Mario, Power Moons, and Making Progress (3-18-26)

Last week was about how Mario contains multitudes. This week is about Mario, collecting Power Moons, and making progress.

Super Mario Odyssey is one of the most recent and one of my favorite Mario games. Your ultimate goal is to defeat Bowser. To do this, you need to progress through a variety of open world levels. The only way to move from one level to the next is to collect enough Power Moons to power your spaceship to fly to the next level. Here’s the thing though, these levels give you a lot of space to explore. You could spend hours jumping around, fighting bad guys, collecting coins, etc. without ever gathering the Power Moons you need to make progress.

Let’s connect this to work. Our Mario example was about how I could play a level for hours without ever getting anywhere. Has this ever happened to you at work? Have you ever come to the end of the day and realized you had done a lot of things, but didn’t actually do anything that enabled meaningful progress? Obviously, this never happens to me (he says while infusing the text with as much sarcasm as possible). It’s easy to get lost in email, conversations, meetings, etc. without ever actually moving the needle.

I’ve found the only way to avoid this is to be disciplined and intentional about consistently revisiting what my priorities are, where I am in relation to them, and what steps I need to take to make meaningful progress. Then, the most important part is working to make my calendar reflect my priorities. Have you ever looked at your calendar and realized it didn’t reflect your priorities? This never happens to me (#moresarcasm). The world is louder and more complex than ever before, if we aren’t clear on what we need to chase to make progress we will never move forward.

The challenge- How will you ensure you are gathering Power Moons to enable progress?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Chess, Glorps, and Work Obstacles (2-24-26)

Last week was about translating concepts into action. This week is about chess, glorps, and work obstacles.

One of the most popular versions of chess that Cam created is called Glorp, which is like normal chess with more obstacles thrown in to contend with. Glorps are additional pieces that are put on the board and are represented by the pokemon figures in the picture. They can’t take pieces. They are just there to take up space and block things. You can deal with glorps in 2 ways. First, you can choose to maneuver around them. Second, you are allowed to take a glorp the same way you take any other piece. The catch is that when you take a glorp you move it to another place on the board. Glorps aren’t ever allowed to leave the board, they are always present. This causes you to rethink your strategies and contend with how you will handle glorps throughout the game.

What does this have to do with work? Basically, glorp is just another word for obstacle. Just like the glorps in chess, obstacles will ALWAYS be present. When I play this version of chess, my entire strategy changes, because I know I will have to constantly contend with the glorps.

Now, think about work for a minute. How often do we plan ASSUMING we will have to contend with obstacles? Be honest. I don’t know about you, but I know I can be guilty of planning and assuming things will just work out. Too bad it never happens that way. Over time, I’ve come to realize that in many ways, our jobs aren’t our day-to-day tasks. Our jobs are finding ways to handle glorps (obstacles 😉). Similar to chess, sometimes the best move is to go around the obstacle. Sometimes, the best move is to take the obstacle head on. Even when you handle one glorp, the next blocker will always be just around the corner.

The challenge- How are you embracing and overcoming obstacles (glorps)?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Chess and the Power to Evolve Rules (2-11-26)

This week we are going to kick off a series inspired by how my kids play chess. This week is about chess and the power to evolve rules.

The other day Cameron asked me to sit down and play chess with him. When I did the first thing I asked was, “What rules are we playing by?” At this point you might be confused. If you’ve played chess, you know there is a standard set of rules that dictates how pieces move. This set of rules impacts how people strategize and play the game.

Cameron and Alice enjoy normal chess, and they have found a lot of joy in creating new versions. Each version begins with the normal rules of the game and then adds new twists ranging from the ability to bring pieces back from the dead to have traitors that take your own pieces. Every unique wrinkle changes the way you strategize and play the game. I ask what version they want to play, so I can also have a say in shaping the rules.

Let’s make two connections to work. First, how many times have you heard people at work say things like, “This is the process. This is the way we do things. This is just the environment we operate in.”? Have you been the one to say those things? I have. It happens to the best of us 😉 Often, when we think of work, we believe that the rules are fixed, but they don’t have to be. Cam and Alice have shown us that we can evolve the rules just like in chess. When we evolve the rules, we change the way we think about and play the game. Every process, every workflow, and every preconceived notion can and should be challenged. This is the only way to make progress.

Here is the second connection. The environment is changing faster than ever before. If we are not intentional about evolving the game we call work, then we will just have to blindly accept whatever new rules come our way. I’d much rather shape the rules and the game. What about you?

The challenge: How will you challenge the rules and shape the games you play?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Lies of P and Expecting Difficulties (2-21-24)

This week we will kick off a series inspired by a video game I recently played call Lies of P. Our first entry is about expecting difficulties.

Lies of P (click for the trailer) is a darker reimagining of Pinocchio. You play as Pinocchio in a world where robots, called puppets, have gained sentience, and turned against humans. On top of all of this, there is some mysterious plague going around and other foul forces at play. Anway, I was playing the game and was dying A LOT. Alice, my daughter, noticed this and said, “You’re failing a lot. Why aren’t you getting upset at the game?” I thanked her for pointing out that I was failing so much 😉, and then I explained, “I’m not upset, because this game is exactly what I thought it would be. From the trailers and what I heard about the game I knew it would be a cool/creepy story, interesting game mechanics, and HARD bosses. I went into it assuming that I would fail a lot and that I would have to get good in order to make it. Now if a Mario game was this hard, I’d be super upset, because Mario games don’t position themselves to be soul crushing games. However, this game from the beginning has made it clear that it is about being tough and challenging players. I also went into the game knowing I’d feel awesome once I made it through the game’s challenges. ”

What does this have to do with anything? I wasn’t frustrated with the game, because I EXPECTED it to be difficult. I EXPECTED to run into challenges that I wouldn’t get past on the first, second, or even tenth try. Since I expected these things, I wasn’t upset when they happened. I understood that the failed attempts were just the price you have to pay before you can do great stuff.

Now think about a time when you were frustrated at work. Were you frustrated because it was difficult OR were you frustrated because you didn’t expect it to be difficult? There’s a big difference. I’ve found when I get the most frustrated at work, it’s usually because I didn’t expect that situation to be difficult. It’s because I’ve assumed that things would be smooth sailing. As I’ve matured over my career, I’ve learned to expect bumps. I’ve learned to expect things to go sideways. I’ve come to appreciate that the job isn’t doing all the things in the job description, but dealing with all of the unexpected stuff that pops up as you try to do the things listed in the job description. I’ve learned to expect things to be challenging, so I’m not thrown off when they are. I’ve learned that going through the bumps and obstacles is the price you pay to do great things, and how amazing it feels to achieve something after struggling through obstacles.

The challenge: How will you readjust your expectations to expect difficulties?

Side note: If you are into Soulslike games and haven’t tried Lies of P yet, I’d definitely recommend it. It is one of my favorite games in that genre that I’ve played and I’m pumped to say that I actually beat it!

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry