Transformers and More than Meets the Eye (12-5-18)

This is the final entry on lessons we can learn from cartoons. We started with Pinky and The Brain and having the grit and determination to take over the world. From there, we moved to Avatar and reflected on where we draw our strength from. Then, we moved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thoughts about evolving with changing context. After that we reflected on Inspector Gadget and lifting others up to be seen. In our final entry, we will focus on Transformers and seeing beyond the surface.

When I was a little kid (4 or 5), I loved Transformers. I was so obsessed with the cartoon that I called family members by Transformer’s names. My grandma was Bumblebee and my aunt was Sideswipe. During my aunt’s wedding I’ve been told that I yelled, “Hurry up Sideswipe, walk down here!” as she was walking down the aisle. (And you thought I couldn’t get any nerdier or charming. #alwaysreadytogotothenextnerdylevel)

Anyway, in case you aren’t familiar with Transformers it is about an alien race locked in a civil war. There are the heroic Autobots led by Optimus Prime and the evil Decepticons led by Megatron. These robotic aliens became known as Transformers, because they had the ability to transform from robot form to another form to blend in with their surroundings. Most of the time, they took on the shape of some kind of vehicle, but sometimes they would change into other things like a radio, giant microscope, or even dinosaurs.

So what do Transformers have to do with anything? You might be aware of the fact that Transformers is often associated with the tagline “more than meets the eye”. This is because of the fact that in this universe a person could see a car on the road, but maybe it wasn’t just a car. Maybe it was a robot. Maybe it was an Autobot. Maybe it was a Decepticon. There was always more to it than first glance, and you never quite knew what you would end up discovering.

This all reminds me of people. We are all Transformers, meaning that often what you see on the surface isn’t the only thing there. People are often “more than meets the eye”. How many times in life have you looked at someone and said, “Yep, I know who exactly who and what they are,” and then later been surprised by how much additional depth was there? I know it happens to me. At first glance it’s easy to take in the first thing you see, but it requires patience, curiosity, and the willingness to learn about each other to see what might be below the surface.

The challenge: How often do you remember that people are “more than meets the eye”?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Inspector Gadget and Recognizing Others for their Contributions (11-28-18)

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Last week’s blog was about Ninja Turtles and evolving with changing context. This week is about Inspector Gadget, Penny, Brain, and lifting up those who contribute to the team’s success (because this what we need to do to ensure we can take over the world).

In case you aren’t familiar, the cartoon follows the adventures of Inspector Gadget, a sort of cyborg, as he works to thwart the evil Dr. Claw and his M.A.D. agents. Inspector Gadget’s body is filled with various inventions and enhancements from his infamous “go-go gadget arms” to his “gadget copter” and “gadget phone”. Always accompanying Inspector Gadget are his niece, Penny, and dog, Brain. Brain and Penny often work behind the scenes, unbeknownst to Gadget, in order to help him save the day. At the end of the adventure, they all save the day, Dr. Claw retreats, and Gadget is given the accolades for defeating Dr. Claw again.

You might be wondering where this is going. The problem I’ve always had with Inspector Gadget is that Penny and Brain don’t ever get the respect and recognition they deserve. Sure, Inspector Gadget has some pretty amazing abilities, and he does his part to help save the day. However, Penny and Brain are huge contributors too, and they are never seen for this. Inspector Gadget, the Chief, and the others are oblivious to their contributions.

This reminds me of work sometimes. Often, we applaud the “title character” in the form of the supervisor, project leader, etc. and we fail to recognize, appreciate, and value all of the people working outside of the spotlight. Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever thought to yourself, “Sure, they were the leader, but they didn’t get there on their own”? The fact is that without Penny and Brain, Inspector Gadget would fail miserably. In the same way, without all of the people working “behind” the scenes, the person in the spotlight wouldn’t get there either.

All of this doesn’t mean that Inspector Gadget is bad. It just means he can do better. We can do better. We can make the choice to elevate those people who need to be seen. It just takes us being intentional enough to do this, and being strong enough to lift them up. I try to remind myself that if my go-go gadget arms are large enough to wrap around a project and lead through it, then they are also strong enough to ensure I lift up the people who need to be recognized.

The challenge: Are you lifting up the people who need to be seen? Lift someone up today. Seriously, stop what you’re doing. Take a quick second and send an email to someone to lift them up. Then, go the extra step and forward that email to the person’s boss so the boss knows that person is awesome. It will take all of 5 minutes, and will make the week for the person.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Ninja Turtles and Evolving with Changing Context (11-20-18)

Last week was about Avatar and finding your strength. This week is about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and evolving with changing context. In case you don’t know anything about ninja turtles, essentially it is a story of 4 anthropomorphic turtles, who are trained to be ninjas and fight bad guys. I grew up at the height of the TMNT craze in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time period, the cartoon was a fun loving, light hearted show, filled with goofy antics and a love for pizza. When many people think of ninja turtles they think of this cartoon, embodied by the image to the right.

The interesting thing is that the version of the turtles depicted in the image isn’t the only one. It’s not even the original version. The original version of the ninja turtles was a comic book that was quite a bit more serious and darker than anything in the show. Throughout the years, the turtles have evolved to fit their time period. There were goofy ninja turtle cartoons in the 90s along with movies that were serious and filled with slapstick. The early 2000s brought turtles that were more serious like the original version. The live action movies in the 2000s reimagined the turtles in more unique ways with cutting edge CGI animation. The most recent version of the cartoon throws the turtles into mystical elements.

You’re probably wondering what teenage mutant ninja turtles has to do with work. I think the show is an interesting example of adapting to changing context and times. Throughout all of its reincarnations, the core of the show remains the same. At its core, the show is about 4 brothers learning how to work as a team as they fight bad guys. However, the tone, characters, plotlines, and other items evolve based on new context and unique reimaginings. The ninja turtles of today wouldn’t have worked 30 years ago, and the turtles I grew up with 30 years ago wouldn’t have worked today.

I’d argue that we are all ninja turtles. The core part of us often stays the same, but we have the chance to adapt as our context changes. For example, I’m a dot connecting storyteller. That will always be true for me. At the same time, my stories change as my context changes. The stories I tell as poet Andrew in Lilly are different than the stories poet Andrew tells outside of Lilly, because the surroundings, audience, and expectations are different. The stories sales rep Andrew are different from the ones I told when I worked in communications and was trying to leverage organizational change tools to tell stories through others. As a market researcher, I tell stories all the time, synthesized through frameworks I never used before I took this role. Basically, as I gain new experiences my context changes, so I pick up new tools, frameworks, perspectives, etc. to help me tell new and engaging stories. Just like the ninja turtles, it’s the same core show (skillset), just merely applied in different ways to meet my surroundings. With that said, I think we all have a chance to grow as the context around us changes. We just have to be willing to choose to evolve, rather than stay stagnant.

The challenge: Who are you at your core? How are you adapting to changing context?

Have a jolly good day and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Andrew Embry

Avatar, Waterbending, and Tapping into Strength (11-14-18)

Last week was about Pink and the Brain and taking over the world. This week is about Avatar: The Last Airbender, waterbending, and accessing strength (so you can take over the world). Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favorite cartoons of all time. In case you aren’t familiar with the show it is a series about being alone, finding yourself, building friendships, good, evil, and growth. All of that packed into a kid’s cartoon. Pretty deep stuff. Anyway, the show introduces you to a world where “bending” exists. Bending is the ability manipulate elements such as earth, fire, air, and water.

The picture up top is Aang, the main character, practicing waterbending. Individuals blessed with the ability to bend, leverage martial art techniques to manipulate the elements. When it comes to waterbending, one of the most important things to understand is that the more water you have around you, the more powerful you can be. So, if you’re in a desert, your waterbending is going to be weak. However, if you were standing in the ocean, your power could almost be limitless.

We’re getting a little weird, so let’s get weirder. What if I told you that we are all waterbenders? Obviously, I don’t mean that I believe we can all manipulate water. What I do believe is that we all have strengths and sources of power that we can tap into. I also believe that if we surround ourselves with the right people and energy that we put ourselves in a better position to tap into this power.

What I’m about to say will sound dumb, but hang in there with me. One of the most important things I do at work is include memes and goofy pictures in emails I send to people. Yep, you read that correctly. One of the most important things I do at work is send memes to people. It’s also important for me to wear superhero socks, be in a general state of nerdiness, constantly be making jokes, use sarcasm, and tell stories in unique ways. It’s also incredibly important for me to be surrounded by people with positive energy and joy.

If you would look at those things, you couldn’t draw direct lines to my effectiveness or productivity, so you might be wondering why they are so important. Here is how I think about it. I “bend” creative energy. I connect things and people. That’s my power. Essentially, all of those things I listed off (socks, nerdiness, good energy, sending memes, making jokes, generally giving me the space to be weird, etc.) keep me surrounded by “water”. If I can have all of these things it means I’m in the right culture, surrounded by the right people to give me what I need. If I can have all of those things, I’m a water bender standing in the middle of the ocean, where my power is near limitless. In this state, I am as powerful as I can be, and most equipped to make a meaningful difference. Is this making any sense? Have you ever felt like this, where you were surrounded by all of the right people and things to help you tap into your strength? Have you ever been on teams where you weren’t surrounded by the right things, and it was difficult to tap into your strengths (like a water bender in the desert)?

The challenge: What are the things you need in order to surround yourself with “water”? What are you doing to give “water” to others? Give someone some water today.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Pinky and the Brain- Trying to Take over the World! (11-7-18)

This week we are going to start a series inspired by my favorite cartoons. This week I want us to reflect on Pinky and the Brain and driving to achieve high goals.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Pinky and the Brain were two characters on a cartoon called Animaniacs. Their show is about two lab mice, Pinky, a happy go lucky fellow, and Brain, an evil diabolical genius. Every episode of the show revolved around Brain’s attempts to take over the world. During each episode Brain would invent some amazing machine or use some mathematical formula to come within inches of world domination, and then at the last minute something would go wrong and his goal would slip from his grasp. Every episode would also include the scene captured in the image on the right where Brain reaffirmed his desire to keep trying to take over the world. That’s right. Even after falling short every single time, Brain stayed focused, got back up, dusted himself off, and went back to trying to take over the world.

You might see where this is going. Brain sets a ridiculously high goal, and then he pursues that goal with fierce focus and tenacity. He fails and he keeps going. Something goes wrong and he keeps going. His device blows up and he keeps going. While I don’t want us to be evil diabolical masterminds, I do think we could learn a lot from Brain’s fierce focus and tenacity.

What is your version of “trying to take over the world”? For myself, I’ve spent the year working on ways to step my game up. I wanted to help more people, have more impact, provide more value, increase my mastery at work, etc. As far as what success would look like, when it came to my job, my goal has been to be so damn good that I made everything look and feel effortless. I wanted to provide so much value that people would look at me and say, “He has to be a legit wizard. That’s the only rational explanation for how he does what he does.” I knew if I operated at this level, then I’d be making a substantial difference in the lives of people within the walls of my company and outside of those walls as well, which would be my version of “taking over the world.” (I know. It’s kind of silly and ridiculous, but if a cartoon mouse can dream of taking over the world, I can dream of being recognized as a wizard.)

With all that said, I never took over the world. I never achieved full-fledged wizard status. I continually fell short. I made mistakes. I mismanaged situations. I didn’t influence and change the lives of all the people I wanted to. I didn’t always know the answers. I took wrong turns and the wrong steps. I wasn’t always operating at that “wizard” level. I’m not angry/mad/upset/sad about any of those things. They are just facts of life. Much like Brain, when these setbacks occurred I was irritated, but then I gained sight of my goal and went back to “trying to take over the world”. While I never quite got to the level I wanted to get to, I know with 100% certainty that I grew and became a lot better this year. I am closer to being a wizard than I have ever been, and it’s all because every morning when I woke up I wanted to do the same thing I did every other morning, try to “take over the world!”

The challenge: What is your version of “taking over the world”? Are you chasing that goal with focus and tenacity?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry