Last week was about balancing where you are and lofty goals.  This week is about 1-up mushrooms, extra lives, and the power of having extra chances.

If you’ve never played the Super Mario games, it’s important to know that in many of the games you have limited lives.  Once you exhaust those lives, the game is done.  With this in mind, imagine playing Mario and you are on your last life.  If you make a mistake, it is game over.  How do you feel?  I’m assuming you feel a bit anxious, less likely to take risks, worried about failure, etc.  Now imagine, that you have found some of the beautiful green 1-up mushrooms.  All of a sudden you have multiple lives.  Your chances aren’t unlimited, but you have more than just one.  How do you feel now?  I’m assuming you’d feel a little more relaxed, more willing to explore and experiment, and in a better mental place to do well in the game.

Let’s connect this to work.  Have you ever been on a team or in a situation where you felt you were on your last life?  You knew that if a mistake was made it would be punished harshly.  It would be game over.  What did that feel like?  Did you do your best work in that situation?  When I’ve been in those situations I’ve felt tense, hesitant to take risks, and kind of miserable.  I did good work, but I definitely didn’t do my best work in that situation.

Now think about the teams and situations where you felt you had some extra lives.  What did that feel like to you?  Did you do your best work in these situations?  For me, these are the situations where I knew I could take a risk.  I knew I could make a mistake and it would be okay.  I knew I had the opportunity to learn from these shortcomings and make it even better.  It’s true that I had misses, and it’s true that my work product was FAR SUPERIOR.

At the end of the day, whether you feel like you have extra lives or not isn’t just about you.  It’s also about leadership and culture.  Leaders, whether formal or informal, go a long way in shaping the culture that dictates the norms and how the game is played.   

The challenge- How will you create an environment where people feel like they have extra lives and extra chances?

Bonus thought- Just want to say I’m thankful for a leader, HiT crew, and broader market research culture that gives me the feeling of having extra lives, especially as my work is focused on AI.  I feel every couple of months things change drastically and I realize that my initial thoughts were a miss.  Without those extra lives, it would have been game over for me a long time ago.  With those extra lives, we are building something incredible together.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry