Flying Reindeer and Encouragement (12-4-13)

We made it past Thanksgiving and now we are in full tilt holiday season, complete with all kinds of Christmas specials including How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and good old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It’s Rudolph and a conversation I had a few weeks ago with a colleague about motivating people that has me thinking.

Do you know what Santa and great leaders have in common? They help people believe that they can fly (in Santa’s case, it’s reindeer and not people, but that’s just a small difference).

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I ever have walked into work and said, “Dang, this job is too simple.” In fact, I spend a fair amount of time thinking, “Wait, you’re asking me to do what? Do you realize that you’re sounding a little crazy right now? What you’re asking me to do is so big. I don’t know if I can do that.” I wonder if that’s how Rudolph or any of the other reindeer felt when they were first asked to fly.

The fact is that all of our jobs are complicated and only getting harder. Sooner or later someone is going to look at you and ask you to fly. There will be a moment, and in that instant you’ll jump into the air and soar or you won’t. Part of that moment will be on us, on our belief in ourselves, but part of that moment will be on the person asking you to do something difficult. Have they spent time building you up and giving you a reason to believe that you can fly?

I know this whole thing probably sounds corny, but think about the people you know and work with. There are people in my life who care for me, who inspire me, and who make me better, and then there are people who don’t. The ones who inspire me aren’t always people with fancy titles either. Santa (the historical or North Pole variety) is just an old guy motivated to do something nice for children. He still manages to inspire reindeer to soar through the skies and people to do nice things.

Here’s to helping people believe they can fly.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Batteries and Shutting Down vs. Recharging (11-6-13)

Pink. Fluffy. Drum. Rabbit. Energizer Bunny. What an interesting mascot for quite an inventive contraption, the battery. Think of how revolutionary the battery was when it was first introduced. Now a days, batteries can store tons of energy, can dispense it through various methods, and many batteries can even be recharged.

I’ve been thinking a lot about energy and batteries over the past few months leading up to the various meeting cycles. I think we can all agree that these few months have been draining. If the Energizer Bunny was doing our work he would have had to take a break by now.

This got me thinking. Do you shut off or do you recharge?

By design batteries need to do both and we do too. Battery powered devices need to shut off in order to preserve the life of the battery. We need to shut it down from time to time and disconnect from work in order to preserve our heartbeats, our battery life.

The thing is that shutting off is not the same as recharging. There is a big difference between deciding not to use any additional energy and doing something that refills the energy tank. Batteries need to be put in one of the chargers that can transfer energy back into them. We need to do the same. Are we finding those recharging stations? Are we serving as those recharging stations for others? I didn’t realize how bad I needed a recharge until last night. It was the end of the day, I was beat, tired, exhausted. I was invited to a breakout room after the final general session. This room was filled with customer experience champs. They were totally nerds for helping others. They were sharing stories about trying to push the movement forward, sharing successes, AND failures (because they are brave enough to roll that way). You could see it in the room. We were all tired, but as we talked it’s like our energy meters started going from red to green again. I’m sure none of them planned to recharge everyone like that, but that’s what happens when we unleash some of the things that give us energy to push on.

Now, are we all 100% fluffy Energizer Bunnies? No. We will still need to shut down and recuperate, but what I do know is that the energy they gave me put some fuel in the tanks. Do you shut off or do you recharge?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Unleashing your Inner Nerd (9-11-13)

You might have guessed, but I’ve spent the majority of my life as a proud nerd and a studier of nerds. There is a mystical attraction that surrounds nerds. Why? Well, nerds are the walking embodiment of love and passion, and what on earth is more magnetic than that? In case you didn’t know, nerds are classified by what they are obsessed with. You might think that you’re not a nerd, but the fact is that all of us have a little nerd in us somewhere.

For example, if you know who Kit Fisto is, then you’re probably a Star Wars nerd (Kennedy). If you know the difference between a Beater, Seeker, and a Golden Snitch you probably love Quidditch and are a Harry Potter nerd. If you know the differences between cabs, merlots, zinfandels, etc. then you are a “Vino Nerdo”. If your friends have ever told you that you have great taste in clothing that is just a nice way of telling you that you are a fashion nerd. If you spend each week playing a game on the computer where you assemble a team of warriors you are playing World of Warcraft or you’re a Fantasy Football nerd (Sorry. If it has “fantasy” in the title it is by default a nerd activity. This joke was stolen from Mr. Goodwin.)

Any great leader was/is a nerd and had a crusade or something that they were obsessed with. Nerds are the ones who change things. They get together with likeminded nerds and make things happen. I don’t know about you, but whenever I get together with similar nerds I leave energized and elevated to an entirely different level. Look no further than our local Do-It-Yourselfers (DIY nerds). They gather in people’s home and fix stuff…for free…just so they can nerd out. On a larger scale, nerds flock to comic and superhero conventions in droves dressed to the nines like their favorite characters and create experiences that are beyond the imaginations of most people.

I’m in the middle of working on the fall meeting cycle right now and I keep asking myself, What if we were brave enough to become nerds about impacting the lives of patients? What would change? Would that turn meetings into conventions where people came ready with fire and ideas beyond the imaginations of most people on how we could make the lives of patients better?

Here is to unleashing our inner nerd.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

“MacGyver” that. What does your name mean? (6-12-13)

A few weeks ago a diaper genie at my house broke (they call it a diaper genie, because when it’s gone you wish you had one). Anyway, I didn’t have any replacement parts or anything, so instead I got creative, used some super glue and stuff to fix it. I totally MacGyvered the thing. I’m sure we’ve all MacGyvered something in our lives.

MacGyver- noun- a character on a television show.

MacGyver-verb- as in “to MacGyver” to solve a problem with random things at your disposal.

How interesting is it that a character’s name has now become a verb that we can use in everyday life? What if our names were used as verbs, adjective, and nouns in everyday language?

Imagine, when my 14 month old daughter was acting up I could say that she was throwing a “Kanye West” (a huge temper tantrum). On Monday I could wake up and Cem (wear colorful socks that color coordinate with an outfit) or I could PJ (wear sports jackets combined with well placed pocket squares). During meetings I could Charlie Wilson (draw all over a whiteboard with high velocity) or Billy Brown (constantly drop into Six Sigma processes).

For the past week I keep thinking about what my name would mean if someone used it in a sentence as a verb, noun, or adjective. “I just Andrew Embryed that thing.” Hopefully, it would mean something pretty cool.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

I Want to be a Virus (6-5-13)

So I’m standing over at the credit union right next to some display or sign and an employee comes up to change the sign. She jokingly says, “I hope you don’t mind me in your space.” I respond, “That’s cool, but I’m contagious.” Without missing a beat she says, “Me too, we’ve probably already infected everyone around here.” We both start laughing, we chat a little more, and then I leave feeling a little bit more amused and happy than I had 10 minutes earlier. At this point I realized that when I grow up I want to be a virus.

That’s right a virus. I want to be a big incurable virus.

I want to be a plague, a global pandemic, dispersing through planes and hotel rooms. I want to spread through spores in the air, drinking water, and contact with people. I want to be so strong Clorox cleaning wipes and medicine can’t phase me. I want to hit people hard like rock and roll music and hugs from their grandma. Once I infect someone I want them to be so excited that they don’t sleep for 3 days and so relaxed that they feel like they are meditating when they are exercising. I want to impact their nervous system, helping them smile more. I want to mess with their ocular nerves and brain, making them shift the way they view things. Beyond cellular, I want to impact them on a molecular level.

The world needs some more love, so now seems like now is a perfect time to be contagious…

P.S One of my favorite scenes from I Am Legend with Will Smith. It’s a little heavy, but very true. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK-4SgpAJRs

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The First Spark

Hey everybody,

My name is Andrew Embry and I’m a husband, dad, superhero fan, employee, poet, writer, observer of things, catalyst, and a dot connector. A few years ago I began sharing stories with people at work that look at leadership and life lessons from unique perspectives. Over time, the list of people I shared those stories with grew and grew, and now I’m taking those stories and more to this blog.

As you read you’ll see that the stories cover a wide range of topics from leadership to prioritization to diversity and inclusion with connections to anything from washing dishes to lessons I’ve learned from raising two daughters. Along the way, I’ll share my learnings, mistakes, failures, and insecurities. I hope each entry sparks a few new thoughts in your mind, gives you a little sunlight when you need it, and inspires you to think a little differently. Thanks so much for reading.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

“From a little spark may burst a flame.”
― Dante Alighieri, Paradiso