Chutes, Ladders, and Different Lives (4-18-18)

Last week we thought about leveraging knowledge and Battleship. This week we are going to reflect on the different lives we lead by thinking about Chutes (slides) and Ladders. Chutes and Ladders is a game to see who can get to the final square first. As you move around the board you’ll land on squares with ladders or chutes on them. Ladders are like shortcuts that help you advance. Chutes are the anti-shortcut that cause you to fall back spaces.

Let’s pretend you and I were going to play the game with a twist. Let’s pretend you and I played the same game, just on different boards. We’d still use the spinner and follow all of the same rules. The only difference is that you’d play on one board and I’d play on another. If this was the case, what would be the first thing you’d wonder about? I’m assuming you’d want to know if the boards are the same. I bet you’d be curious to see if my board had more chutes or more ladders than you.

You might be wondering where this is going. I’d say that life is a lot like a game of Chutes and Ladders, where we are all playing on different boards. Some boards have more ladders than others and maybe even ladders that are better shortcuts. Some boards have more chutes than others and maybe even chutes that make people fall further. There is no guarantee of success in this game (life). Just because a board has more ladders, it doesn’t guarantee success. Also, just because a board has more chutes, it doesn’t guarantee failure. At the same time, we can acknowledge that your board shapes your life and we can acknowledge that the more ladders you have the greater likelihood you have for success. In the game example above I had us imagine playing on different boards. What does your board(life) look like? What ladders do you have? What chutes do you have? Think about the people around you. How is your board similar to theirs? How is your board different? How does your board impact the way you live and experience life?

I’m a straight white male, married with kids, middle class, American, from a small town, fairly intelligent, some athleticism, average looks, relatively healthy, in a job where I make enough money that I don’t have to spend my time being anxious about money, from a home filled with love where my parents have been married for over 30 years. If I’m being honest with myself, those are a lot of ladders in my favor. It’s really tempting and really easy for me to look at other people and say, “They could easily be in my place if they only do X, Y, and Z.” The fact is it’s not that straight forward or simple. Yes, I work hard and have made a lot of the right choices in life, but I can’t deny that those ladders (many I don’t have control over) have helped me and will continue to help me. I can’t deny that some people have chutes that will never show up on my board. Does your hard work and the choices you make impact you? Yes. At the same time, your life’s chutes and ladders impact you too. As I reflect on my ladders and my experiences I think of the wisdom a friend once shared, “Don’t feel guilty about your experience. Just understand that is YOUR experience and not everyone lives the same way.” The more I can do this, the more I can understand the people around me, and the better human/friend/teammate I can be for them.

The challenge: Do you understand what your board looks like and how it shapes you? Are you taking the time to understand and appreciate other people’s boards and how they shape them?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Reasons to Believe and Pizza (1-10-18)

Last week we kicked off a series about marketing and being intentional to improve our relationships. We started by identifying what desired beliefs we want to drive with each other. This week I want us to focus more on the reasons to believe and executing those.

After a brand chooses the desired belief they want a person to have they need to identify the reasons to believethat can drive that person to the desired belief. These reasons to believe are the supporting points (data, images, written messaging) AND customer experiences that you could share to drive people to have that belief.

Let’s pretend you own a pizza place and you want people to believe that your pizza is the most delicious pizza. What would cause them to believe this? The reasons to believe could include things like having a wide variety of pizza toppings, fresh ingredients, expert chefs, and handmade dough. You would take these reasons to believe and turn them into a campaign that told some story like, “Our pizza has the freshest ingredients sourced from local farms. We have the largest array of veggies, meats, artisan cheeses, and toppings to craft a pizza to your tastes. All of our pizzas are made each morning by our chefs who studied in Italian kitchens and have brought with them their grandma’s pizza dough recipe.” If you communicated this story well enough and the experience matched this, then people would probably believe your pizza was delicious.

You might be wondering what this has to do with work. Last week was about being intentional about WHAT you want people to believe, and reasons to believe are the things that can help you figure out HOW you can get someone to believe something. Essentially, what would you have to do to drive the desired feelings with your co-workers?

Embry example. As I mentioned last week, my desired feeling is that I want them to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I care about them and the work we do together.Over time, I’ve found that in order for people to believe I care for them I need to show them I care for them (I know your mind is now mind blown, right?). I show people I care for them by actively listening, seeking to understand people and their stories, recognizing them for their contributions, and giving people usable and constructive feedback. The way in which I go about doing those things can include face to face conversations, hand written notes, sending memes, sharing articles I think they’d be interested in, etc. Throughout my career I’ve found that if I am INTENTIONAL and CONSISTENTLY do those things, then most people will eventually come to realize that I care about them and the work we do together.

The challenge: What are things you need to do to drive your desired belief with people? Are you CONSISTENTLY doing the things that will drive a person to feel how you would like them to feel?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Island of Misfit Toys and not Fitting the Mold (12-6-17)

Last week we looked at Prep and Landing and the importance of everyone doing their part. This week I want us to reflect on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. More specifically, I want us to think about the Island of Misfit Toys.

In case you’re not familiar with the story of Rudolph let me give you a synopsis. Essentially, it’s a story of misfits. Rudolph is a misfit because his nose glows red. Hermey is a misfit, because he is an elf who wants to be a dentist instead of a toy maker. Rudolph and Hermey run away and end up on the Island of Misfit Toys. The island is home to toys who don’t exactly work in the typical way and/or toys that look different from the norm. For example, there is a train with square wheels, a polka dotted elephant, and a Charlie-in-the-Box (instead of a Jack-in-the-box). Eventually, everyone realizes that even though Rudolph and his friends are “misfits” they are still good people. Even though the toys might be different, they can still bring joy to children. By the end of the show, people finally begin to accept them for who they are.

You might already be making some connections between this story and life. The way I think about it, we are all humans, which means to some degree we are all misfits or at least we have all felt like we didn’t fit in at some point in our lives. If you connect this idea to work, it means we aren’t all going to fit the mold and that’s okay. Even if you don’t fit “the mold” you can still be great at whatever you do. I work in market research and am amazed at how talented everyone is and how different we all are. While we are all different from each other, we are all able to help the business define problems, understand customers, and make decisions. In my case, I might be a polka dotted elephant, but my polka dotted elephantness works for me. In the same token, I know all kind of people in sales, operations, HR, legal, medical, regulatory, etc. who are great for different reasons. We all have our own idiosyncrasies, strengths, and styles that shape us and enable us to be successful.

Another connection can be made if you look at life in a broader sense. Just because we are misfits doesn’t mean we are undeserving of love. The thing that has always bothered me the most about Rudolph is that a lot of people treated him like garbage, because his nose glowed. It’s not because Rudolph was a jerk. It’s not because Rudolph was an uncaring animal. It’s because his nose glowed. We are all misfits. We all deserve love and we all should give love to everyone else.

The challenge: Are you embracing your inner misfit? Are you giving love to the people around you?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Team Effectiveness, Culture, and DQ Blizzards (7-26-17)

Last week was about culture and relationships. This week is about team effectiveness, culture, and individuals. We’ll reflect on these things by thinking about Dairy Queen Blizzards and Culver’s Concrete Mixers. In case you’ve never had a Blizzard or Concrete Mixer before they are ice cream treats where you take a base flavor of ice cream and add in some kind of mixer like oreos, M&Ms, fruit, etc. It is the combination of the base flavor AND the mix-ins that create delicious gloriousness.

Growing up I would go to Dairy Queen and get an Oreo Blizzard, which was always made with vanilla soft serve ice cream as the default base and then they would mix in oreos and blend it all together. I’m assuming Dairy Queen made it this way because they viewed vanilla as a neutralflavor. A few weeks ago I went to Culver’s and ordered a Concrete Mixer with oreos and cookie dough. The person at the register asked me if I wanted it made with vanilla or chocolate custard. That simple question stopped me, because I realized that the base flavor would impact the overall Concrete Mixer experience. A Concrete Mixer made with vanilla is very different than one made from chocolate, strawberry, mint, etc. Each of these base flavors would drastically change the taste of the Concrete Mixer. On that day I learned that there is NO neutral base flavor. Some flavors would enhance the mix-ins and some make things worse.

What does this have to do with work? How good a Concrete Mixer tastes is based on the combination of the base flavor of ice cream and the mix-ins. In a similar way, the effectiveness of any team is based on the combination of the baseline culture and the individuals you mix in. The baseline culture of a group consists of the things that team values and the rules it follows. The individuals consist of everything they can bring to the table from skills to energy. In order to have something amazing, BOTH the culture base and the individuals need to fit and work well together.

The tricky part in all of this is that it’s easy to overlook the fact that all cultures have a base flavor and that some base flavors work better with a wider array of individuals than others.Some teams have great baseline cultures that accentuate the individual flavors that people bring and the result is a high performing team. Some teams have a baseline culture that isn’t so great, and the baseline flavor never mixes well with the individual people which results in dysfunction. Think about your own experience for a moment. How would you describe the base flavor of the culture of where you work? How would you describe the base flavor of the culture of your team? How do some of these base flavors of culture bring out the best in you? How do some of these base flavors of culture bring you down?

The challenge: Are you cognizant that the base flavor of any culture is NOT neutral? What are you doing to help create a better base culture that brings out the best in us?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

A Pensieve and Connecting with Others (3-8-17)

Last week was about prioritization and catching the golden snitch. This week we are going to continue diving into the world of Harry Potter by reflecting on the powers of a pensieve and the idea of connecting with others.

A pensieve is a magical device that stores memories and allows others to view those memories from the person’s perspective. Here is how the pensieve works. A wizard uses their wand to pull a memory from their mind and then they place the memory in the bowl (the pensieve). Then, the wizard and even other wizards can dive into the pensieve to experience that memory together. The pensieve is used throughout the series as Dumbledore replays memories for Harry and others. It gives other characters an opportunity to see things from the memory bearer’s point of view, giving them new insight and broader perspective.

What if we could do something like that? Imagine for a minute how interesting this would be. Imagine being able to step into the memory of another person to see what they saw in a given situation and to be able to experience what they experienced. It would be pretty interesting. Imagine how this could help you learn to appreciate them and what they go through. Imagine how much this could broaden your perspective and you as a person.

So what does a pensieve have to do with work? Obviously we don’t have the magic to jump inside the memories of each other. However, we could still do something similar, because we have the power to empathize with each other. We have the ability to connect more deeply with each other. We can strive to do better empathizing with each other and understanding where each of us is coming from. We have the opportunity to do all these things, but we don’t always take advantage of those opportunities. If you’re anything like me, sometimes I just can’t find the time. I get so busy focusing on the work that I begin to look past the people. Sure I might chat with them from time to time, but I don’t always connect with them. I know I can do better. I don’t need a pensieve, I just need to be willing to put forth the time and effort.

The challenge: Are you being intentional about connecting with others?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Cost of Being Different Part 1 Diversity, Inclusion, and the Cost of Great Pizza (7-6-16)

This week we will kick off a new series I’m calling “The Cost of Being Different.” We’ll start by thinking about diversity, inclusion, and the cost of great pizza.

How many different kinds of pizza have you had in your life? Include anything from middle school pizza to frozen to chains to local restaurants. Now the important question. How many of those experiences/pizzas have been amazing? I’ve probably had hundreds of pizzas, but if I had to pick ones that get me really excited I can only think of a handful of places. This is surprising to me, because at face value making pizza looks pretty simple. You make some dough, add sauce, add cheese, put on toppings, and bake it until it’s done. Anybody can make pizza. If it’s so simple, why isn’t all pizza amazing?

Maybe creating something as simple as pizza isn’t all that easy. Maybe it’s a lot more complicated. Maybe it takes more concentration, focus, and skill then I’d care to admit. First, there’s the dough. It’s about making a crust that isn’t too floury or too doughy and can support the weight of the pizza. Then, there’s the sauce, which must be the perfect blend of herbs and spices to simultaneously pull all of the flavors together and accentuate them. There are the toppings themselves, where it’s important to think about how each topping will impact the flavors of the others. I want to eat something that feels pulled together and not just a heaping pound of stuff. Finally, there’s the cheese that has to be melted enough to hold everything together, but not too much where it’s runny or too hard where it ruins the pizza. Great pizza requires the best ingredients cooked in the best way. Great pizza isn’t cheap. The best pizza costs more in terms of the extra time, effort, and energy to ensure they create something extraordinary.

How does this connect with diversity, inclusion, and work? We sometimes talk about diversity and inclusion like it is as simple as pizza. All we have to do is put a bunch of different people in a room and then magically it will all come together. It doesn’t work like that. It’s not that easy. It’s not that cheap. It costs more than that. It costs and requires attention and people being intentional. It requires a leader who makes inclusion part of the foundation of the team (dough). It needs a culture that brings out the best in each other (sauce). It requires people who can be great on their own who are also willing to be part of something larger (toppings). It needs a purpose that holds everything together just right (cheese).

Think about the teams/groups you’ve been part of. How many of them have been magical? How many are just okay? How many have been subpar? None of this happens by accident. This all happens because of the things we do or do not do. Creating an inclusive culture isn’t cheap. Creating an inclusive culture costs more. It costs more in terms of time, effort, and energy. An inclusive culture pays off with better teams.

The challenge: What are you doing to make your team (your pizza) extraordinary?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Tints, Lenses, and Inclusion (1-20-16)

Last week we talked a little bit about learning skills from each other. This week I want us to shift gears and think about learning about each other and the lenses from which we view the world. This week’s blog was inspired by some conversations I’ve had with folks lately that have stretched my thinking and an article about photography. I’d encourage you to read the article and watch the short video by clicking Here.

Take a look at the three pictures of my two year old daughter Violet. One might say that all of the pictures are the same, but that’s not exactly correct. Each image has its own tint to it. Pretend for a moment that you grew up with your eyes always seeing the world in one of these tints. For example, everything you saw always had a shade of green like the 1st picture. Now let’s pretend that I always saw things with a yellow tint. How would these changes impact the way we viewed and experienced the world?

What does this have to do with anything? As you look at these images you know that I’ve used a computer to make this effect happen. You can see all three tints and how they are impacting the image. In real life, these differences aren’t as easy to identify and understand. As we go through life, the lens we experience the world through evolves based on who we are and what we experience. In short, our diversity shapes how we view and experience our world.

I could be described as a white, male, husband, dad, son, straight, middle class, Indiana native, works outside the home, poet, and superhero lover. Would you describe yourself the same way? Probably not, and that’s the point. We each have a unique combination of dimensions that shape us, the way we see the world, and how we respond to what life throws at us. The challenge in all of this is that it’s easy to become so accustomed to viewing the world through your lens that you lose awareness of how your lens impacts the way you experience the world. It’s also easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everyone experiences the world the same as you do. I know that I’ve made these mistakes on several occasions and it was an honest conversation, a situation presented in a different light, or a new experience (like becoming a dad to two girls) that challenged my perspectives and made me view the world in a more holistic way.

True inclusion begins with understanding each other, and if we want to truly understand and learn from each other we have to be willing to step back from the lens we always use and actively search to see new perspectives. How are you challenging your day to day lens? What are you doing to see how others experience the world?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Rudolph and “Neutral” Characters (12-9-15)

My promise to myself is to keep it as real as I can with my blogs. I’m going to share something I’ve been thinking about for a few months now. I acknowledge this is may be viewed as a little sharp and heavy on the satire. My hope is that this week’s blog will make you stop and think about things a little differently.

You may be familiar with the story of Rudolph. On the surface, it’s a cute Claymation story about a misfit who becomes a hero. If you look a little deeper, you’ll see something else. Rudolph was born different and encouraged to hide what made him different. He was intentionally mocked by some reindeer. There are “neutral” characters also. These are the ones who weren’t making fun of or actively supporting Rudolph. Rudolph ran away, felt he needed to prove himself and goes on a dangerous adventure to save his friends. Rudolph returned to Santa’s workshop and Santa needed him because it is so foggy outside. As a result of his utility and his bravery, people finally accepted Rudolph.

Here is why this story is so messed up. It makes sense to focus on praising Rudolph for being brave and overcoming adversity. However, why do we let the other characters off the hook? Why was the bad behavior of the reindeer that were intentionally cruel to Rudolph tolerated for so long? Why did they have to wait for Rudolph to prove himself before accepting him? What was their character evolution like? Do those “neutral” characters realize that their neutrality is, or can be, destructive? Why are they neutral? Do they not want to get involved? Do they not know how to get involved? Are they oblivious to what is going on? Why don’t we expect these “neutral” characters to do better?

Here is the connection to our work. I feel that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a lesson in diversity and inclusion. The story puts all of the pressure on Rudolph to grow as a character and glosses over how the other characters need to develop and grow. Read the paragraph again that describes the Rudolph story and wherever it says “Rudolph” replace that with a name and an aspect of diversity: “Bob my African American co-worker,” “Rhys my autistic nephew,” “Erica my Latino friend,” “Joe my LGBT colleague,” “Angela a working mother,” “Mike a Jewish neighbor.” It’s the same story. ______ (insert name) is intentionally ostracized by some people who are not inclusive, potentially unaware, or simply don’t care. There are “neutral” people who don’t actively ostracize, but they don’t do anything to support either. The pressure is on ______ to prove themselves and if they do, all those people who said ______ was not good says, “I guess ______ and that group of people ______ represents isn’t so bad.”

Confession: I’ve been the “neutral” person on different occasions and continue to make that mistake sometimes. I’ve been the one oblivious to how the frivolous use of the phrase, “That’s gay” hurt LGBT friends of mine. I’ve been the guy who didn’t know how to talk about the social issues played out in the media and even in our workplace concerning African American community throughout the year… so my awkward silence may have told people I care about that I don’t care about them. I’ve listened to friends without kids confess that they feel pressured to put in extra hours because they didn’t have kids to go home to, and I never did anything to help them understand their time is as valuable as any parents’. I’ve screwed up on several occasions and know I’ll continue to make mistakes.

Here’s to doing better. Sometimes being intentional about doing better means looking back to see what went wrong, why, and how we move forward in a different way. Here’s to rethinking “neutral” in whatever Rudolph story we have witnessed in the past, are involved in right now, or will be part of in the future.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Inclusion and being Intentional (9-16-15)

This is going to be the last entry on the topics of inclusion, diversity, and superpowerment 😉 I want to pull all of these themes we have been discussing together with an analogy and a gut check.

Imagine for a minute that you are a sales representative. You are getting ready to call on a customer and I ask you what you are trying to accomplish with this customer. Now imagine you didn’t have an answer. Instead, you told me that you were just going to go in there and wing it. How good of a sales representative do you think you’d be?

Let’s pretend for a moment that you are a marketer. I ask you what you are trying to accomplish with your customers. You tell me that you have identified three key things that customers need to believe in order to feel comfortable enough to use our product. Then I ask you how you are going to get them to understand those things and feel that way. You tell me you’re not sure and that you’re just going to put some tactics through to see what happens. How good of a marketer would you be?

Now let’s say you’re an employee. You tell me that diversity and inclusion are really important to you. If I asked you how you want people to feel who come in contact with you, could you give me a specific answer? If I asked you how you intended on making them feel that way, would you have a strategy? Be honest.

Over the past few weeks we’ve talked about diversity vs. inclusion, superpowerment, overcoming biases through action, and making the time to have these conversations. We’ve also talked about the “silent questions” we are always asking like, “Can I be myself with this person? Can I trust this person?” The underlying theme is that the only way we can make progress in these areas is by being very intentional. We have to take the time and spend the effort thinking through how we want people to feel and what we can do to help them feel this way.

The challenge- How intentional are you?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Inclusion, Safety, and Street Lights (9-9-15)

Last week was all about being aware of your biases, and then taking action. This week is also about taking action, but in a different context. This week’s entry is inspired by a conversation I had with a colleague.

Imagine for a moment that you are standing in the middle of an intersection at night and you need to pick which road you would feel the safest traveling on. You have 4 different directions you can take. To the north is pure darkness. You can’t even see a road. To the east there are street lamps, and sometimes they flicker on for a few seconds before the road goes dark again. To the south the street lights are all on, so you can see pretty well. To the west all of the street lights are on and you see a friend of yours who is calling you saying, “Come on. We’ll walk there together.” Which one do you choose?

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything. What if in the above situation you weren’t choosing a road, but you were choosing which person you would be willing to have a conversation with about diversity and inclusion topics? To the north the dark street is the person who seals off their personal self at work. To the east the flickering lamps are the people who show that they might be open, but they don’t give you enough to know for sure. To the south the well-lit street is the person who brings themselves to work and you are sure that it would be safe to have this conversation with them. To the west, the well-lit street with the friend is the individual who takes it a step further and puts in the effort to set aside time for them to have conversations with you. Which do you choose?

Recently I had a conversation with a colleague and he talked about how one of the biggest barriers to advancing in the realm of diversity and inclusion is that we don’t talk enough about these concepts with each other. We often don’t talk about these concepts, because we aren’t sure who is open to having the conversation and when we can have the conversation during the course of our regular work day. We might have all of this stuff on our minds, but bringing it up in the midst of other business meetings and during the rush of our day would feel out of place and not give the topics the time and attention they require. If we want this to change we need to find a way to create opportunities to have these conversations and we need to do this by making it easier for people to walk toward us and with us. If we are going to be open to having these conversations we need to be able to demonstrate this through our words and our actions.

Which path are you in the analogy? I would hope that people would see me as the south path. I hope that I’m giving all of the signals that tell people I’m open. At the same time, I recognize that I need to do better. I need to put in the work to be the welcoming west path. I can make the time to talk with people about these concepts to learn more and take more action to make things better. The challenge- How are you making yourself easier to walk toward?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry