Blog #650- Central Air, Systems, and Being a Leader/Technician (8-6-25)

This is going to be the final entry in the series about replacing my air conditioning. Last week we explored how leaders can create a cooler and more comfortable environment. This week I want to dive deeper into this idea by exploring central air conditioning as an integrated system and being a leader/technician.

When my air conditioning was broken, my thermostat still worked. We could set it to the desired temperature. However, some parts of the integrated system didn’t work. It was pushing air around, but unable to cool the air. As a result, even if we had the temperature set where we wanted it to be, the system was unable to deliver those results. The technician knew the thermostat was fine, and also knew the only way to achieve the desired result would be to upgrade the parts and system.

What does this have to do with work? A thermostat is a lot like a vision. The thermostat/vision can be set clearly and correctly. However, the vision doesn’t matter if we haven’t set up the pieces and processes in a way that enables us to achieve that vision. Have you ever encountered a situation where a vision couldn’t be achieved in the current system? Maybe, you were asked to move faster, but our internal processes were not set up to enable speed and there were not the right tools to be more efficient. Maybe you were asked to be bold and take on more risks, but the processes and governance around you didn’t empower you to make decisions. The system must be designed to support the vision.

With this in mind, great leaders aren’t just people who set the thermostat. Great leaders aren’t just people who create successful environments with words. Great leaders are the technicians who ensure the other pieces and processes will lead to achieving the vision. Great leaders are the ones who say, “We want to move faster, well X is getting in the way. X either needs to be removed or replaced by something that gives us speed. Let’s take Y process and totally reimagine it to fit our needs vs the way we’ve always done things.”

The challenge: Will you be a leader who just sets the thermostat (vision) or will you be the leader/technician who builds a system that leads to success?

Bonus: This is blog #650. Thanks so much for reading and encouraging me throughout the years to keep writing. I appreciate you all being part of this journey! If you have any favorite blogs or topics, I’d love to hear about them.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Leadership and Outside vs Inside Temperature (7-29-25)

Last week was about patching holes vs installing a new HVAC system. This week is about leadership and the temperature outside vs creating the temperature inside.

The first day that our air conditioning stopped working, the temperature only went up a couple of degrees. It wasn’t too bad. Then, as the temperature shot up outside, the temperature inside kept getting hotter and hotter. Throughout this, we tried to do the same things around the house we would normally do like clean, cook, etc. However, we struggled as the environment around us became hotter and we became more tired and irritable. Once the new AC unit was installed it took time, but eventually the inside of the house became cooler even though the outside was hot as ever. Once things were cooler, it was just a bit easier to do all our normal things around the house.

You might be wondering where this is going. Air conditioning does not stop heat. Instead, it creates a space where it’s just a little bit cooler. That cooler space is more manageable, a little more comfortable. It makes it a little bit easier to do the things you need to do. Similarly, good leaders don’t stop the heat. Good leaders don’t have the ability to wave a magical wand and remove all environmental obstacles, internal hurdles, etc. Good leaders do create a space that is a little more comfortable. It’s a space that makes it a little bit easier to do the things you need to do. Maybe they do this by bringing clarity to the situation. Maybe they do this by bringing in compassion. Maybe they do this by making clear trade-offs. If you’re lucky your leader does all these and more. The bottom line is that the best leaders create the spaces where it’s a bit easier to have success.

The challenge: As a leader, how are you creating a “cool” space for people to flourish?

Bonus observation: I see a fair amount of people getting burnt out from always being in the heat. It’s easy to say it’s their fault, because they didn’t prioritize their work, they didn’t make trade-off decisions, they didn’t handle the stress well, etc. I understand there is some accountability on the individual. I would also argue that this is actually more reflective of a leadership failure within the organization/system. If the leader is clear on the vision and makes clear trade-offs concerning what will and won’t be worked on by their team, then this creates a “cooler” environment where it is easier for employees to stay focused on the right things. It’s easier for employees to focus on the value add work and not burn out. If the leader doesn’t make these calls, then they are letting all the heat in from outside, which contributes a lot to stress, burnout, and more.

Positive real world example. I went to my boss a couple of weeks ago and talked about how I was drowning in work, and how I wanted to make sure he and I were aligned on what matters most. His response was, “What are the 3 most important things you need to execute to provide value to the organization?” I told him, and we aligned on those 3 things. Most importantly, he acknowledged the trade-offs. I’d go all in on those 3 things and we’d be okay if everything else was either slow and/or did not get done. Included in the “don’t worry about it pile” were the emails and asks he had sent me about things not related to those 3 key focus areas. When he aligned on the trade-offs, he stuck by that even when some of his requests were now going to be ignored 😉 That’s what prioritization and making trade-offs looks like. That 5 minute conversation and alignment quickly made the temperature cooler. It made it easier for me to focus and do the things I needed to do.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Goals and Means (1-22-25)

Last week was about discussing goals with others. This week is about being clear on the means we will use to achieve those goals.

I mentioned last week that one of my goals is to get stronger, more specifically it’s to increase the amount of weight I lift on a weekly basis by 15-20% for the year. At this point, the outcome is relatively clear. However, the means to get there are not so clear, and the means matter. I could increase my strength in a lot of ways. I could take steroids, which likely wouldn’t be good for me or my family. I get super grumpy when I take steroids for poison ivy 😉 I could cheat by sandbagging my baseline, which would make any improvements larger than they are. I could follow a variety of exercise splits (push/pull/legs, full body, etc). I could workout 10 minutes per day or 3 hours per day. The means matter. Some of them are cheating. Some of them have negative impacts on me and others. Some of them involve making other trade-offs I would need to consider.

What does this have to do with work? Often, we are clear about the outcomes we want, but we are not as clear about the behaviors and means we want to see as people deliver those outcomes. Have you ever seen someone deliver the desired outcome, but leave a trail of dead bodies on the path to get there? I have. Have you ever seen someone deliver the desired outcome, but they caused way more chaos and fire drills than were necessary? I have. Have you ever seen anyone deliver an outcome, but they didn’t collaborate or inform folks along the way? I have. When people reach the outcome via poor means, that’s not a success and it likely does a fair amount of damage along the way. The means matter. As leaders and colleagues, we all need to be clear about the behaviors and means that we hope to see from each other.

The challenge: What are your goals? HOW will you go about achieving those goals?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Patio Furniture, Making Decisions, and Establishing Requirements (5-15-24)

Last week was about patio furniture and designing spaces to drive behaviors. This week is about patio furniture, making decisions, and establishing requirements.

Before purchasing the new patio furniture, my wife, kids, and I had a few conversations about what we wanted out of the furniture. We had talked about A LOT of different things. It began to feel a little overwhelming. Then, I sat down with my wife and we whiteboarded requirements. I’m dead serious. Few things are better than whiteboarding with a loved one 😉 We listed what were requirements vs nice to haves. The initial list of requirements was too long, so we ended up narrowing it down to 3-4 things that we absolutely needed to have. This level of clarity made the buying decision less overwhelming and so much easier. Now, we could look at all the options and say, “Out of all of them only X number meet our 3-4 requirements. If those meet our requirements there is no longer a wrong choice. Let’s just pick one and go.”

What does this have to do with anything? It’s easy for major projects or big decisions to feel daunting. It’s easy to become paralyzed by all the pressure that comes with these. I believe that most of the time when big projects or decisions are daunting, it’s because we are not clear enough on what success looks like. If we can clearly articulate the 3-4 things that would make us choose one option over another or if we can outline the 3-4 things that will make a project successful, then it’s so much easier to deliver.

The challenge- Have you identified the success requirements?

Bonus real world application– The other day I was talking to someone about skill development. They listed off about 10-15 topics that they could focus on. It was A LOT. They asked me which ones I thought we should invest in. Instead, I asked, “What is are the 2-3 things that these people need to be able to do.” They responded, “They need to be able to do X, Y, and Z.” My next question was, “Can they already do X, Y, and Z?” The person replied, “They can already more or less do Y and Z. X is the biggest gap.” This gave us clarity on our requirements. We didn’t need to tackle everything. We needed to create interventions that would drive the knowledge and enhance the skills, so people could do X. All of a sudden an overwhelming list of 10-15 things, turned into a much more manageable 3-4 things to do.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Brand Extensions and Personal Branding (5-2-24)

Happy Thursday!

I thought I was done with the series on personal branding, but then the universe tapped me to write this one about brand extensions and personal branding.

What if I told you that Tide was going to open a laundromat? Would that make sense to you? I’m assuming you could see how that would fit with the Tide brand. The Tide brand stands for cleanliness and dealing with tough stains. Tide deals with tough stains as a liquid detergent, pods, and a to go pen. Having a Tide laundromat, isn’t too much of a stretch because of what the Tide brand stands for. If I told you that McDonald’s was going to open a laundromat, that would probably be a harder one to figure out 😉

What does this have to do with personal branding? If Tide only looked at itself as a laundry detergent, then it would have just stayed in that narrow space. Instead, Tide saw itself as a stain fighter, and realized that it had the opportunity to compete in any spaces that fight stains. On the personal branding side, I’ve had people in the past tell me that they wanted to expand and evolve their brand to help them switch career paths or do something different. They wanted to figure out how to do this in a way that made sense to other people, so those people would be willing to hire them and give them a shot. I think this comes down to two things. How narrowly do you define your brand? How well can you connect your brand essence to where you want to evolve?

I spoke to someone once who had a background as a scientist and was trying to establish themselves more as a marketer or market researcher. They were having trouble connecting their brand as a scientist to marketing. I explained that if they just saw themselves as a scientist, then there wasn’t much of a connection, because when people hear scientist they think of lab coats and experiments. If their brand is about being curious and about being intentional about testing hypotheses and leveraging data to make sound decisions (aka the scientific method) they start to sound like someone who works in market research or in marketing strategy. They had to step away from their initial narrow depiction of themselves, and then connect their essence to the problem needing to be solved.

The challenge- If you’re looking to evolve your brand, how do you define your brand? How do you connect your brand essence to where you’re going?

Bonus thought- During my Lilly career I’ve worked in sales, training, communications, market research, marketing, and my current market research innovation and capabilities role. On the surface, those things are very different from each other. On the surface, those brand extensions don’t make any sense. However, I don’t define my personal brand by a specific role. I’m a spark igniting storyteller. I tell stories that MOVE people. That’s what I do and enjoy doing and am good at doing. Using my energy and storytelling to move people is the golden thread that connects everything I do. When I’m on stage performing poetry, I move people to feel something. When I write blogs I move people to think differently. In sales I moved customers to try products. In training I moved learners to develop skills. In communications I moved people to think/feel/do certain things to accomplish organizational objectives. As a brand market researcher I moved people to make good business decisions, and there is something magic about this that brings me a lot of joy. In marketing I used tactics and channels to tell stories to move customers to do something. In my current role I try to lead people to take action to build a new future we are only beginning to imagine.

Bonus poem– I stumbled across a poem I performed about being in market research. It has some great tie ins to the essence of your brand and how it connects to opportunities. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrew-embry-979831b7_marketresearch-research-analytics-activity-7191644032991662080-QvGT?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Personal Branding and Delivering Experiences (5-1-24)

This will be the last in our series on personal branding. Last week was about brand vs image. This week is about personal brands and delivering experiences.

I’m about to ask you to think about specific people. These can be people you personally know, or they could be people you don’t know personally.

Think of a person who is always comes through in a clutch moment.
Think of a person who is insightful.
Think of someone with a great business mind.
Think of a person who is an inclusive leader.

For each of those people, take a second to think about what they specifically did that made you associate them with that trait. For example, you didn’t think someone was insightful, just because they told you they were. They did something and created an experience that made you stop and say, “Whoa. That made me think differently. They have something special.” I can think of a very specific person. They do an incredible job listening and looking at the entire situation, and then they ask questions that challenge my assumptions. I walk away from every conversation feeling smarter, because they asked questions to guide me to a new realization.

How does this connect with personal branding? I’m assuming that in each of those situations you could quickly think of someone. That means they have a strong brand associated with that trait 😉 I’m also assuming that you could think of specific things they have done to make you feel that way about them. Said another way, they created experiences with you that influenced the way you see them. Now, reflect on the personal brand you want to have. What do you want to stand for? What actions are you taking to reinforce your brand? What kind of experiences are you creating for others, and do they support the brand you want to create? The experiences we create with others don’t have to be large gestures. Instead, it’s often the consistency of small experiences we create that reinforces our brands with others.

The challenge- What actions do you need to take and what experiences do you need to deliver to make your brand a reality?

Bonus– Since you’ve already though of some cool people today, why don’t you drop them a line to let them know you were thinking of them.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Personal Branding: Image vs Brand (4-24-24)

Last week we explored how your brand may not be for everyone and that’s okay. This week we will look at image vs. brand.

Apple has been recognized as one of the most powerful brands in the world. When you hear Apple, what do you think of? One of the first things that comes to mind is the sleek design of their products. The things Apple does just look cool. Now, I want you to imagine a world where Apple products all continued to have the hip trendy designs, BUT none of them worked well. How do you think the world would feel about Apple? I’m assuming that Apple wouldn’t be appreciated, because that would not be a good value proposition. While it’s true that image and design is a component of the Apple brand, it’s NOT the entire brand. The Apple brand also stands for things like innovation, technology, challenging the status quo, simplicity, being intuitive, integration, genius bar, and customer wow moments. Their brand is more than just image and aesthetic, it’s a combination of other intangible promises that Apple makes to consumers.

What does this have to do with personal branding? It’s easy to confuse the concept of image with brand. Your image and the way you present yourself are just part of your broader brand package. While these things are important, staying so focused on surface level elements distracts us from focusing on the true substance. Yes, we appreciate Apple because their products look cool. However, if the products looked cool and didn’t offer the other things Apple offers, they wouldn’t be worth much.

I was talking to an individual once, and they brought up how cognizant they are about shaping their brand. They talked about how much time they invest cultivating the right image online on LinkedIn and other social media sites. They also talked about looking the part when they attended networking events. I didn’t hear them talk about their unique genius, strengths, what they do, or how they do it. I didn’t hear them talk about the problems they solve or the value they provide. They were so focused on creating an image that they weren’t creating a brand that provides real value.

The challenge: As you build your personal brand, will you think beyond just shaping an image? Will you think about the unique genius and strengths that you bring?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Personal Brands, Being You, and Owning Space in People’s Minds (4-3-24)

This week we are going to kick off a series on personal branding. This week is about brands, being you, and owning space in someone’s mind.

I can’t remember who told me this, but my favorite definition of what a brand is goes something like this, “A brand is the place something/someone owns in your mind that is uniquely theirs.” If I told you to think about Apple, I’m sure a few things would pop into your mind. If I told you to think of Android or Microsoft, I’m sure you’d think of different words, even though they are all in the tech sector they each own a different piece of real estate. Similarly, if I said Toyota or General Motors, you’d likely have different ideas instantly popping up into your brain. We could play this game over and over again with things like McDonald’s vs Panera, Nike vs. Under Armor, etc. Over time these brands have earned that space in your mind, by communicating AND fulfilling a promise to you. That promise consists of their mission, what they do, and how they do it. The more often they fulfill that promise, the stronger the brand becomes.

What does this have to do with personal branding? Similar to those other brands, I believe someone’s personal brand is the piece of real estate you own in someone’s mind when they hear your name. A person owns that spot in someone’s mind, because they have CONSISTENTLY lived and acted in accordance with their mission. They have demonstrated values and behaviors that align to that mission over and over and over again. When people hear my name, I hope they instantly think something like, “Spark igniting storyteller. He cares deeply for people, is a creative problem solver, keeps it real, brings the energy, and communicates in a way that moves people forward”. I hope at this point in my career I’ve delivered on that promise and those things enough times that I own that space in people’s brains. I didn’t get there overnight. I had to spend time to figuring out who I am, my mission, what I do, and how I do those things. From there, I had to consistently live those things over and over again and continually refine myself along the way.

The challenge: If someone hears your name, what space would you own in their mind? What is your mission? WHAT do you do? HOW do you do it? Do you live those in a way that other people feel them?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry