The Cost of Being Different Part 3 Paying the Price of Change and of Being Different (7-20-16)

This week I want us to really challenge ourselves by reflecting on paying the price for being different.  Pretend that you and a group of 4 people pool money to buy stocks.   

  1. Stock A costs $100.  It is low risk and low return.  If things go as they should a $100 investment will become $120. Your group says there is a 95% chance it will play out like this.  The group recommends you split up the cost evenly, so everyone will throw in $20.  If the stock is successful you’ll each keep some of the winnings, but you’ll also share some with the group so they can continue to make future investments.
  • Stock B costs $100.  It is high risk and high return.  If things go as they should a $100 investment will become $300. Your group says there is a 30% chance it will play out like this, so it is too risky for them.  One friend offered to throw in $10, but you’ll have to come up with the rest on your own.  You think there is about an 80% chance it will work.  If the stock is successful you’ll keep a majority of the winnings, but you’ll also share some with the group so they can continue to make future investments.

Would you invest in A or B and what does that have to do with work?  Stock A represents doing things the way they’ve always been done.  Safe, easy, low return.  Stock B represents doing things differently. 

They will tell you that B is too risky and it can’t be done.  They will tell you that you are limiting your career, you risk failure, etc.  What you will have is a CHOICE.  You will choose to invest in Stock A or Stock B.  You’ll be the one to decide if being different and doing things differently is worth the risk.  Your choice will impact the culture.   If you choose to be different you will choose to take on the additional cost burden and risk of not following the status quo.  If you fail, you will gain more of the blame.  If you are successful you will gain more of the reward.  If you succeed consistently while doing things differently, then you will change things.  Sooner or later people will begin to view change and being different as less risky.  Over time they will realize doing things differently has an 80% chance of success and they will eventually be willing to invest with you in Stock B.  Essentially, if you pay the cost of being different and have consistent success, you will bring down the cost of being different AND increase the benefits of being different for yourself AND others.

Here’s the catch.  None of this is fair.  It’s not fair, because the price we pay for being different is variable person to person and the cost is always higher than we want it to be.  Just because the cost of being different is variable, doesn’t mean it’s easy for me, you, or anybody.  This isn’t fair, but everyday we’re forced to make the decision to go with the status quo or invest in ourselves and pay the price of being different.  There are times when it will be worth the price to pay and times when it won’t.  It’s always a steep price to pay, but then again nothing worth anything is ever free.

The challenge-> Are you willing to pay the price for being different for yourself?  Are you willing to pay the price for being different to help others?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Cost of Being Different Part 2 Sandwiches and the Cost of Being Different (7-13-16)

Last week we talked about diversity, inclusion, and the cost of pizza.  This week I want us to dive deeper into the cost of being different. You’ve probably seen some kind of value equation before.  It looks like this.  Value=Benefit/Cost.  If the benefit is much higher than the cost you have a great value.  If the cost is much higher than the benefit you have a low value.  If you want to increase value you need to increase the benefit, lower the cost, or do both.  You can apply this equation to everything.  Let’s look at a two different scenarios involving sandwiches. 

  1. I charge you $5 for your favorite sandwich.  How do you feel?  You’re probably happy because the benefits to you of eating that sandwich outweigh the cost.
  2. I charge you $500 for your favorite sandwich.  How do you feel?  Once you see I’m going to charge you $500 you probably back out of the deal, because there is no way the benefits could outweigh the cost.

Now YOU are in charge of the sandwich shop.  Would you ever sell a sandwich that cost $500?  You wouldn’t do that, because there is no way the benefits could ever be bigger than the cost of the sandwich for potential customers.  You’d bring the price down to ensure that people would see the value and buy the sandwich.

What does this have to do with work?  Everything fits into the value equation, including being different.  Value of being different= (Benefit of being different)/(Cost of being different).  If we look at the culture we work in it is easy to see the cost of being different.  Those costs include: putting yourself out there, putting in extra time and energy that might never pay off, not always feeling supported, not feeling like you can share different views, the energy to go against the grain, etc.  These costs are often so apparent that they mask the benefits of being different.  These costs hide the fact that being different can lead to better work and better actions to help patients.

If you were the sandwich shop owner you would lower the price of the sandwich, so people would be willing to buy it.  Are you doing the same thing at work?  Whether you have “official” authority or not, YOU are part owner in this sandwich shop we call Lilly.  If this is the case, then you have the ability to influence the cost of being different.  What are you doing to bring down the cost of being different?  How are you lowering the cost of being different so people are willing to try doing something new and/or being themselves?  Seriously, take a second and answer the question.  If I look in the mirror I realize that I can do more to bring that cost down.

The challenge->What are you doing to bring down the cost of being different?

By the way, a lot has been going on lately.  You know I love you, right?  I’m not even going to pretend I can understand how you may or may not be feeling.  What I do know is that I care about you.  Whether we know each other well or have only met over email I care about you as a person.  I have plenty of hugs and a couple of ears to listen if you ever need anything.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Cost of Being Different Part 1 Diversity, Inclusion, and the Cost of Great Pizza (7-6-16)

This week we will kick off a new series I’m calling “The Cost of Being Different.”  We’ll start by thinking about diversity, inclusion, and the cost of great pizza. 

How many different kinds of pizza have you had in your life?  Include anything from middle school pizza to frozen to chains to local restaurants.  Now the important question.  How many of those experiences/pizzas have been amazing?  I’ve probably had hundreds of pizzas, but if I had to pick ones that get me really excited I can only think of a handful of places.  This is surprising to me, because at face value making pizza looks pretty simple.  You make some dough, add sauce, add cheese, put on toppings, and bake it until it’s done.  Anybody can make pizza.  If it’s so simple, why isn’t all pizza amazing?

Maybe creating something as simple as pizza isn’t all that easy.  Maybe it’s a lot more complicated.  Maybe it takes more concentration, focus, and skill then I’d care to admit.  First, there’s the dough.  It’s about making a crust that isn’t too floury or too doughy and can support the weight of the pizza.  Then, there’s the sauce, which must be the perfect blend of herbs and spices to simultaneously pull all of the flavors together and accentuate them.  There are the toppings themselves, where it’s important to think about how each topping will impact the flavors of the others.  I want to eat something that feels pulled together and not just a heaping pound of stuff.  Finally, there’s the cheese that has to be melted enough to hold everything together, but not too much where it’s runny or too hard where it ruins the pizza.  Great pizza requires the best ingredients cooked in the best way.  Great pizza isn’t cheap.  The best pizza costs more in terms of the extra time, effort, and energy to ensure they create something extraordinary. 

How does this connect with diversity, inclusion, and work?  We sometimes talk about diversity and inclusion like it is as simple as pizza.  All we have to do is put a bunch of different people in a room and then magically it will all come together.  It doesn’t work like that.  It’s not that easy.  It’s not that cheap.  It costs more than that.  It costs and requires attention and people being intentional.  It requires a leader who makes inclusion part of the foundation of the team (dough).  It needs a culture that brings out the best in each other (sauce).  It requires people who can be great on their own who are also willing to be part of something larger (toppings).   It needs a purpose that holds everything together just right (cheese). 

Think about the teams/groups you’ve been part of.  How many of them have been magical?  How many are just okay?  How many have been subpar?  None of this happens by accident.  This all happens because of the things we do or do not do.  Creating an inclusive culture isn’t cheap.  Creating an inclusive culture costs more.  It costs more in terms of time, effort, and energy.  An inclusive culture pays off with better teams.

The challenge: What are you doing to make your team (your pizza) extraordinary?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Loyalty, Time, and the Cost of a Batphone (6-29-16)

A couple of weeks ago we talked about being intentional with people.  This week we will explore the result of being intentional with people by looking at the cost/value of a Batphone.  In DC Comics Batman has given Commissioner Jim Gordon a Batphone, which is a direct line that enables Gordon to call Batman whenever he needs help.  This Batphone gives the Commissioner access to Batman and everything he has.  It’s virtually priceless.  Something worth so much, must cost a great deal, so what did it cost Gordon to earn the Batphone?  The “cost” was the TIME and EFFORT it took Gordon to prove to Batman that he was a partner in the fight against crime.

How does this connect to work?  Think about the people you work with.  Who has given you a Batphone, a promise to help you whenever, with all of their might?  Who have you given a Batphone to?  Who would you bend over backwards to help and why?  What did it “cost” them?  

I’d like to share the story of how I recently gave a Batphone to Sally (made up name for a real story).  I don’t work for her or owe her anything.  I just happened to work on a project with her, so why would I give her a Batphone?  One day Sally was so busy she didn’t even have time to eat lunch.  We had a one on one meeting scheduled.  I saw her and saw how busy she was, so I told her that I didn’t have anything uber critical at that time, so we didn’t need to meet that day.  She could have walked away, but instead she said she wanted to meet with me anyway.  I didn’t have anything business critical, so why did she want to meet?  She told me, “I just want to know how you’re doing with work and life and that I’m giving you everything you need to be successful on this project you’re helping with.”  We spent 15 talking about life and work.  How do you think this made me feel?  At the time she didn’t realize this was a big deal for me, but that moment right there was when I knew I’d go the extra mile for her just because she showed she cared.  Her “down payment” on a Batphone to Andrew Embry “cost” her 15 minutes and a display of caring.

What does an Embry Batphone get you?  An Embry Batphone gets you access to everything I can do and everything I have in my possession to help you.  The other day Sally emailed me to ask a favor that had nothing to do with the project or any other work I was doing.  When I saw the email was from her, I stopped the work I was doing on another project so I could send her a thoughtful response to her email in an immediate fashion.  I also told her I’d be willing to chat more if she wanted.  She was appreciative and thankful, so I told her just to ask if she ever thought I could help and I’d do what I could to provide some ideas.  Then I sent her the Batphone image in this email and said, “Consider this your Batphone.  Call whenever you need me.”  I don’t work for Sally.  I don’t owe her anything, but I choose to offer her everything because of her spending the time and effort to show she cares about me.  For 15 minutes and a few other “small” gestures she gets a Batphone to Andrew Embry and everything that comes with it.

The Challenge: What are you doing to earn a Batphone from the people you work with?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Prioritization and Dishwashers Part 5: Clarity’s Kryptonite (6-22-16)

This will be the last in the series on prioritization.  We’ve talked about dishwashers in regards to capacity, process, learning, and being intentional with people.  Bottom line is prioritization is all about clarity.  If you have clarity then you can appropriately prioritize.  This week we are going to look at clarity’s kryptonite, an interesting conundrum of a lifeform called people. 

Imagine for a moment that you had all of the dishes in the dishwasher and you were getting ready to start the cycle.  Right before you did I ran up and started throwing stuff in there, which completely jacked everything up.  What would you do?  Would you run the dishwasher as is?  Would you attempt to rearrange the dishes?  Would you remove some dishes?  This would never happen at work, right?  Imagine you have your projects you are working on, and then someone starts throwing new projects (dishes) at you, because they are clearly priorities.  What would you do?  I know this never happens, but what if it did?  How would you feel?  It would be frustrating, right?  What would you do?

Why does this happen?  This happens because people are beautiful, emotional, flawed, and limited creatures as opposed to purely calculating robots.  I love people and find myself frustrated by them at the same time.  The thing is that we live in a world that is evolving rapidly and since people aren’t robots with amazing terabyte processing power the answers and insights we are looking for are never clean.  For all of these reasons, what I’ve come to realize is that people (myself included) are NOT particularly good when it comes to clarity and truly understanding what they want.

So how does this understanding connect with our work?  It changes the way we can approach people when they want to change our priorities.  In the past, I would assume that the person asking me to change priorities was purely rational and knew exactly what they were doing, why they were doing it, and the outcome that would occur.  Therefore, I would agree and do what they said without asking any questions.  This always led to problems and complications, because I’d do work that really wasn’t that important or I’d do work where I didn’t understand the end game.  Not good. 

I’ve realized people are not robots and expecting them to have everything figured out when they don’t live in my world is a poor expectation to have.  Instead of instantly agreeing to requests, I seek clarity before I do anything.  First, I talk to them and reinforce what my current priorities are and why.  Second, I ask questions to figure out what the person wants to change, why, and what impact that will have on the other work going on.  Depending on the outcome of that conversation one of two things happens.  The person realizes that what they want me to do isn’t as important as other things, so we drop it or I gain a new understanding of how and why my priorities are evolving, why this new project is important, and we figure out how to rebalance things.  I can’t come to this place without having the conversation to gain clarity.

The challenge: Are you asking the questions to find the clarity you need before you accept projects and change priorities?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Prioritization and Dishwashers Part 4: Being Intentional and Washing Wine Glasses by Hand (6-15-16)

This week we will continue the dishwasher analogy with a focus on being intentional with help from Ryan Dawson and Steve Guthrie.  After they read the initial dishwasher email about capacity, they sent me emails challenging me that not everything should go in the dishwasher.  Ryan said that there are some things that are so important that they need to be washed by hand and Steve mentioned some very nice wine glasses that he always washes by hand, because that is the care they deserve and require. 

Notice how they are being INTENTIONAL about what they do and why they do it.  They make intentional choices about what to put or not put in the dishwasher.  Before we can think about being intentional let me ask you two questions.  What is your job?  What is your role in the organization?  When you answered those questions, did you focus on the stuff you deliver for the organization or did you also think about your role in influencing the people around you?  I’d argue that whether you are a supervisor or an individual contributor, your role in the organization is larger than just delivering stuff.  The people I view as great leaders are the ones who understand that positively impacting others around you is as important as delivering stuff. 

When you are creating priorities, are you also intentional about what you want to accomplish with people?  Continuing with Guthrie’s metaphor, people are like wine glasses.  You need to handle them with care and purpose.  You need to be aware of what you’re trying to accomplish with them.  Being intentional with people could be about executing specific strategies, but many times it’s about intentionally doing the little things.

A little thing I like to do is send emails with what I think are cool pictures like the featured dinosaur.  Over the years I’ve had a lot of people joke with me and say, “Where do you find the time to find these images?”  This comment always interests me.  The premise of the joke is that I find the pictures because I have an abundance of time.  What if I told you this isn’t the case?  What if I told you I actually prioritize time to find funny pictures to send?  I intentionally take the time to send cool pictures, because I think the extra effort will show people how much I care about them and that I want to brighten their day.  I want people to know I care, because I view part of my purpose in the organization is to make people laugh and feel loved.  If I can make people laugh and feel loved, then we become closer and we do better work together.  Better partnership equals better results, which means we help more patients.  I have decided that the benefit from the better partnership far outweighs the few seconds I spend on Google trying to find a fun image to send.

The challenge:  Leadership is about delivering stuff and impacting people.  How intentional are you about what you want to accomplish with people?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Prioritization and Dishwashers Part 3: Prioritizing Learning (6-8-16)

Happy Wednesday,

The inspiration from folks keeps pouring in.  Last week we talked about dishwashers and the process for prioritizing.  This week we’ll talk about prioritization, making the dishwasher better, and learning.  This week’s entry is inspired by Katy Swathwood. 

Let’s pretend for a moment that you want to make my dishwasher more effective.  How would you do this?  I wouldn’t paint my dishwasher.  I wouldn’t put new buttons or decorations on it, because those things wouldn’t help the dishwasher be more effective.  Instead, I might take a few different approaches.  Maybe I’d find a way to increase water pressure.  Maybe I’d invest in new dishwashing detergent that could do a better job.  As Katy suggested, I could even spend time Googling how to properly place dishes in the dishwasher. 

How does this connect with work?  After Katy read the last blog entry she sent me this message that has stuck with me all week.  “The other piece I’d add- that I think to many of us overlook- is making learning and growing a priority.  If you are using a strategic priority or objective as a guide, it could be easy to overlook or dismiss an opportunity to learn and grow as a thinker, employee and person.  If we take the time to learn, it may in fact help us get better at reaching our strategic objective in the long run.”  The questions of the day.  Do you make learning a priority?  If you do, what do you focus on learning?

Connecting improving a dishwasher and improving yourself.  Now think about improving the dishwasher for a minute.  I’d spend time improving things that would help the dishwasher be more effective.  Think about your job for minute.  Are you spending the time investing in the right things that can help you be better?  Are you investing in the right skills that help you reach your goals and objectives?

Andrew example.  I work in Market Research, and my coaches, mentors, and colleagues all agree that the best of the best Market Researchers have to be great at Problem Definition and Communicating and Influencing, so these are the two main things I’ve been working on.  I’ve asked for coaching (from my boss, peers, and mentors), created frameworks, asked for advice from people much much much better than me all in an effort to become better at Problem Definition and Communicating and Influencing., etc.   There are a million of things I could focus on developing, but I focus on those two areas, because those are the things that would make me a better Market Researcher and enhance my ability to ultimately help patients.

The challenge:  Are you making learning a priority?  Are you working on developing in areas that matter?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Prioritization and Dishwashers Part 2: Prioritization and Process (6-1-16)

Last week we kicked off a series on prioritization by looking at dishwashers and the trade-off between how many dishes you can fit in (quantity) and how clean you can get the dishes (quality).  This week’s message is inspired by Kathy Pearson and Nitin Gupte and continues with the dishwasher analogy.  After reading last week’s blog Kathy sent me this short message.

“My experience is that the men in my household (husband, son) do not load the dishwasher correctly/efficiently.  I am always able to get more in, and make sure everything gets cleaned.  It got me to thinking there may be a role for process or expertise in your analogy.”

Now this got me thinking about a few different things.  First, the men in her house need to step their game up.  They probably aren’t in KP’s ballpark to begin with and their lack of dishwasher loading skills aren’t helping.  Second, I agree that as my expertise grows, so does my capacity.  There is a night and day difference between the amount of and quality of the work I do now vs. what I did when I first came inside.  Third, the process angle is fascinating to me and it made me think of something Nitin Gupte explained in an email to me.  Nitin used to work at Whirlpool, so he explained to me that Whirlpool actually tests how to best maximize the efficiency of a dishwasher.  Whirlpool has tested and verified that there is a process you need to follow for loading the dishes in the correct way in order to maximize the dishwasher’s efficiency.

You might be wondering how this connects to work.  What is your process for prioritizing things?  Seriously, stop for a moment.  If I asked you how you prioritize things could you give me a good answer?  Over the past few years I have created my own process for gaining clarity and prioritizing projects based on things I have learned from supervisors, mentors, and peers.  Essentially I ask three questions.

  1. What is our overarching strategy/objectives? (This is the criteria I use to make decisions on what to do.)
  2. How would this project help us achieve our objectives listed in our strategy? (This helps me determine if I should even consider doing the thing.  If it doesn’t connect, why do it?)
  3. How would this project be more impactful to the strategy than other things I’m working on? (This helps me figure out importance, so I can decide what to deprioritize if necessary)

Simple questions, right?  Now think about the work you’re doing.  Can you give clear and concise answers to those questions?  I’ve found that if I can’t give a clear and definitive answer to those questions then I either shouldn’t do the project or I lack clarity somewhere.  If I lack clarity, I can’t appropriately prioritize.  If I can’t appropriately prioritize, I can’t be as effective as I could be.  Once again, think about your work.  Could you clearly articulate how it links back to the objectives of the overall strategy and how it will help drive success?

The challenge: What is your process for prioritizing things?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Prioritization and Dishwashers Part 1 (5-25-16)

I’m back from vacation and back into the fire.  Does this feel familiar to anyone?  That’s why I’d like to kick off a series exploring prioritization. 

Imagine you have a dishwasher and a lot of dirty dishes that you need to clean.  What questions would you ask or what would you do to figure out how many dishes to put in the dishwasher?  Maybe you’d want to know how big the dishwasher is.  Maybe you’d measure the dishes.  This line of thinking leads you to ask, “How many dishes could I put in the dishwasher?”  I would take a different approach.  I would ask, “How clean do the dishes need to be when they come out of the dishwasher?”

My wife and I have disagreements about how full the dishwasher should be.  She tells me that I don’t put enough dishes in and that I waste potential capacity.  I tell her that when she overloads the dishwasher the dishes don’t get clean and we end up washing some of the dishes all over again which wastes time and energy.  The thing is that we are both correct, and this conversation is the crux of our prioritization problems at work.

So how many dishes should we put in the dishwasher?  What’s the right answer?  I’d say you should put in as many dishes as the dishwasher can wash before it starts having a negative impact on the dishwasher’s ability to get the dishes cleaned.  It’s a trade-off.  Period.  The more stuff I do, the less quality I can do it in, and I’d argue that’s the same for all of us.  The key is whether or not we can find and maintain the balance between quality and quantity. 

I don’t know about you, but there are times in my life when I allow myself to be overfilled.  My to-do list becomes a mile long.  I become swamped and exhausted, because I’m unable to truly be focused.  I can try to do my best, but I end up doing subpar as a human, husband, dad, and/or employee.  Often, I end up having to go back and rework the stuff I did, because I didn’t do it right the first time.   As I continue to grow, I’m learning to do a better job of understanding the decisions about how I spend my time always involve a trade-off.  I understand that there are times when I just need to put my head down and crank things out that are a little messy, but there are also times when I need to protect myself to ensure that I have the mind space to do a great job at home and at work.  Bottom line: all work is not equal, so I shouldn’t treat it that way.

The Challenge: When you are thinking through your capacity are you trying to figure out how much you can do or are you trying to focus on how good the work needs to be?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Superhero Lessons Part 7 Spider-man Wisdom (5-11-16)

This is going to be the last in the series of lessons I’ve learned from superheroes.  We started with a story about finding and reaching the finish line with Batman and The Flash.  Then, we talked about how we need to overcome our fear like Green Lantern in order to reach our goals.  We also talked about embracing all sides of ourselves (Wonder Woman) and embracing all sides of our teams (X-men).  We’ve talked about Iron Man and understanding that we can’t be everything to everyone.  Last week we thought about how we can learn to view the world differently from a blind superhero named Daredevil.  This week we’ll wrap everything up in webs and end this series with wisdom from Spider-man.

If you have ever heard of Spider-man you have probably heard the quote, “With great power comes great responsibility.”  The short version of the story is that Peter Parker had been granted amazing powers after a being bitten by a radioactive spider.  There was a bad guy that he could have stopped with his powers, but he chose not to.  That bad guy then ended up killing his Uncle Ben.  From that point on Peter Parker became Spider-man and set out to use his powers for good, because he realized it was his responsibility to do so.

So what does this have to do with our work?  We all have great power.  The power could come in the form of authority, influence, and/or the strengths that we can share.  We started this series by talking about reaching a finish line, and I firmly believe it is all of our responsibilities to use the powers we have to help our teammates cross that finish line.  Someone once asked me why I blog and perform poetry at Lilly.  It’s because those are the superpowers I was born with.  If I had been born with tremendous intellect or other skills I would be using those to help others, but I don’t have those things.  Instead, I tell stories and share poems.  These were the superpowers I was born with, but they aren’t “mine”.  They are a blessing on loan.  If I can use my words to make a difference, if I can write something that inspires people to think differently, if I can do anything to bring people together, if I can find a way to give people a little boost when they need it, then it’s my responsibility to do so. 

The Challenge: What are you doing with your superpowers?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry