Garage Door Motors and Customer Solutions (5-18-22)

Last week was about fixing garage door sensors and seeing things through the eyes of our customers. This week we will continue our garage door story and look at right sizing solutions.

As I mentioned last week, basically everything about the garage door except the door itself broke. After the guy assessed the damage, he came back to me and offered a few different estimates. One of the key differences in the estimates was the price of the motor that physically opened the garage door. Naturally, I asked him the difference between the more and less expensive motors. The basic model was a solid garage door motor that would last for years. The upgraded model was also dependable with regards to opening the door for years to come PLUS it had a brighter garage light, a built-in camera, and blue tooth capabilities so I could open and close the garage with my phone. I looked at the repair man and explained, “The upgraded model sounds really cool, but I just need something that can open and close the door.” I appreciated the fact that he wasn’t a pushy salesperson. He recognized that I was a consumer who didn’t care about all the bells and whistles, so he proceeded to give me the solution that fit my needs.

How does this connect to anything? In the above example, the upgraded garage door motor is not bad. In fact, there are some people who would likely appreciate and benefit from what the upgraded motor has to offer. It’s just not what I need. The best thing the repair person did was understand who I am as a customer and then tailored his solution offering to me. Tailoring solutions isn’t easy. I don’t know about you, but throughout my career which has spanned sales, communications, training, market research, and marketing, I’ve found that when we build solutions it’s easy to lose sight of who we are building for. In all these roles I’ve had moments where I became so enamored with what I thought was cool that I didn’t pause to think about whether it would ultimately serve my customer. Has this ever happened to you? Much like the repair person, we could probably all benefit from making sure we understand the people we serve and better tailoring to their needs.

The challenge: Are you building solutions to be cool for you OR are you building them to meet the needs of our customers?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Garage Door Sensors and Seeing Through the Eyes of our Customers (5-11-22)

This week we will kick-off a series inspired by home improvements. We’ll start by looking at garage door sensors and seeing things through the eyes of our customers.

The other night we heard a random noise, and then the next morning the garage door couldn’t open. I called a repair person to come and check it out. My wife told me to make sure I had him look at the sensors. She explained they annoyed her sometimes because they were so finicky and would stop the door from closing properly. The repair person arrives and basically everything is broken EXCEPT the door itself. While the sensors weren’t broken, I mentioned that my wife had issues with them from time to time and I’d have to adjust them once every couple of months to get them working. It wasn’t a big deal, but still asked if he could do anything to help with those.

He replaced all the broken parts and hooked us up with new sensors (see beautiful picture). Fast forward a few days and my wife is raving about how the repairs have changed her life. I was confused why she was so excited about a working garage door. She told me she was excited the sensors worked. That’s when I learned that although I might have only been adjusting them once every couple of months, she was having almost daily fights with the sensors. I was only being notified of the issue if she was unable to get it to work. This revelation put her desire for new garage door sensors in a new light.

What does this have to do with anything? In the above situation, I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of the sensor problem. I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. I was so fixated on MY experience with the garage door sensors that I never stopped to consider that my wife could be having a different experience. If I would have known how troublesome the sensors were, I likely would have tried to do something to fix them sooner. As I reflect on this story, I can’t help but see the parallels to being customer centric. As we serve our customers, how often do we truly understand their needs? More importantly, how often do we truly understand the magnitude of what they are going through? The things that might seem small to us, might be significant to the people we serve. The only way we can help them is by walking in their shoes and truly seeing the world from their perspective.

The challenge: Are you seeing situations through the eyes of your customers?

Bonus thought: Take the above learning about customers and apply it to the people you lead. Do you truly understand things from their perspective?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Struggles of Parenting and Developing Parenting/Leadership Skills (5-4-22)

This will be the last in our series about lessons I’ve learned as a dad. This week is about the struggles of parenting and developing parenting/leadership skills.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time talking to my wife, friends, and therapists about the struggles of parenting. If I’m being honest, I’ve never consistently failed at something the way I do with parenting. Parenting is making constant mistakes. Parenting is consistently recognizing that the worldview that I was programmed isn’t always the right one. Parenting is a constant reminder that my current skillsets aren’t quite good enough, and I have SOOOOOOOOO much room to grow. Do any of you parents feel similarly?

When I talk about room to grow, I don’t just mean switching up parenting styles. I mean building parenting competencies and working on the fundamental skills that are required to be a good parent. If I had to oversimplify where I am, I have so much room to grow with regards to demonstrating empathy, understanding, and grace. I invest time in getting better at these things, so I can be a better dad. After all, my family deserves it.

You might be wondering what this has to do with anything. I’ve said before that parenting is the same thing as leadership. Look at the above paragraph and replace the word parenting with leadership.

If I’m being honest, I’ve never consistently failed at something the way I do with leadership. Leadership is making constant mistakes. Leadership is consistently recognizing that the worldview I was programmed with isn’t always the right one. Leadership is a constant reminder that my current skillsets aren’t quite good enough, and I have SOOOOOOOOO much room to grow. Does anyone else feel this way?

Similar to parenting, when it comes to developing as a leader it’s not just about changing the style. It’s about looking at the competencies of leadership and working to develop those. It’s investing time in learning and practicing how to set a clear vision, how to create an environment where people feel like they belong, how to prioritize work, how to make decisions, how to hold others accountable, how to help people develop, and more. Like being a parent, it’s important to invest in getting better, because that is what will bring out the best in your team.

The challenge: Where do you need to grow as a parent/leader? How are you growing as a parent/leader?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Parenting and Building Human Connection (4-27-22)

A person and person taking a selfie

Description automatically generated with low confidence Happy Wednesday,

Last week was about transparency and age-appropriate truth. This week is about being strong enough to build human connection.

It had been a rough day for Violet. It came to a crescendo when she hit her sister and faced negative consequences. Violet was furious when she got in trouble. She lost all control and started yelling mean things at me. She even told me she hated me. In full honesty, the first thoughts that went through my head were angry ones. There was a huge part of me that just wanted to yell back, but I didn’t. I realized her display of anger wasn’t about me. It was about her. I remembered that in tense moments, often the best thing we can do is take an action that leads to human connection, not separation. Yelling at her would have just shut her down. While she would have been quiet, it wouldn’t have been healthy. Instead of yelling, I looked at her and said, “I know you’re angry, and I also think you’re sad or hurting. I know when I’m sad or hurting I sometimes lash out to try to hurt people to make them feel bad too. You can be mad. I still love you. I’ll give you space and check on you in a few minutes.”

I came back later. Violet had calmed down. I asked if she wanted to talk. She was super sad. She cried because she just had a rough day where nothing went right. She felt like she was in a bit of a funk and didn’t know when it would end. She was really frustrated by everything. She eventually apologized to me. Throughout all of it, I just held her, validated her feelings, and helped her sort through things.

What does this have to do with anything? In life and sometimes at work, we get into tense situations. Tempers flare, words are said, and anger is thrown out into the open. When tensions rise, the natural instinct is to get defensive and to return fire with fire. What’s really happening though is that the person’s emotions and the way they are dealing with them are saying a lot more about them than they are about you. It’s important to understand that if a person is having such a strong reaction there are emotions underneath that are making them hurt or scared. When people are hurt or scared, they don’t need more anger and aggression. What they need is connection. Maybe that connection is empathy. Maybe it’s someone asking questions to show they care and are listening. Maybe it’s just sitting there with them as things diffuse.

The challenge: When things are emotionally tense how will you build human connection?

Bonus thought: Brene Brown recently wrote a booked called Atlas of the Heart that dives deeper into understanding emotions. It’s shaping how I’m viewing the world and worth a read. I hear she has a miniseries on HBO Max too, where she discusses some of the content.

Other side notes: Before you think I’m some zen master, I’m not. I screw up a lot, and totally messed up just this past weekend. This story is from one time when I got it right, and that made all the difference. Also, the hammock picture is from a different day. Few things are better than hammock snuggles.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Parenting, Age Appropriate Truth, and Transparency (4-20-22)

Last week was about rock climbing and modeling behavior. This week is about transparency and “age appropriate” truth. It is inspired by Stacy Burdett.

When Stacy and I worked together she once told me that she made a pact to herself that she wouldn’t lie or avoid topics with her kids. Instead, she always strives to deliver “age appropriate” truth. That stuck with me and that’s a concept my wife and I have adopted. “Age appropriate” truth is another way of talking about the layers of transparency. We don’t lie or avoid topics. We try to give them as much insight as we believe they can handle, are clear on why we can’t tell them more in certain situations, and we explain when we will be able to get into more detail. Sometimes we can’t tell them more, because we don’t know. Sometimes, we can’t tell them more, because we don’t feel they have the maturity and capacity to handle it. We may not give them the full truth with every single detail, but we strive to be as transparent as possible no matter the topic. We’ve talked about bodies, bodily functions, race, racism, sexuality, sexual orientation, social classes, and so many more things.

It’s hard to have these kinds of conversations. It would be so much easier to lie to my kids or avoid the tough questions. It’s also hard to know what the “age appropriate” truth is and how much they can handle. I know I’ve made mistakes. Sometimes, we’ve shared too little, and they felt we were hiding things. Sometimes, we probably shared a little more than they were ready for. Sometimes, we didn’t do a good enough job of explaining why we couldn’t share more now and when we will share more in the future. This is something my wife and I continue to work on, because the goal is to always share truth.

What does this have to do with anything? As I’ve said before, being a parent is just like being a leader. As leader, we are constantly trying to navigate how transparent we can be and should be about something. My favorite leaders are the ones who deliver the work version of “age appropriate” truth. They are the ones who tell you what they can AND are clear why they may not be able to tell you more. Even if I do not like the message they are delivering, I appreciate them, because they are showing respect for me and my capacity to handle truth. Do you know any leaders like this? Other leaders fail when it comes to transparency because they are either not being honest to begin with and/or they are not being transparent about when they will be able to share more. These types of leaders often make me feel like I’m being lied to, which erodes trust. Have you ever felt this way?

The challenge: As a leader, how are you delivering the work version of “age appropriate” truth?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Parenting, Indoor Rock Climbing, and Modeling Behavior (4-13-22)

Last week was about Legos and seeing more than imperfections. This week is about rock climbing and leading by example.

A few months ago, my family went to Hoosier Heights, an indoor rock-climbing place that has bouldering (free climb) and auto-belay systems where you can clip in and climb more vertically. As we were driving over there, we thought the kids would be excited. Turns out, the place got a little crowded, the kids got anxious, and were too afraid to climb. It looked like a doomed adventure, until my wife nonchalantly went over to the auto belay area, clipped in, and started climbing. The girls watched, saw how much fun she was having and that it was totally safe. I climbed a couple of times too as the girls watched. Finally, they decided they wanted to try. They were still scared. However, they had seen us do it, so they were brave enough to try. At first, they got about 2 feet off the ground. We celebrated and encouraged them. They kept climbing and sometimes we climbed beside them. Eventually they were getting about halfway up the wall (6 or so feet up). They never made it to the top but going further than you ever have always beats not attempting.

What does this have to do with anything? I’m convinced that the only reason the kids tried climbing is because my wife casually modeled bravery and what to do. My wife didn’t make it a huge production. She didn’t give some moving speech. She just stepped in and demonstrated what to do. I then followed her lead. Eventually, the girls did too.

In many ways this makes me think of leadership. As a leader, you’re often going to be in situations where people are a little bit nervous/anxious/confused. They might be paralyzed. The best thing for you to do is lean in and model what the behavior looks like. Even if you don’t have official authority, your actions set the tone and trajectory for your team and your culture. If you want a team that values people, model what that looks like. If you want a team that values vulnerability, model what that looks like. If you want a team that values transparency, model what that looks like. If you want a team that values trying new things, model what that looks like. People will follow your lead, so you need to ensure your behavior is worth emulating.

The challenge: What behaviors are you modeling?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Lego Jeeps and Seeing More Than Imperfections (4-6-22)

This week we are going to start a series about lessons I’ve learned being a dad. We’ll start with building Lego Jeeps and seeing more than imperfections.

Alice (10) loves Legos. She’s built all kinds of cool things over the years. For Christmas she received a set to build a Jeep. The set had hundreds of pieces and was pretty tricky to put together. She basically locked herself in her room for a couple of days and didn’t come out until it was completed Alice was so excited and proud of herself. She rushed downstairs to show me. Now, I’m not proud of what I’m about to say. The first thing I did when I saw it was comment on how one of the wheels wasn’t right. That’s right. I ignored her enthusiasm. I ignored how hard she worked. I ignored that she managed to do something very difficult 99% correctly. Instead, I focused on the 1 thing she missed. Not going to lie, it kind of crushed her a bit, and then I was sad because I made her feel that way. After I realized what I had done, I apologized and switched gears to make sure she understood how excited and proud of her I was. After she understood that, we worked together to rebuild the wheel. By the end of the conversation, she felt better than when I initially crushed her heart.

What does this have to do with anything? Have you ever been Alice at work? I know I have. I’ve had things that I’ve worked on, been super excited about, and then brought them to someone only to have them point out all the flaws without acknowledging any of the effort that went into this. When this happened, I felt crushed. I felt like I hadn’t been seen. It also made me wonder if I really wanted to share things with that person again if they were going to crush it right away. To be clear, I’m not saying we should avoid giving criticism. What I think we can do a better job of is seeing the progress and effort vs. only focusing on imperfections. If we can recognize the initial effort and progress first, then I think it opens us up to have a more honest and meaningful conversation about where we can make progress and address flaws.

The challenge: How can we better balance recognizing progress vs. focusing on imperfections?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Quarterly Reviews in Business and Life (3-30-22)

This is a one-off entry about quarterly reviews in business and life.

It’s hard to believe that the end of Q1 is tomorrow. The first quarter is always integral to the success of the year for a few reasons. First, the momentum generated in Q1 is often what carries the business to its goals for the rest of the year. Second, if things aren’t quite going as well as the company hoped they would there is still time to make changes. With this in mind, the moment Q1 officially ends, businesses across the country will begin analyzing their books to see how they are doing. They will calculate sales and growth. They’ll look at selling, general, and administrative expenses. They’ll look at their investments and evaluate ROI. As they perform these calculations, they’ll ask 2 simple questions. How are we tracking toward our goals? Are we investing our resources wisely? From there, they will adjust things as needed.

What does this have to do with anything? What if we applied the quarterly review process to our own lives? What if we spent just a few minutes asking ourselves the two questions outlined earlier (How are we tracking toward our goals? Are we investing our resources wisely?) If you paused a moment to do this, what would you find out about yourself? How might you adjust things?

The challenge: Will you take the time to do a quick quarterly review? What adjustments will you make after doing one?

Bonus: Here is my mini-quarter review based on the dimensions in my life I set goals for. Sharing in hopes that it might spark your reflections.

Career- (B+) The goal is to feel mastery and magic in my role. I’m tracking toward that, but not there yet. Q1 was a hard grind, but I’m feeling good about things and have momentum taking me into Q2. I’ve learned a heck of a lot and contributed in meaningful ways. As I look at Q2 I know my personal career success will hinge on my ability to prioritize and on my ability to take care of myself (Physical Health) so I can perform. On the prioritization front, I’m blocking 2-5 every Friday to make sure I pause, plan, and prioritize. Each week I’ll focus on 3 things I HAVE to get done.
Physical Health- (C+) The goal is to get stronger and feel energetic. I’m a bit of a mixed bag with this goal. I’m on track with my goal of completing an obstacle course race every quarter with one done in January and one coming up in May. That’s a huge positive. However, while I’m doing good on the physical activity front, I had about a month during the meeting cycle timeframe where my nutrition and sleep were non-existent and I didn’t do the things I needed to do to process stress. I have to do a better job on those fronts. For me this all comes down to finding and sticking to a routine.
Financial- (B) The goal is to hit our savings/investment targets. Things are going well here. I’ve found that if the money isn’t in my account I can’t spend it. Every year we do a lump sum save, so we can hit that goal. The majority of the money we plan to save for the year has already been moved into the right accounts/investments and my financial advisor is telling me I’m in good shape. With that said, we can do better by not spending money on all the small things that quickly add up.
Family- (A) The goal is to feel like I’m being an amazing husband and dad. I feel I’m doing great in this area. I’ve been really focused on being present and patient in all things. I feel I’ve made some great improvements here. As a bonus, my wife and I have date nights set up for the rest of the year, which is awesome! Side note, you know you’re married with younger kids when your date nights often turn into going to a bookstore, picking up Yats, going on walks, and just low key chilling with no responsibilities.
Fun/Social- (A) The goal here is to plan and take all my vacation days. All of my vacations are booked for the year! Almost everything is planned. I just have to go on them now!

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Super Mario, Warp Pipes, and Looking for New Ways of Doing Things (3-23-22)

Happy Wednesday,

This is the last entry in our Super Mario series. We started with Super Stars and how we aren’t always invincible. We looked at Luigi and being brave enough to face fear. We thought about leveraging strengths and being curious about each other. This week is about Super Mario, secret warp zones, and looking for different ways of doing things.

The original Super Mario Brothers game was a simple side scrolling game. When I first played the game as a little kid, I assumed that I would need to fight through EVERY single level. The layout and design for the first level made it clear that the screen would scroll in one direction and that I needed to reach the flag at the end of each level to complete it. I ASSUMED I would need to repeat this process over and over and over again. However, I was wrong. If you kept your eyes open and tried new things, you could find hidden passages aka warp zones that could enable you to skip entire worlds. See the picture.

What does this have to do with anything? While work isn’t a side scrolling video game, it is a system comprised of standard rules, approaches, processes, and frameworks that we use daily. In some ways, all those things help us move faster. However, sometimes, those things become programming that we start to follow without realizing it. Similar to my experience with Mario, we get so used to the way things are designed that we don’t question if those rules, approaches, processes, and frameworks are always the best ones. One of my mantras is “There is always the hidden option.” It doesn’t mean that I necessarily know what the hidden option is. It doesn’t mean that the hidden option is always best. Instead, it’s a constant reminder that I shouldn’t allow myself to become so comfortable in the status quo that I stop searching for something better. Who knows if exploring a little bit outside of the status quo might help us find our own warp zone to better serve our customers?

The challenge: Will you break the status quo and keep your eyes open for a new way of doing things?

Bonus real world example: Last fall I had A, B, C workstreams I wanted to work on in parallel. I was told that our processes dictated that I only do one at a time, so I’d have to do A then B then C. Doing the projects in this way was the standard approach, but it would also add weeks to our timelines and make us miss our deadlines. Instead of accepting this, I researched the process. I realized technically we could work on A, B, and C simultaneously, even though we normally didn’t do it that way. I called the person who owned the process, explained the situation, and how we could work on A, B, and C at the same time and still be compliant with the process. They basically said, “That’s different, but you can still do it. I just need you to email Bob and then make a note in the system about this, so we remember.” All of a sudden, the things that couldn’t be done because of the process were now being done. We were able to work on A, B, and C to hit our deadlines, and all I ended up doing was researching a process, having an extra conversation, and sending an email. It was about 30 minutes of work to shave weeks off our timeline. It’s all because I kept my eyes open for the hidden option when I hit a wall, and I found that warp pipe to get us to where we needed to be.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Shy Guy and Allowing Ourselves to be Curious (3-16-22)

Last week was about leveraging our strengths and the strengths of others. This week is about Shy Guy and allowing ourselves to be curious.

Shy Guy is a relatively minor side character and Super Mario enemy. See the image. A few years ago, I stumbled across an image of Shy Guy and I paused. This character I had known since I was a little kid, now had piqued my curiosity. There was something intriguing about a character wearing a mask and robe. As I looked at him, I began to wonder. What is his story? What are some of his favorite memories? How does he feel about things? As I explored my curiosity, I began to write different things. “Shy Guy doesn’t talk much but has journals full of sweet love poems.” and “Shy Guy wears a mask, so the world can’t see him snickering.” From there I began to write poems further exploring who he is. As I did this, I quickly realized this quirky character had more depth than I ever imagined. (Poems are at the bottom of this blog if you’re intrigued.)

What does this have to do with anything? I gave myself permission to be curious about Shy Guy and it led me to explore and better understand a character I had never given a second thought to. We live in a world focused on speed and rushing, which often interferes with our ability to slow down and be curious. Imagine what would happen if we gave ourselves permission to be more curious about our work and the people we work with. Imagine how we would have a deeper appreciation for each other if we gave ourselves permission to spend a few more valuable minutes trying to understand someone’s story, their motivation, and the way they see the world. Imagine how much stronger our relationships would be. Imagine how much more beauty we would see.

The challenge: Are you giving yourself permission to be curious and explore?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Shy Guy Poems

Shy Guy and Soul Music
3 months. 13 days.
Shy Guy sneaks around his house.
Stealthy.
Silent.
He doesn’t want the curtains to know.
He pounces, shutting them.
The house entirely dark
he stumbles over furniture to find the light.
He curses as he trips.
He peeks outside one more time.
No one is watching.

He blows the dust off the record player.
Memories float up into the air with the dirt specks.

He thinks of his mother,
clutching his hand and his teddy.
Showing them how to twist.
The pearls around her neck
moving in time with the music.

Shy Guy has never been to church,
but is convinced this is soul music.
James Brown.
Funk starts hitting Shy Guy like a wrecking ball,
making the walls he built around himself crumble.

Slowly.
His foot starts tapping.
Slowly.
He smiles again.
Slowly.
He begins peeling back the curtains.

Andrew Embry 2010

Shy Guy Haiku 1

Mask over his mouth.

Hooded robe over body.

He tells no secrets.

Shy Guy Haiku 2

Black holes for his eyes.

Nothing escapes his strong gaze.

No words leave his mouth.

Shy Guy Haiku 3

Mario villain.

Koopa henchman is a monk.

Meek inherit earth.

(Shy Guy) Mask over Heaven

His blackhole eyes consume literary galaxies
with stars and the heavens swirling.
Gravity so strong words cannot escape him.
Not even these,
so fragile
with black ink so faded.
He puts down Milton for the night.

His fingers fiddle with folds of his fierce fire fleece hooded robe.
He places the book down on his nightstand.
His mask beside it.
His beads are already on the door
moving with the night breeze like purple butterfly wings.
With the cloister so quiet
he ruminates
on his own paradise lost.

Andrew Embry 2010

(Shy Guy) Unzipping Closed Secrets

He only speaks before bedtime.
Shy Guy whispers secrets into ziploc bags.
Presses his fingers hard together
sealing every last syllable in tight.

She receives the gift.
Shy Guy blushes burgundy in a white mask.
Surprise!
How can empty ziploc bags weigh so much?

Andrew Embry 2010