AI and Being Brave Enough to “Fail Fast” and “Fail Forward” 4-2-25

This week is about AI and being brave enough to “fail fast” and “fail forward”. I dedicate this to Jax Penso and our tech team.

A few months ago, Jax approached me with an idea. She had a complicated dataset filled with quant and qual data. She wanted to explore if AI could help dissect, analyze, and make connections faster and more effectively than humans could. I loved the vision and the willingness to experiment.

I told Jax that what she was asking was going to be incredibly difficult, and no one (in our company or beyond) had quite figured out how to do this with AI yet. Jax wasn’t phased. She was willing to explore, so we got a team together and started working. The team acknowledged that what we were setting out to do would be incredibly difficult. We knew that there was a good chance that things would not work out perfectly. We also knew that by pushing the boundaries of what was possible we would learn a lot. In the end, our prototype didn’t meet our lofty expectations. HOWEVER, we gathered a lot of learnings along the way.

Let’s make connections. How often do you hear people talk about being brave enough to “fail fast” or “fail forward”? I’m sure you hear it a lot. Those are some of the all-time most popular corporate buzz words. Now, how often do you see people who are truly brave enough to fail fast or fail forward? That’s a rarity. It would have been easy for Jax and the team to decide not to pursue the project, once they understood that the chances of perfect success was slim to none. It would have been easier, BUT it would not have been as fruitful.

Imagine how different work would be if more folks acted like Jax and the team? At the end of the day, the team didn’t fail. They learned. The team didn’t fail, they created a new foundation. Pursuing the impossible led us to exploring new technologies and approaches. It also challenged us to rethink and better embrace the Agile mentality. We didn’t make it to the summit, but other folks will be able to leverage our learnings to get them a head start.

The challenge: Are you brave enough to explore, even when you’re not 100% sure how it will turn out? Are you one of the rare people brave enough to “fail fast” or “fail forward”?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Parenting and Being Okay Joining the Failure Club (7-17-24)

Last week was about flumping. This week is about facing challenges, being human, and being okay with joining the failure club.

Recently, Alice played The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past, which originally came out for Super Nintendo. She struggled quite a bit when she fought Ganon, the final boss, and as a result she became overstimulated and incredibly frustrated. I asked her to pause for a second to catch her breath, and then I asked her what was going on. Exasperated, she told me that she kept missing Ganon with her sword and how she kept screwing up. Reading in between the lines, I could see that she felt like a total failure and that she was the only one to make mistakes like this.

After hearing this I started a funny rant that went like this, “Congratulations! You are now a member of the ‘I missed Ganon with my sword’ club. Anyone who has ever played this game and made it this far is a member of that club. In fact, not only am I a member, but I’m the president of the club. If you give me a few minutes, I’ll even go and stamp your membership card.” Alice busted out laughing. My funny rant made her realize that she wasn’t uniquely a failure. It made her realize that EVERYONE has been in the same boat as her. Once she realized this, she wasn’t as frustrated. She defeated Ganon and saved Hyrule shortly after.

What does this have to do with anything? When you fail at something, do you ever feel like you are alone? Do you ever feel like you must suck or be a horrible person? I know I do. If you’ve ever failed, I’d like to take a moment to welcome you to the “I failed, which makes me human” club.Anyone who has ever lived is a member of this club. If you want, I can even stamp your membership card and give you a sticker 😉 All kidding aside, we are all miraculously flawed and beautiful humans. None of us are ever truly alone in our failures and mistakes. Somewhere there is a larger club with thousands, millions, and even billions of people who have been through something similar. You are never alone. Take solace and strength from that.

The challenge: How will you embrace your membership in the “I’m a messy human club”?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Lifting and Different Kinds of Success (5-3-23)

Our last entry was about using proper form to help us be stronger and more efficient. This week is about lifting and different kinds of success.

A few of months ago, I wasn’t making any progress in my physical health and lifting journey. I wasn’t gaining strength. My body composition was staying the same. I didn’t feel any better. I was doing my best at the time, but not getting anywhere. I felt like an unsuccessful failure. Then, I took a step back and realized that life was throwing a lot at me right both personally and professionally. In the midst of all of that crazy, making the progress I wanted to make would have been impossible. I came to appreciate that while I may not have been moving forward at that exact moment, the fact that I wasn’t losing ground was a win. Despite all life was doing, it wasn’t pushing me back. It may not have been my ideal goal, but maintaining was success in those circumstances.

What does this have to do with anything? Often, we picture success as crossing the finish line in first place, and anything short of that is failure. After all, as the guru Ricky Bobby once said, “If you ain’t first, you’re last!” As a result of this thinking, we often feel like if we aren’t achieving our ideal of success then we are not worthy. That’s how I felt during that month. Have you ever felt that way? In these moments, it’s important to step back and realize that victory can take many forms. Success isn’t always about winning the race. Sometimes, success is just finishing the race. Sometimes, success is finding a way to keep moving forward. Sometimes, success is not getting knocked back. Sometimes, success is finding a way to get back up after being knocked flat on your butt. Depending on what you’re doing, and the hand life is dealing you at the moment, success can look very different. We need to accept that AND accept that we are always more than enough.

The challenge: Are you giving yourself the grace to understand what success looks like in the moment?

Bonus: I woke up this morning and I’m sore and exhausted, so my lifting success today is going to be taking a rest day 😉

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Not So Polished Human Side of Things (2-9-22)

Last week we looked at giving yourself permission to not be perfect. Let’s continue that theme by giving ourselves permission to share the not so polished human side of things.

This is from lap 2 of the Abominable Snow Race. On the first lap I scaled the 8 foot wall like a pro. Not so smooth this time. I misjudged the distance, swung my leg incorrectly, and got stuck in a painful position. If you zoom in, you can see me dying on the inside from the pain or as my cousin said, “I can see your soul leaving your body.” It took me 30 seconds or what felt like 1 hour to shimmy my other leg over and slide down the wall. I was hurting. It was ugly. But I made it. #bestphotoever

Whether or not you’ve ever done an obstacle course race, we have all been in some version of this moment from the picture on the right. Everything is going smoothly, and then bam it turns painful and awkward in a heartbeat from a trip, stumble, or our minds just blanking. We’ve all been there. You can probably picture that moment in your mind right now. I hope you chuckle when you do. Sharing this story doesn’t make me look cool. It’s not a flattering photo. However, it is one way of showing I’m human. It is one way of helping us all connect to the fact that we are all human. I’d hope that by sharing something like this, it might make you feel a little comfortable sharing the human side of you whenever you’re around me.

What does this have to do with work? Have you ever been around a co-worker who only shows you the polished side of things? Have you ever been around a leader like this? I don’t know about you, but I have a real hard time trusting people like that. I have a hard time being open about my thoughts and feelings. If the leader never shows that they are human, how can I be expected to show that I’m human? Now, am I saying that everyone needs to share a painful picture of them getting stuck on an 8 foot wall? No. What I am saying is that it would be great if we all felt comfortable to share a bit of us that makes us human. This could mean sharing stories of our mistakes, flaws, joy, love, passion, and anything that gives an insight into who we are as people. These are the actions that create the environment where humanity can be shared.

The challenge: How are you sharing the not so polished human side of you? What are you doing to give people a place where it’s safe to show they are human?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Bombing on Stage and Moving Forward (6-14-17)

Last week was about persona poems and stepping into the shoes of another person. This week is about when things don’t go as well as planned. It’s a lesson in failure and moving forward that I learned from bombing on stage.

As I started performing poetry, my biggest fear was always that I was going to bomb on stage one night. The irrational part of my brain would equate bombing with public execution. Screwing up would be the worst thing that could happen to me. I no longer hold this belief, because I’ve absolutely bombed and lived to tell the tale. Long story short I performed this poem about my love/lust for cookies that had went over really well in Madison. The poem was filled with over the top humor and sarcasm, and Madison people loved it. Since people loved it, I was excited to perform this poem in St. Paul. Let’s just say, the majority of the St. Paul audience HATED it. They didn’t get the sarcasm, so they turned a weird/funny poem about my lust for cookies into a political statement. As I’m performing this poem, I can see and feel the negativity radiating off of the audience. Talk about awkward. The hatred was so intense that the emcee felt bad for me and tried to break the ice after my bombing by saying something like, “Man, you all are hating on him hard. You must hate cookies. You must all have diabetes.”

So the audience had basically just given me the feedback that I suck, and I was bummed. Then, I came to a realization. Sure, they had crushed something that I had crafted and was attached to, but I was still here and just fine. I hadn’t died. I hadn’t been booted out of performing poetry. I was just a guy who had screwed up on one performance. From there, I had to make a decision on what to do with the feedback, take action, and move on. Essentially I had 3 choices: 1. Give up on the poem/idea/thing. 2. Tweak it. 3. Do something entirely different (perform different poems in the future or get a different hobby). In this particular case, I still believe the poem is genius, but I now realize it’s not for everyone so I need to be selective on where I perform it. Since this day, I’ve had more poems fail. It’s just part of performing and trying to push your own boundaries.

How does this connect with work? I don’t know about you, but there was a time when one of my biggest fears was making a mistake at work. The irrational part of my brain would equate making a mistake with being ran over by a train. I’d be lying if I said I never feel that way, but as I’ve continued to screw stuff up in my life I’ve realized that making mistakes isn’t as a big of deal as I think it is. I’ve failed sometimes. I’ve had horrible ideas, great ideas with bad framing, and times where my vibes just didn’t work with people. I’ve received feedback on these mistakes, and just like after bombing on stage, I am still here and fine. I didn’t wilt away like flower that had been poisoned. I didn’t get kicked out of Lilly. I was just another person who had messed something up, which is a pretty big club to be part of. Just like with performing poetry, I had to take the feedback, understand it, make a choice on how to react, and move on.

The challenge: Are you letting your fear of failure control you? How do you respond when you fail or make a mistake?

On an unrelated note, here is a cool poem for the week. “59” or “A Love Poem for Lonely Prime Numbers” by Henry Baker.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Lifting Weights, Failure, and Growth (9-7-16)

Last week we talked about how doubt can be a dowsing rod that leads us to growth. This week I want us to think about lifting weights, failure, and development.

If you read any fitness magazine it will tell you that if you want to gain strength you need to lift weights. More specifically, it will tell you to lift weight heavy enough to the point where you are only able to do 8-10 reps per set. The idea is that by the 10^th rep you’ve lifted so much weight that your muscles are unable to lift more. Your muscles essentially FAIL at lifting the weight.

If you do this often enough your muscles basically say, “I’m tired of failing. I need to get stronger,” and your body goes through the process of enhancing your muscles and your strength. Over time you’ll gain strength and you will be able to lift more weight than you did before, and then the cycle begins again. (Obviously anatomy wasn’t my strong suit based on that technical explanation of developing muscles). The bottom line is that you have to push yourself to the point of failure in order to make your muscles grow and gain strength.

What does lifting weights have to do with development and failure? I feel that when we think of failure we think of these humongous disasters that lead to us getting down on ourselves. We don’t have to look at failure that way. Failure isn’t something that has to get us down. Failure is just a sign that we are pushing ourselves. If you aren’t failing you aren’t pushing. If you aren’t pushing then you can’t grow. When I work out I don’t say, “I could only do 8 reps at that weight, so I’m the worst person ever!” Instead I’m filled with pride at the fact that I pushed myself hard and I’m filled with a desire to keep doing better. Instead of feeling down I say, “I pushed myself as far as I could on this day. I’m not as strong as I want to be, but I know I can be stronger next time.” Then as I continue to work out I push myself until before I know it, I’m stronger and faster than I have been.

My current role. I’ve now been in my role for about a month. I’m not as clever or as smart as I’d like to be. I can’t move as quickly as I did when I’ve been competent in other roles. I’m not quite able to lift the weight I want to lift…YET. Every day is another small failure. Every day is another day to push to fall just short of the high bar I set for myself. I don’t feel discouraged though. I feel proud and excited, because every day I can see where I’m getting better and stronger. I can’t wait until I feel like I’m full on beast mode.

The challenge: Are you pushing yourself hard enough to fail? Are your failures helping you become stronger?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry