Lessons Learned from being a Dad Part 1- Be Curious (8-13-14)

Over the next few weeks the theme is going to be “Lessons I’ve learned since becoming a dad”. Whether we have kids or not, I think we can all relate to these stories.

A few weeks ago I went on a 40 minute walk with Alice, my 2 year old, and we didn’t make it more than a half mile away from either side of the house. Every couple of steps she would stop to make some kind of an observation. “Hmmm, a stick. Cracks (in the sidewalk). Broke. Rocks. Whoa, big rocks! Kitty cat! Puppy!” She was pointing out anything that could potentially be interesting. I’m sure you’ve been in this boat before too with a young child.

There is something magical about the way a child views the world. Everything they see is new. Everything is worth noticing. Everything is a mystery waiting to be solved. In that 40 minute walk with Alice she helped me notice more things about the area right around my house than I had in the past year. I know it sounds corny, but one of my first thoughts after our walk was, “I hope she doesn’t grow out of her curiosity.”

Often, we lose our curiosity as we get older, and what was once novel becomes a series of patterns that we no longer acknowledge. We do this with things, but we also do this with people. Think of all of the uncharted territory that we could explore that we just don’t take advantage of. Imagine all of the additional information we would seek out and explore if we would be as curious as little kids. Imagine how we would be able to use our curiosity to find new connections and discover new solutions to ever changing problems. Think about all of the patients we could help in the process.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Bonus lesson from Alice: Be you. Yes. That’s my daughter wearing a batgirl outfit with a sparkly dress dragging a stuffed “tick tock croc” (crocodile) on a sled for a walk to the park. Some ask why, but Alice asks, “Why not?” Hopefully she never loses her muchness…

Geese and Leadership (7-30-14)

Last week was about ducks and leadership. This week we’d like to reflect on geese and leadership.

One interesting aspect about leadership is the concept of strength. Often when we think of strength we think of muscles and power. We sometimes think that strong leaders are the ones who can carry the weight of the world on their shoulders like Atlas. This isn’t necessarily true. A strong leader is one with a vision and a purpose, but there is also much more than that.

A strong leader is like a goose. Geese assemble themselves in a V formation, understanding that working together allows them to go farther than they could go alone. This only works if everyone plays their role.

Where the strength comes in for the geese is that the leader is strong enough to know that they can’t lead the charge on their own. The lead goose flaps and flies, leading the group as far as they can, and then when their strength is fading they drop back in the formation. Their strength comes not from their might, but from their willingness to allow others to lead. As someone else leads the V formation, the other geese are not silent. They consistently honk, encouraging the leader to keep going. It takes strength to rid yourself of your own ego and dedicate yourself to lifting someone else up.

Now think of work. How do you measure strength when it comes to leaders? Think of all of the leaders who have to be the center of attention, who have to feel like they are the ones carrying the movement. This is how they operate. Do you want to follow people like that? Do you know any leaders who are like geese? Can you think of the people who carry the load, but are strong enough to let other people lead the movement? These are the people who give purpose, vision, direction, and so much encouragement that sooner or later you begin to fly.

We are trying to change as an organization. It will take a long time and we will have to travel a long distance. There’s an African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” If we want to go far we will need our own V formation, and we will need leaders as strong as geese to guide us there. Are you brave and strong enough to be a goose?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Ducks, Trains, and Leadership (7-23-14)

Over the past two weeks we have thought of leadership as it relates to tractors and terminators. This week I’d like us to think of leadership as it relates to trains and ducks.

If you watch a train cross the tracks you first see the engine. Then you see all of the cars following the engine. At first glance you could argue that the engine then must be the leader. After all, the train is strong, powerful, and leading the way. If you really think about it though, the engine just pulls the cars along. They follow, because they have to. Think of all of the supervisors you have had. How many of them pulled you along without ever really being a leader?

Now think of ducks swimming in a pond almost single file. There is a duck in the front and all of the other ones are following, moving in the same direction. There is not a tether or any device forcing them to go along, so why do they? Why do they willingly follow? The answer is simple, but not easy. It’s because the duck in the front has proven that he or she is worth following.

I bring this up, because often we ask, “What makes a leader?” We answer that question by listing traits and skills. These things are important, but having these traits and skills doesn’t necessarily make someone a leader. The thing that makes a leader is people who are willing to follow. Instead of always thinking about traits and skills, we should focus on figuring out what we can do to make ourselves worth following.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Simplicity and Yo-yos (7-2-14)

When I was younger I used to be good with yo-yos. I only wish I was as good as this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq3rn8g15po. I love yo-yos because they epitomize simplicity. This simplicity combined with gravity allows people to do some amazing things if they will put in the time to master the art.

Think about how a yo-yo connects back to what this blog has recently discussed. At its core a yo-yo is basically a wheel and axle attached to a string. It has been sculpted to its elegant essence and not overly engineered (last week’s message). You have something simple (a yo-yo), but that doesn’t mean it’s easy (“simple does not equal easy” from two weeks ago). How much time do you think that person had to put in before these tricks became second nature?

There is still one thing left though. Once we have that essence and communicated it in a simple way, how do we pull it through? That’s the third thing a yo-yo can teach us. Once you have uncovered the simple essence of something: you keep going back to that essence, just like a yo-yo is meant to always come back to your hand.

Think of the video. If the yo-yo doesn’t return to his hand, then those tricks are not impressive. Instead, they are just a bunch of twirls and loops that end up looking like a convoluted mess. Does this sound like any presentations, communications, or movements you have witnessed? They might start with a great essence, but the essence is never revisited so it gets lost. When the essence gets lost, the power is lost. Now think about things that have resonated with you over a long period of time. What was different? I would bet the farm that it’s because that person found a simple essence that resonated with you and whenever there was an opportunity they connected everything back to that essence, reinvigorating it with renewed passion and energy. Everything kept coming back to that essence just like a yo-yo going back to the person’s hand. How did you feel when someone was able to keep that essence alive and strong?

If we want to do amazing things, if we want to spark and support change in ourselves and others, then we need to embrace this yo-yo mentality. We need to put in the time and effort to sculpt a simple essence and then we need to keep going back to it again and again, just like a yo-yo doing tricks before snapping back to our hands. It won’t be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.

Have a jolly good day and a wonderful holiday,

Andrew Embry

Simplicity and Sculpting Communications (6-25-14)

Let’s stay focused on simple, and think about our role when it comes to communicating. I recently read an article and there was a quote from Bruce Lee that struck me. “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” This was his secret to mastery. This is also the secret to communicating things in a simple way.

Last week was about making sure that we put in the time and effort to try to process a concept before we declare it too complicated. This week is about being a sculptor. I believe that all people are sculptors. As you can read in the quote above, even when we are building something we are also sculpting. We are trying to shape it, focus it, and cut away the non-essentials. We do all of these things in order to reveal the elegant essence of something, and that’s where the beauty and power exist.

Sculpting and my poetry failure…

As you probably know I write poetry (if you ever want some, just ask 😉 Anyway, I submitted a poem to a college contest and got rejected. The person reviewing the applications was a friend and talked to me about it. She pulls out a poem and says, “You had this awesome theme going and this is the best line in the poem. Up until this point we were all captivated. Then, you added all of this stuff that is good, but it doesn’t really build off of your central theme. If anything, this extra material took away from the power in your theme. My advice to you, once you have identified that powerful theme or that riveting line figure out how to build off of it. If you can build on it, then you can layer more in. If you detract when you add stuff, then don’t add stuff. Why would you add on things and distill your message?”

Now, my ego was bruised, because I thought all of my lines and themes were riveting but she had a great point. Have you ever experienced anything like that where you added “good” stuff that just detracted? Now, all of my poems, presentations, and even these emails start long and I cut without mercy until I feel that I have revealed the simple powerful essence of what I am trying to communicate. Am I perfect? No, but I’m a lot more focused than I used to be.

The question I keep asking myself is, “Am I putting in the time to sculpt what I am trying to communicate or showing them a full block of marble, hoping that they will be able to see the vision?”

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Here is the link to the article http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2014/06/one-key-to-story-design-is-to-hack-away-at-the-unessential.html

Simple does NOT Equal Easy (6-18-14)

All apples are fruits, but that doesn’t mean that all fruits are apples. Apples and oranges are not interchangeable. I feel the same way about “simple” and “easy”. Things that are initially easy are simple, but this doesn’t mean that all simple things are initially easy. For example, riding a bike is simple and easy, right? Not really. Nobody jumped on a bike for the first time and said, “Whoa, this is easy and simple!” Instead, we practiced with training wheels and then after that we crashed and fell a lot until we finally figured out how to ride a bike. Now riding a bike is simple, because we put the work.

We live in a world that is growing increasingly complex, and we keep trying to find ways to simplify it. Getting to simple is not easy. It’s not magic. Getting to simple is hard work. Making things simple requires 2 distinct processes. You need one person to communicate things in a way that reveals the essence AND the person listening needs to put in the mental work to internalize concepts until they understand them. Often, if we don’t think something is simple we blame the person for not being able to boil a complex idea into a one pager or 3 bullet points on a slide. However, if we are honest with ourselves we aren’t always willing to put in the hard work to think through concepts in order to make them simple.

Together we are trying to do things that are simple but not easy. We are trying to be more patient centric and we are evolving to more of a strategic account management thought process where we spend more trying to understand our customers and accounts, plan how to deliver value, and execute the plan in a way that will provide value to customers. These concepts are simple, but all of the work that goes into being able to do these things is not easy. There are a lot of working parts and we need to put in the due diligence to think through how they fit together.

As leaders, how are we setting the standard that we expect people to spend significant time thinking through concepts before saying, “It’s not simple enough” and throwing out the ideas?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Busy as Bees or Focused as Bees? (6-11-14)

I was mowing over the weekend and all of a sudden these mini-epiphanies started hitting me about bees and busyness. Recently I read a couple articles about why we need to stop bragging about being busy. We all do this by the way. Someone asks how you’re doing and we respond, “Staying busy.” Sometimes we even take it to the next level and list everything we are doing in life just to prove how busy we are. The articles comment on these behaviors and basically say that being busy is a new status symbol and if we aren’t bragging about how busy we are afraid that society won’t value us.

Here is where the bees come in, because there is a saying “busy as bees”. When I was mowing I realized that we have been viewing bees incorrectly. We associate them with being busy when we should associate them with being FOCUSED.

Think for a moment. What are you like and how do you feel when you are BUSY? I feel chaotic, frantic, consumed by activity, like I’m spinning my wheels, not productive, etc. What are you like and how do you feel when you are FOCUSED? I feel honed in, powerful, clarity, streamlined, productive, etc. Big difference right?

Traditionally, we assume bees are busy, because we see them flying around everywhere. We see activity. What we don’t understand is that their activity is focused on one or two goals, gathering food or contributing to the hive. That’s focus. That’s not just being busy. That’s not just activity.

When I think about my career, I don’t think I being busy vs. focused was a matter of the hours I put in. Instead, it was a matter of having my priorities right. What I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt is that when I’m focused my work is leap and bounds better than when I am busy all of the time. Contrary to what we would like to think and tell others, when I’m busy I’m not productive or valuable. When I am focused I am a heck of a lot more valuable to work, my family, and my friends.

Are you a busy bee or a focused bee?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Links to the article I mentioned.

Leadership, Vision, and Ink Blot Tests (4-2-14)

Take a second and look at the picture above. What do you see?

This is an official image from the Rorschach test also known as the ink blot test. Participants view the ink blots, and then are asked to share what they see and how they came to those conclusions.

If you stop and think about it, being a leader is a lot like taking the ink blot test. Your senses are being overloaded with confusing and murky information. Then, you are supposed to gaze into everything that is going on and formulate a crystal clear vision along with rationale for why you see things the way you do. Your vision and your ability to communicate this vision are critical to the success of the team you are leading.

Back to the ink blots. When you looked at the image, you probably only looked for a few short seconds, picked out the first thing you saw, and then settled on that. This is if you even looked at the image at all. If you would look at the image longer you could see other things. The more you practice, the faster you are able to see the patterns. I started by seeing wolves and a butterfly. As I gazed longer I could see an angel, a glider, two women standing back to back, and other things.

The same goes for leadership vision. How often do we create a vision and direction based on a very short time thinking and analyzing the big messy picture? Worse yet, how often do we just proceed not knowing where we are really going? Are you spending enough time looking at the bigger picture and finding the patterns that will enable us to have success and help customers?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Centered vs. Focused->Customer Centricity vs. Customer Focus (2-9-14)

Has anyone else seen that Nike is going to make Marty McFly shoes! That got me daydreaming about going on a day trip in a Delorean.

Let’s take it all the way back to the late 1400s and early 1500s. If you were like most people at the time you would think that the sun is bright and worth focusing on, but the earth is the center of our galaxy. Then, one day Copernicus came along and theorized that actually the sun is the center of our galaxy, not the other way around. Talk about blowing minds and shattering paradigms…

Now, let’s come back to the present. What is your life centered on? What are things that you focus on in life? For me, my life centers on and revolves around my family. Everything I do I do for them. Now I focus on a few things, being a great partner at work, writing poems, performing slam, etc., but everything I do always connects back to my family. Do you see the difference between centered and focused?

I bring this up, because one day a colleague pointed out to me that we use the phrases “customer centric” and “customer focused” like they were interchangeable, but they aren’t. Being customer focused means that we are only this way when we are really thinking about it. On the other hand, being customer centered means that everything we are doing, big or small, revolves around helping customers. If the customer is the sun in our solar system, then that light and gravity should be dictating everything that we do.

Are you customer centered, patient focused, or neither?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Captain America’s Shield and being Proactive (2-12-14)

It’s near Valentine’s Day and we’re being bombarded by images of love. How do you show love and keep love alive? Here is where we can take a page from Captain America’s book. Check out this quick clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqpnjf3NKDo .

Most of the time, a shield is just used for defense, but Captain America uses his shield for a defensive AND an offensive weapon. If you stop a moment and think about people who make you feel loved, I’m sure that you’ll notice a neat pattern. They tend to use their understanding of you the same way that Captain America uses his shield, BOTH reactively and proactively.

Non-work example

Reactive-I know that the dishwasher is full, and I wait until my wife asks me to empty the dishwasher. I do it. She is content.
Proactive- If I know the dishwasher is full, I could empty before she ever asks. Later she sees that I did this without being asked to, and instead of just feeling content, she thinks I’m the best husband in the year. The difference is that I showed initiative which demonstrates that I pay attention to situations, understand how they apply to her, and I take action. (I know, romantic situation right? That’s real when you have kids. That act right there is better than a dozen long stem red roses).

Our Work

Have you ever been asked by a colleague or a customer to do something? You tell them that you’ll have to go work on it/think about it. You go do it and tell them it’s done. The person leaves the situation feeling content. This is using knowledge in a reactive way.

Now, think about the same situation. The colleague or customer asks you to do something. Imagine how different everything becomes if you’re able to respond by saying, “Actually, based on what I learned in past conversations and some of the the things going on, I thought we might run into this. Here’s what I think we can do.” Better yet, you take care of the issue before it even really happens. How do you think that person would feel? I know that when I have seen people who are proactive I walk away super impressed and feeling that they care about the cause I care about. I start having more faith and trust in them.

How cool would it be if we could deliver that type of experience to our customers and each other more often?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry