Performance Under Pressure (9-30-26)

We will continue this series on reflections from our internal insights summit. Last week was about using high expectations as an invitation to strive for greatness. This week is about performance under pressure.

Our guest speaker for this segment was Dr. James Hewitt, a former racing cyclist turned PhD performance scientist. His talk was about performing under pressure without burning out. He argued that pressure is always going to be there, and performance is trainable. From there, he discussed how success isn’t just luck, but it’s inevitable for the teams who train to handle this pressure. He then talked through his 3 part framework for preparing to deal with pressure.

Capacity– Building the foundation for performing under pressure
Control– Reframing stress as an opportunity to grow
Coordination– Synchronizing your team to transform pressure into performance

The one that stuck out to me the most is capacity, because this is the one we know the most about. We all know logically that we need to ensure we are taking care of our physical, cognitive, and emotional health. We know we should exercise, take breaks, not be so hard on ourselves, etc. However, there is a difference between knowing and doing, and the difference between knowing and doing is having negative impact across the board.

How does this connect with work? It’s pretty safe to say that there is more pressure and more constant pressure than ever before. In many ways, it feels harder and harder to keep up and deal with everything. What if a large portion of this is because we haven’t built the foundational capacity to even begin to handle this pressure? Without the solid ground, we are already compromised and less able to deal with pressure from the beginning.

When I reflect on capacity this way, it changes the way I think about physical, cognitive, and emotional health. A lack of sleep isn’t just something that makes me a little less tired during the day. Being mentally drained, isn’t just something I can shake off. Being emotionally dysregulated isn’t just something I can easily overcome. These aren’t minor inconveniences. They are barriers to me performing as an employee and more importantly as a human.

The challenge- How will you build up your capacity to perform under pressure?

Bonus thought 1: The other shift I’ve made for these things is rather than spending an exuberant effort in trying to optimize everything, I’m asking what are the minimum effective doses I need. Maybe for my physical health it’s a solid lifting session 3 days per week. For my mental health, maybe it’s a commitment to stop scrolling and only read books after 9:30pm. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Small steps matter.

Bonus thought 2: Here’s a link to his book if you want a quick read filled with some helpful nudges, frameworks, and other things to think about Amazon.com: Regenerative Performance: How to Thrive in an Always-On World Without Sacrificing Your Well-Being (Audible Audio Edition): James Hewitt, Dr. James Hewitt, Amplify Publishing: Books

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

High Expectations as an Invitation (9-23-26)

Last week was about the magic of vulnerability. This week is about using high expectations as an invitation to strive for something greater.

Tori Brown is a Sr VP in CMH, and is another leader who spoke during our insights conference. Her fireside chat was moderated by Becky Sturman, CMH Market Research Leader. From the moment the conversation started, Tori was dropping knowledge like class was in session. She talked about how insights are critical to driving the business forward. The best insights professionals are consistent, factual, and trustworthy. She shouted out researchers for challenging her and keeping her honest. She kept it real and said that innovation is “over used and under done.” She continually reiterated that the insights function is the keeper of truth for our customers. I was in the audience snapping like a poetry slam.

My favorite comments came when Tori was talking about speed and the pressure to move faster than ever. She explained that no one is ever going to be able to do things at the speed of business and that’s okay. Our goal should be to strive to get better and move faster because our patients deserve that from us. This was my favorite comment, because it created a subtle shift. Instead of moving faster being a stick to punish with, moving faster became a noble goal to strive toward because people are counting on us. I’ve since had people comment that they could almost feel the weight of this be lifted off their shoulders. I know I felt that way. I was pumped and ready to suit up in armor to go slay dragons.

Let’s connect some dots. Have you ever felt beat down because of the world’s desire to move faster? I know I have. I’ve felt this like a measuring stick that was there to always tell me I was failing. Tori’s reframe gave me permission to be human AND the encouragement to strive for something better for myself and for the people counting on me. On top of reframing speed for me, Tori’s comments challenged me to reflect as a leader. As leaders, we have to be able to hold high standards. At the same time, we need to hold and express those standards in a way that invites people to ascend and not in a way that beats them down. This is the difficult thin line we must walk.

The challenge- How will you turn high expectations into an invitation to strive for something greater?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Problem Solving like a Magician (9-8-26)

We are going to kick off a series of things that inspired me during our internal Strategic Insights Summit. We will start with what David Corsaro taught us about learning how to solve problems like a magician.

David gets on stage and starts by sharing his passion for magic and for gathering insights. He shares how he has been doing magic for years, been on Penn and Teller, and performed for countless people. After some initial framing, it’s time for the first trick. He has us all follow along and asks us to copy his movements with our hands. The audience is locked in. We are doing everything he says. Then, he does the next movement, and no one in the audience can do it. We are flabbergasted, watching him do something we physically can’t do.

He then begins to break down the trick. He has us go step by step to see what happened. I don’t want to give away his secrets. However, I will share the takeaway he left us with. That takeaway is to be careful of your assumptions, and to ensure you question everything. The entire audience had made one simple assumption, and that is what had doomed us to fail.

Let’s connect this to work. Have you ever been in a situation where something didn’t go well, and you later realized it’s because you made an incorrect assumption? I have. It’s so easy to do this, especially when life is moving so quickly. It’s also easy, because we are programmed to fall into a routine. Think about it. How many times have you heard, “Well, that’s just how we do it,” as if it were a law written in stone?

The world is moving and changing faster than ever before. If we are going to build something for a new kind of future, we need to be constantly challenging ourselves and the status quo. This all starts with recognizing and challenging the assumptions we make.

The challenge- What assumptions will you challenge today?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

How will you support and instill confidence in others? (1-26-26)

If you’re in the Midwest, I hope you are surviving the snow. This is a bonus blog. The question for us to reflect on is, “How will I support and instill confidence in others?”

Last week I was invited to speak at and attend the Insights Association CEO Summit. It was a conference filled with insight leaders across various functions and industries. There were companies of all sizes and focus areas. If I’m being honest, I was a bit nervous about speaking there. I’m not a deep technical market research expert. I’m not a CEO level leader. I’m not someone who knows all of the technical ins and outs of every last AI model and offering.

I call my parents the night before I’m supposed to give my talk. I’m on speaker phone with both of them talking about the flight down, the nice weather, etc. I mention that my talk is tomorrow. I start to say that I’m nervous, and before I can fully finish the sentence my mom says, “You were invited for a reason.” It wasn’t some over the top rah-rah moment. It wasn’t overly emotional or mushy. It was a strong direct statement of factual support. My mom repeated herself, “You were invited for a reason.” She was saying, “They wouldn’t invite you if you weren’t good. Whoever invited you felt that you had something worthy to say or they wouldn’t put their neck out. You’ve done good work. You’re more than capable. Just do the thing.” It was a nice confidence boost, and things went well the next day.

What does this have to do with work? I have a memory from early in my career that will always be burned into my memory. I was a young associate, relatively new to my role. Bryan Lapel, who led the function at the time, brought me into a room and said something like, “This is a complicated mess. I’m 100% confident that you will deliver.” He said it in a tone that the outcome was inevitable. It was probably a 30 second conversation. I stepped out of that enclave like, “Get ready world! I’m going to run through some walls now!” Have you ever had a moment like that where a leader instilled that level of confidence in you? Have you ever been able to deliver a moment like that for someone else?

The challenge: How will you support and instill confidence in others?

Andrew Embry