dime I toss you back a quarter.  You decide to keep experimenting and very quickly, you realize that if you give me money I’ll give you MORE money back than you give me.  It’s doesn’t matter if you give me a penny or $100 bill.  If you give me money, I’ll give you more back.  Besides trying to figure out why this is happening, what are you bound to do next?  I’m sure you would become very intentional about handing me money on a regular basis, so you could reap the reward from that “investment”.

What does this have to do with work?  The above situation is a winning situation for you, because you get MORE than what you give.  What if you could have the same situation at work?  I think you can.  Instead of giving someone coins you found on the floor, what if you spent a few minutes intentionally investing in them?  Your investments could be different things.  Maybe the investment is recognition, and your investment is a few seconds to send a nice email/text/note to someone to let them know you appreciate them.  Maybe the investment is giving some feedback to help them get better.  Maybe you take time out of your day to coach/mentor someone.  Whatever this looks like, you are taking your time and investing it in another person, and that investment is bound to turn into something.

How have you felt when someone invested time in you?  How did that change your relationship with that person?  How did that impact the work you did?  From my experience, the best leaders and people I’ve worked with have been the ones who have invested time in me in one way, shape, or form.  Sometimes the time they invested in me was a short few seconds and sometimes it was longer.  When people invested in me I did my best to give them back more and more.  As our relationship continued the time they invested in me became like a savings account that kept accruing interest.  If I feel like you are investing and invested in me I’ll give you hours of my life.  I’ll give you my energy.  I’ll give you my magic.  I’d hope that those things are worth more than the original investment of time that people placed in me. 

The challenge: Are you investing your time in people?  If I asked the people around you if you consistently invested in them, what would they say?

Take action: Invest time in someone today.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Monster Hunters, Preparation, and Tools (11-1-17)

This will be the last in a series of lessons we can learn from monsters.  We’ve reflected on werewolves and getting in the zone, the duplicity of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, frankesteining solutions, and inviting vampires into our lives.  This week we will focus on the lessons we can learn being monster hunters.

There are several characters that could be considered “monster hunters”.  These characters could include the Ghostbusters, Van Helsing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Blade, Hellboy, and the Winchester brothers from Supernatural.  The thing that all of these characters have in common is the way they prepare for their role and how they ensure they have the right tools for what they are fighting.  The best monster hunters don’t just show up guns blazing.  Instead, they take time to understand the situation and then choose the appropriate tools for the job.

For example, the Ghostbusters leverage knowledge from Tobin’s Spirit Guide that helps them better understand what they are facing.  Then, they use PKE meters to assess their situation and eventually use specifically designed proton packs and traps to capture ghosts.  Blade works with Whistler to design weapons that can exploit the weaknesses of his enemies, creating silver swords and UV lamps for vampires.  Once the monster hunter has prepared, they are able to win the battle. 

You might already be seeing the connections to work.  In the above situations, if the monster hunters don’t understand the situation, then they are unable to prepare.  In their case, being prepared is the difference between life and death.  When I think about us at work, how often do we pause to really understand whatever it is we are facing before we dive right in?  How often do we stop and say, “Oh, this is the problem I’m facing.  To beat this problem I’ll probably need to understand ____.  I should go find ____ tools or _____ frameworks or get advice from ______ to help us think through this.”?  This could apply to marketing problems, leadership issues, building culture, etc.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just rush in, and when I do I find that I’m not ready to take on the challenges.  When I rush in before I’ve truly thought about and prepared I often fail or fall short.  Now when I fail at work I might not get attacked by a vampire, but the failure and the swirl does suck the life out of me.  😉

The challenge: Before you take out your “monster” are you taking the time to prepare and grab the right “tools”?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Time and Money Problems (11-8-17)

This week I’d like to start a series about things relating to time and money.  I’d like us to start by challenging ourselves on how we think about spending time by sharing a story about a friend named Dave.

Dave is a friend of mine who lives in the Indy area.  He’s a good guy and a smart dude.  He has a solid job and makes pretty good money.  With that said, Dave is always borderline broke.  If you’d ask him about this he’d say something like, “I don’t know where all the money went.”  If you’d go over to his house you’d find a lot of junk he has purchased that he doesn’t need.  If you looked through his finances you’d see that he never took the time to set up a basic savings account or take advantage of things like a 401k.  Dave is always scrambling.  He might make it day to day, but he’s making things pretty hard on himself.  Do you know anyone like Dave?  At this point, if you’re anything like me I’m assuming that you are thinking, “It sounds like this Dave guy has a money spending problem.  He should do something about that.”  That would be a fair and accurate assessment.

What if the story about Dave isn’t about money?  What if Dave’s story is about time?  What if it’s about a talented guy who is always “so busy” and “never has time for anything” and “has way too many priorities.”?  What if the story is about a guy who always seems to be sprinting and exhausted?  Does that sound familiar?  Could that story be about you?  It could be about me sometimes.

How does this connect to anything?  Do you ever think about controlling, investing, and spending your time the same way you do with your money?  As I think about the story about spending money vs. spending time, I find myself intrigued by how we respond differently to them.  If the story is about spending money, I feel we often say, “Dave needs to fix his money spending problem.”  If the story is about spending time, I feel we are prone to say, “Life is just busy.”  If it’s about time we give Dave a pass.  We act like Dave has no ability to control and direct his time.  This isn’t the case.  Just like finances, Dave has the power, ability, and the tools available to him to take more control.  Whether or not Dave wants to admit it, he is CHOOSING not to control his money/time situation. 

I understand that life gets busy.  I understand that some periods of life you sprint harder than others.  My belief is that if you find yourself always sprinting and running around like crazy then something is wrong.  When I realize this is happening to me, I know the first place I need to look is inward.  Am I clear on what I want to accomplish as a human, husband, dad, and employee?  Am I prioritizing the right things?  Am I spending my time on the things that truly need to get done?   

The challenge: Are you controlling, investing, and spending YOUR time in an intentional way?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Inviting Vampires in (10-25-17)

Last week was about the classic Frankenstein monster and forcing things together.  This week I want us to reflect on the lore surrounding vampires.

Vampires are one of the scariest and most frequently written about creatures on the planet.  There are usually a few consistent elements of what it means to be a vampire such as feasting on humans, draining people of their blood/life, having mystical abilities, and being sensitive to the sun/UV rays.  Additionally, vampire lore can change drastically depending on the book you are reading or the movie you are watching.  One item from vampire lore is that vampires cannot enter a private residence without being invited in by the owner of the house.  This creates an interesting situation, because you end up having this all-powerful creature who in many instances is powerless until they are able to trick the owner of the home to invite them in.  Once the vampire is invited in, it’s not too long before they suck the life out of the host.

You have to be wondering what this has to do with anything.  The above vampire example focuses on how people invite a monster into their home and then how that monster causes disaster.  What if we do the same thing?  What I’d ask all of us to consider is, “How often do I invite challenges/drama/problems into my home?”  Much like a vampire, challenges/drama/problems can look attractive and seem harmless, until we invite them in and then they suck the lives out of us.  Have you ever been a victim of something like this?

Embry examples.  I invite feeling blah in, when I don’t take care of myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  It’s always possible to find an excuse for why I’m not taking care of myself.  Let’s face it, food that is bad for you tastes amazing and exercising is often the last thing on my mind.  I invite work “emergencies” and “fire drills” in, when I don’t take time to plan accordingly and set expectations.  It might be attractive to say, “I don’t need to spend the time planning that,” but it always gets me in the end.  I invite failure in when I don’t stop to think through the situation before acting.  It’s more attractive to run in and start doing stuff.  Doing stuff feels good, but how often do I start doing stuff to only realize I’ve been doing the wrong things?

Now, I’m not saying we are responsible for every bad or challenging thing that happens to us.  I know that life will bring challenges.  I’m saying that sometimes we make life more challenging for ourselves than we need to by doing things that invite in more troubles and complications. 

The challenge: Are you inviting in “vampires” that will suck the life out of you?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Frankensteining Stuff (10-18-17)

Last week was about Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and how we are all multi-dimensional.  This week we will reflect on Frankenstein like monsters and forcing solutions together.  Shout out to Amy Meadows for the inspiration for this week’s post.  She actually made this comment during a meeting I was in about 1.5 years ago and it’s always stuck with me.

You are probably somewhat familiar with Frankenstein monster kind of stories.  The basic idea is that there is a mad scientist who is obsessed with creating something amazing.  Inevitably the scientist goes too far and ends up combining a lot of things that don’t belong together.  For example, the mad scientist will sew together parts from different bodies.  In some versions of these stories the scientist blends human and animal or human and machine.  Eventually, the scientist brings the creature to life and the creature wreaks some kind of havoc. 

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything.  How often have you worked on something that started out as one thing and ended up becoming a Frankenstein monster?  What I mean by that is, how often did you start with a simple idea and then by the time everybody added to it the idea no longer served its intended purpose?  Instead the idea became this conglomeration of stuff.  I know I see this on a regular basis.  Better yet, how often have you been the one who has tried to add and add and add stuff to something, even though it didn’t need to be added?  I know I’m guilty of doing this sometimes.

Over my career I’ve learned how important it is to have a clear vision of what you are trying to accomplish, and then ruthlessly sticking to that vision.  Without that clear vision and the discipline to stick to that vision, I end up going too far, just adding and adding and adding until the idea has become a monstrosity.  This monstrosity is then unable to serve its purpose and becomes unable to help the people we are trying to help.  In a collaborative environment where we work with hundreds of other mad scientists, it’s up to us to be clear on what we are trying to accomplish and why.

The challenge:  Are you clear on what you are trying to accomplish or are you giving life to a Frankenstein monster?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and being Multi-dimensional (10-11-17)

Last week we kicked off a series inspired by monsters by starting with werewolves, full moons, and finding your zone.  This week we will reflect on the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as it relates to people having many sides and components to their personalities.

You are probably slightly familiar with the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It’s a story that has played out and been remade in countless ways.  The idea is that Dr. Jekyll is a scientist who created a serum that he takes to transform into Mr. Hyde.  While Dr. Jekyll is a more reserved upstanding citizen, Mr. Hyde is more of a monster who gives into every whim and desire.  The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shows us that a person is both good and evil, controlled and chaotic, deliberate and impulsive, etc.  The story shows us the duality that lies within everybody.

How does this connect with work?  As the story shows, we are multi-dimensional.  We contain ideas, emotions, and behaviors that are sometimes in conflict with each other.  All of this comes together into a cool collage that is YOU.  While this multi-dimensionality makes people beautiful, it also creates challenges.  It’s also hard to see and understand all of these different perspectives of a person and how they fit together.  Also, sometimes it’s easy to miss seeing a side of someone, because it’s not always so visible.

For example, I’d guess that most people who know me would describe me as energetic, outgoing, etc.  To use insights colors they would say I’m yellow.  Last week, I was leading some market research in and there were times when we needed to make fast decisions, so the driver side of me came out in full force.  I was very direct, moving things along, quick, very much red.  Afterwards, I know some of my colleague were a little surprised to see that much red in me (probably because they don’t see the red come out with my kids.  I’m just saying my dad voice is on point).  Anyway, my colleagues haven’t seen that from me.  It was a little unexpected.  The thing is I’m both red and yellow.  I’m extroverted and introverted.  I’m a poet and a market researcher.  I’m a dad who loves his family and a guy who loves his job (I see you working parents).  I’m someone who doesn’t take life too seriously, and still takes my work very seriously.  I’m sarcastic and sincere (or at least I try to be).  I’m not just one OR the other.  I’m a combination of ALL of these things, and you are a combination of many emotions, ideas, and beliefs as well.     

The challenge: Are you trying to see, understand, and leverage the multiple sides that people have?  Are you trying to see, understand, and leverage the multiple sides you have?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry


Werewolves, Full Moons, and the Zone (10-5-17)

It’s now October, and there is something spooky in the air as we prepare for fall and Halloween.  It only seemed right to start a series inspired by monsters and other spooky things.  This week we will think about full moons, werewolves, and getting in the zone. 

Whether it’s the Wolfman, Teen Wolf, An American Werewolf in London, Underworld, or some other story, you’ve probably heard of werewolves.  The idea is that a person is cursed/blessed with the ability to morph from their human form to a wolf form.  In many versions of the stories, werewolves change with a full moon.  When they change they unleash the power that’s been trapped inside of them.  In many stories the transformation is so disorienting that the wolves can’t control themselves, while in other stories the wolves can harness, focus, and direct their skills.  In case you’re curious the next full moon is the Harvest Moon starting tomorrow.

You might be wondering what full moons and werewolves have to do with anything.  I think it’s fascinating that werewolves have a trigger that enables them to unleash their inner power and strength.  How cool would it be if we had a similar trigger that enabled us to unleash our true strength?  Imagine the possibilities and how much work and life would be different if we unleashed our true strength on a more regular basis.  While werewolves are fictional (supposedly) it is actually possible for humans to unleash their inner strength to perform at their peak state.  Often, this is referred to as getting “in the zone” or in a “flow state.”  Over the years I’ve read a lot of articles about this and I even took a Sports Psychology class in college that focused on this idea.  I personally most often experience flow states when I’m performing poetry or presenting.  When I’m in this zone, time slows, and everything I do is effortless.  If you want to read a short article about getting in the zone click HERE. 

Anyway, the more I read about being in “the zone” of in “the flow” the more I see that we can find ways to consistently get to this state.  In a way, we can unleash our inner werewolf.  Most of the things I’ve read suggest that in order to get in the zone you need to have the right routines and the right context around us.  When you have the right routines and right context then your subconscious mind is able to take over and you are able to perform at another level.  When it comes to routines, what do you do to get in the zone?  Maybe you have a song, an outfit, a motion, or something else you do to get yourself focused.  When it comes to the right context, are we putting ourselves in and creating the right environment?  The environment could be where you are and it could also be the culture you work in. 

The challenge: What are you doing to “get in the zone” and unleash your true strength?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Cleaning the House- Begrudgingly or with Flair (9-27-17)

This will be the last in the series of lessons I’ve learned from doing stuff around the house.  We looked at ironing and development as well as taking out the trash and letting go of negative emotions.  We then thought about dusting and brushing off our skills.  We also reflected on ourselves and tools in a tool box.  Last week, we thought about my wife reorganizing the pantry and meeting customer needs.  This week I want to end by reflecting on how we approach cleaning the house.

When you clean do you clean or do you clean?  You might be wondering what the difference is between those two..  Well, the first version is begrudgingly cleaning the house.  The second version has italics, is bold, and is underlined which obviously means you are doing it with some flair 😉  In my house we turn cleaning into a game.  We might become ninjas who are taking out the evil germs.  We might become ghost busters going after dust bunnies.  Sometimes the vacuum becomes a monster that chases the girls around the house as they run and use their freeze powers to stop the evil vacuum monster.  Even when I’m by myself, I’m at least blasting some good tunes as I do everything from clean kitchens to bathrooms, and if you’d walk in on me you’d wonder if I was cleaning or having a one man dance off.  In case you’re wondering, I have moves, but that’s a story for a different day 😉 

So what does this have to do with work?  Cleaning the house is something that needs to get done.  At the same time, I have a choice in how I go about doing this.  I can choose to allow cleaning to be this horrible activity I have to suffer through.  I can choose to find ways to make cleaning enjoyable and maybe even insightful enough to inspire a few blogs 😉  The same thing can be said for work.  We do some amazingly important work.  We do things that are legitimately life changing.  At the same time, this isn’t all fun and glory.  There’s a lot of drudgery and grinding that we have to do.  We have projects, processes, meetings, etc. that we have to go through every day.  It’s easy to get lost in this grind.  At the same time, we can choose how to go about doing these things.  We can choose to bring in a smile and a high five.  We can choose to find joy in these moments.  We can choose to not always take ourselves so seriously.  We can choose to do these things begrudgingly or we can choose to approach these tasks with a mind that is looking for an opportunity to learn and maybe even a chance to have some fun. 

The challenge: Are you doing a job or doing a job?

Bonus lesson from cleaning-> Give people a role and a job to do that matters.  Whenever we clean I give the girls jobs and tell them why the jobs are important.  They are always willing to pitch in if they understand why the work they do matters.  In this case, Alice is the spray helper and Violet is the wiper.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Reorganzing a Pantry and Meeting Customer Needs (9-20-17)

Last week we talked about tools and knowing who you are and what you bring to the table.  This week is we will dive into doing house projects and addressing customer needs.

A few months ago I came home and my wife had reorganized the pantry.  See the picture.  Before we had the colorful tubs we placed things on the shelves and grouped them into categories.  The buckets took this grouping to the next level.  I was standing in the reorganized pantry and she asked, “What do you think?  Pretty great, huh?”  My face instantly gave away my answer, so she responded with, “You don’t like it.”  I respond with, “I’m mainly neutral.  I don’t understand why we needed to do this.”

My wife then says, “The buckets make it easier.  How many times have you went to bake something and you couldn’t find the ingredients, because everything was disorganized?  The tubs solve that issue and keep all of the like things together.”  There is a flaw in this argument.  I reminder her that I don’t bake.  Everything I cook is either grilled or on top of the stove in a skillet.  All of my grilling stuff is always easily accessible, so I’m not experiencing those problems.  Essentially, she is solving a problem for me that I don’t have or care about.  In fact, her doing this actually creates new problems for me.  Before I could just see the stuff on the shelves and now I have to spend the effort trying to fit things into tubs and looking inside the tubs to find what I want.  All of this results in me being neutral at best toward the new pantry, when my wife was super excited.  #awkward

How does this connect with work?  Essentially our job is to solve problems.  With that said, I see two ways how this anecdote connects to our work.  First, how often are we solving our problems vs. solving problems our customers face?  If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to fall in love with something cool and never stop to ask, “Does this actually even help a customer?” 

The second connection is when we attempt to solve the problems of our customers, are we connecting our solutions back to what they value?  The mistake my wife made is that she tried to tell me the tubs in the pantry solved an organization problem.  I didn’t have that issue.  If my wife wanted me to be thrilled about the tubs in the pantry all she had to do was reframe the solution.  She should have said this, “I’m here with the kids every day and they go in the pantry and mess stuff up all the time.  I feel I waste a lot of time dealing with that and it adds to the stress I already have of taking care of them and doing everything else that I do to help the family run.  I think these tubs will make things easier for me and take some of my stress away.”  If she would have framed it that way I would have thought the tubs were an awesome idea.  Why?  Because I would have said to myself, “The less stress she has, the less stress the family has.  She spent minimal money and I didn’t have to put in any effort to fix this.  If the tubs make her happy, then she should just go for it!”  Connecting this solution to what I value, completely would have changed how I responded to the solution.

The challenge: Are you doing something because it solves a problem that matters to you or because it solve a problem that matters to your customers?  Are you connecting the solutions you provide to what customers value?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

House Projects, Tools, and Knowing Who you are (9-13-17)

Last week we talked about dusting and our development.  This week I’d like us to reflect on ourselves, who we are, the value we bring, and tools for doing projects around the house.

Every year my wife and I choose a few projects to do around the house.  Some projects are bigger and require us to get help.  Some projects are small.  No matter what the project is one of the first things we do is figure out what tools we will need.  We then grab the tools and use them, understanding that one tool can’t do everything.  A hammer is a great hammer, but a horrible screwdriver.  Essentially, every tool has its own unique purpose and function.  In order to be successful, you need to have a collection of tools, because they all have their place and time when they are needed.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything.  I don’t know about you, but from time to time I still struggle with who I am and where I fit and the value this has to a team or group.  To continue with the analogy, sometimes I look around to see a world full of wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, pliers, etc. and say, “Do I need to be a wrench?  Should I be a hammer?  Maybe I should be a pair of pliers…”  Instead, what I should be doing is reflecting on what kind of tool I am and what I bring to the table. 

This was worse when I was younger and earlier in my career.  As I’ve grown up I’ve learned more about who I am, but still I have my doubts at times.  Over time, I’ve come to realize that in the grand scheme of things, I’m a tool that is part of a larger toolset that can be used to build things and solve problems.  For example, if I’m a drill, then I have certain things that I do well and certain things I don’t do as well.  My goal is to be the best drill I can be.  As I focus on trying to be the best drill I can be, I have to not get distracted by trying to become a wrench.  It doesn’t make sense for a drill to be a wrench when they have different strengths and functions.  At the same time, I need to be honest with myself and understand that not all problems can be solved by a drill.  Instead, sometimes the best person for a job is a tape measure, wrench, hammer, screwdriver, etc.  This small change in thinking has helped me appreciate others more and appreciate myself more. 

Another connection in the analogy is that as a leader, your job is to figure out how to solve problems, which means that the first thing you need to do is understand what tools you need and how to use those tools to solve the problems before you.  The main difference from doing household projects is that it’s not so easy to determine what you need.  It’s not like you have instructions telling you which tools you will need to complete the project.  Instead, you need to be willing to look at the problem from a variety of ways and then figure out how to leverage people and their gifts to figure things out.  You need to know when you need a screwdriver and when you already have one and could use a tape measure.

The challenge: Do you know who you are?  Do you know your strengths and weaknesses?  Do you leverage your strengths?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry