Mario Kart and Choosing Where to Invest Your Effort (9-3-25)

Last week was an entry from, Cameron, and his thoughts on be brave enough to ask questions. This week is an entry from Alice and is about being intentional about where you invest your effort. I hope you enjoy the insights.

My dad is a really good Mario Kart player. He always gets 1st place. Anytime we win, he usually lets us. He’s pretty good at most video games, not just at Mario Kart. I sometimes say he’s one of the best players ever. “Nope, I’m nowhere close,” he usually says.

One day, I asked myself if I’d ever be as good a player as him. I realized I wouldn’t. Which didn’t feel good exactly, realizing that I wasn’t going to be the best. But if I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t really putting the work in to be as good as a player. Why? Because I didn’t want to. That’s not being lazy, that’s accepting my limits.

In the grand scheme of things, being the best wasn’t one of my goals. I mean, yes, if I could magically become the best player I would. But to work as hard as my dad to do so, I wasn’t really interested. I’d rather spend my time becoming a better writer and artist. I enjoy writing and drawing, and I enjoy putting the effort in to getting better at those things.

Let’s connect this to work. Think about your career. What are some areas that you’re already happy with? What are some areas where you’d like to grow and improve?

The challenge: Where will you invest your efforts to get better?

Bonus story from Andrew- When I first joined this company, I wanted to climb the ladder and be one of the leaders of a business unit or something like that. I don’t want to do that anymore. If I’m being honest like Alice, I don’t have the right skillset for those roles. Also, I’m not interested in gaining the skillsets and experiences to be great in those roles. Instead, I’d rather continue to invest in areas that are in line with my strengths and maximize the value I can provide like innovation, creative thinking, communication, etc. I likely won’t ever be the leader of a business unit or something like that, and that’s more than okay. I will continue to grow and lead in other ways though.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Patio Furniture and Designing Spaces (5-8-24)

This week we are going to start a series inspired by patio furniture. We will begin by thinking about patio furniture and designing spaces.

Back in March, my wife and I started talking about getting some different patio furniture. At the time we had this large and super heavy hexagon shaped table made of wood with built in benches. It had managed to make it through quite a few years, but now the wood was warping, and the table was starting to fall apart. While the table was super durable, it wasn’t exactly comfortable and inviting. My wife and I wanted a space where we would all hang out and enjoy reading books, playing games, or just chilling. We kept this in mind as we went furniture shopping and focused on things that felt cozy and comfy. We set up the new furniture in early April, and we’ve already spent more time outside on that furniture than we did all last year on the old wooden table. (Side note-I know what you’re thinking. “Dang! I wish I could look as cool as Andrew.” Be patient folks. It took me years to get here.)

What does this have to do with anything? In the above story, my wife and I wanted to drive a specific behavior (having the family hang out together outside). We knew that we wouldn’t do this just by saying we needed to spend more time outside. Instead, we had to alter the environment to make it easier to spend time together outside.

Think about your environment. Does your environment make it easier or harder to achieve your desired behaviors? Maybe you have a personal goal to be more active, how are you designing your environment to make that easier? For me, I’ve found that if I set out my running gear the night before, then it’s so much easier to go for a run in the morning. As you think about work, how does your environment enable the right behaviors? Maybe, there are changes in the physical environment you could make. Maybe, it’s about setting up the right culture, so the desired behaviors become easier and are rewarded, while the negative behaviors are discouraged. Maybe it’s about having better meeting hygiene, where clear objectives make it easier to accomplish things.

The challenge- How will you design your environment to help you be successful?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

One Word or Phrase for 2024 (1-3-24)

Happy Wednesday and Happy New Year!

I hope you had fabulous holidays filled with joy, love, and peace. We will kick off 2024 with a focus on identifying a word/phrase that will be your north star for the year.

At the beginning of every year, I take time to reflect and choose a word or phrase that will be my north star for the year. I’ve found it helps ground me versus getting lost among setting too many goals. To identify my one word/phrase I ask myself things like: What went well last year that I want to continue? Where could things have been better? What do I want to achieve? How do I want to feel about things? What do I want to give more focus and energy toward this year? What do I want others to notice and say about me?

In 2024 my phrase is intentionally invest. This is all about making sure I’m being intentional about how I spend my energy. In any given facet of my life, there is A LOT that I could do. There are dozens, if not hundreds of different challenges I could tackle and areas of my life where I could try to grow. Since there are so many, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like I must solve all of them. In the past, this has led to me spiraling and spending energy in too many disparate places to make the impact I want to make. Have you ever felt like that? With this in mind I chose the phrase intentionally invest to remind me that I need to pause and think about where I truly need to invest my time and effort to achieve the outcomes I want. If I take a moment to pause and think, out of all of the different challenges I could tackle, there are only a handful that I should or need to work on in each phase of life. Whether it’s health, work, social, or financial aspects of life, if I’m clear on my goals then there are usually only like 2-3 things I need to get right in order to be successful. Intentionally investing is my nudge to remember that I need to be clear on the outcomes I want, select the investments that will get me there, and continue to make consistent daily deposits so I can reap the rewards of compound interest over time.

The challenge: What is your one word or short phrase for the year? What is your north star?

Bonus: On top of choosing a theme, I also build a vision board to print and keep in a visible spot at home. The picture from this week is that vision board.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Transforming Experiences with a Little Extra Effort (7-26-23)

Last week was about creating spaces where people can be real. This week is about transforming experiences with a little extra effort.

We stayed home during the week of July 4^th. We did a few small things like rode our bikes, played miniature golf, shot water guns, and did some crafts. It wasn’t anything too cool, but if you talk to my kids they light up and get excited like it was the best week ever. Here’s why. We all love the most recent Legend of Zelda video game, so I thought I could make things a little more special if I put in a little effort to make July 4^th a Zelda inspired week. Instead of just doing activities, I connected those activities to events that happen in the game. For example, we had to explore the land to find Zora’s Domain (bike riding). We had to save a town from pirates (miniature golf at a pirate themed place). We tried the Goron minecart shooting game (water gun fights). We built signs to show President Hudson we support him (structures made of spaghetti, pipe cleaners, and marshmallows). I hid bananas on our front porch and said they were left from the Yiga clan. Now, some of those things may not have meant much to you, which is totally okay. My kids got all the references and enjoyed how they tied the activities we did to a game we all love.

What does this have to do with anything? Every single day we create experiences for people around us. We might create experiences for customers who use the products we support. We might create experiences for teammates and co-workers. How would you describe the experiences you create for others? Are they positive? Are they neutral? Are they negative? Are they meaningful? In the grand scheme of things, the activities I did with my kids (bike riding, miniature golf, crafts) weren’t that unique or impressive. However, the moment I put in a little extra effort to connect those activities to a something my kids cared about, the experience transformed into something more special. By being a little more intentional and putting in a little more effort we can create experiences that truly resonate with others.

The challenge: How are you enhancing the experiences you create for people?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Secret Behind the Disney Magic (3-8-23)

Happy Wednesday,

Last week was about employee engagement and pixie dust. This week is about the secret behind the Disney magic.

When people talk about Disney, they also usually talk about the magic of Disney. Magic is that little something extra that makes the moment enjoyable and memorable. It could be a Disney staff member stepping in at just the right moment to turn a wrong into a right. It might be a little surprise waiting for you in a Disney resort. It might be the feeling you get as you walk through Galaxy’s Edge and see your favorite Star Wars characters coming to life. You would think that incredible moments like this would only happen once in a while, but at Disney they happen quite often.

Do you want to know a secret? Technically, anyone could do the same thing that Disney does. It’s not magic. Instead, it’s being extremely INTENTIONAL about creating amazing customer experience. They design the place, processes, and choose the right people who all combine to routinely create memorable magic for folks. They think through every touchpoint, every opportunity, and determine how to instill magic in that moment. There is no top secret patented magic formula. Other companies could do these things. They choose not to.

What does this have to do with anything? Think about the experiences you deliver to other employees. Do they contain magic? Are there moments that make the person on the receiving end, pause and smile because they feel so seen and valued? The best leaders I have ever been around found a way to consistently deliver this magic. It wasn’t anything incredibly fancy. It wasn’t anything that others couldn’t do. They delivered this magic, because they were intentional and consistent day in and day out. Now think about the experiences you’re delivering to customers. Do any of those have magic in them? What would it take to make more of these customer experiences feel magical?

The challenge: How can you be more intentional about creating magical moments for other employees and for customers?

Bonus- Speaking of magic, I recently performed this poem at our Neuroscience National Meeting. If you want a little fire and inspiration, give it a listen. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrew-embry-979831b7_whowantstheball-poetry-poetryatwork-activity-7037083285360975873-V3hz?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Surge Protectors and being Overloaded (1-12-22)

Last week was about finding our word/phrase to be our NorthStar. This week is about surge protectors and protecting ourselves from being overloaded.

I’m assuming you have a surge protector or two at home. Surge protectors are often used to protect certain appliances from becoming fried from a power surge. Mine is connected to my tv and computer. At the most basic level, the surge protector works by either blocking the surge or by reducing the voltage to a point where it doesn’t damage the device it is protecting.

You might be wondering what this has to do with anything. I don’t know about you, but 2021 was another wild year and there was a lot of hardcore sprinting that last month with personal travel, holiday stress, work travel, putting in a lot of hours to finish up projects, and handling life stuff. I had the last two weeks of December off, and I struggled to recharge for the first week. I realized I was fried. I had ran so hard for so long that I was having issues recovering. I wish that I would have had a personal surge protector throughout the year to keep me from getting overloaded.

With all that in mind, I’m looking at 2022 and the chaos will continue (see what I did there 😉). I’ve been back for 1.5 weeks. I already have too many emails, too many meetings, and more than enough important work to do. Sound familiar? Life is going to continue to be busy and who knows what will happen with Omicron. I’m beginning to see that if I’m not careful, I’m going to jump back into the madness and get overwhelmed again by another power surge. Does anyone else feel this way? I know if I don’t pause right now and set up what I need to avoid being overloaded, I’m just going to get burnt out again. I need to take the time to install a personal surge protector.

Challenge 1: How can you build your own personal surge protector to keep you from getting fried?

Challenge 2: If you’re a leader with official power and authority, what are you SPECIFICALLY doing to create an environment where people won’t be overloaded?

Bonus thoughts: Here are some things I’m doing to build my personal surge protector.

Invested the time (2-3 hours) to organize my work. This included sifting through my long to-do list to identify priorities and confirm them with my boss. Also thought through what needs to be delivered, when, and what quality is required. Then, I created project plans. If things are turned into clear tasks, I can invest energy in knocking out the tasks vs. being overwhelmed with trying to sort everything out. (#organizethepantry)
Invested the time in setting up my personal and professional work calendars to ensure my time is spent on the right things.
I booked my vacation time and planned out my race schedule for the years, so I have things to look forward to.
Started talking to my wife about the boundaries we should consider putting into place for our time and activities to make things a bit easier for our family.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Cooking on Instinct vs. Following a Reciple (9-26-18)

Last week was about flavor combinations and belonging. This week is about cooking from instinct vs. following a recipe.

Imagine for a moment that you are at Sam’s house. They have made you dinner. You think it tastes delicious. On a different day you go to Pat’s house for dinner. You think that meal is equally delicious. Here is the big reveal. Sam cooks on instinct. Everything Sam does is impromptu. Sam is one of those people who doesn’t need to measure anything, never looks at a recipe, etc. They just know exactly what they need to do in order to create great food. Cooking is natural and organic for Sam. Pat on the other hand isn’t as naturally gifted, so they intentionally follow recipes and guidance they’ve learned from other chefs. Does any of this matter? Does it matter that Sam cooked you a fabulous meal without following a recipe and that Pat had to follow a recipe to create great food? For me, it doesn’t matter one bit as long as the food is spectacular.

You might be wondering what this has to do with work. When it comes to the people side of leadership, I’d argue that there are a few people like Sam. There are some leaders who make magic purely based on instinct. They do things organically and naturally, and they are amazing at doing this. I’d argue that there are also people like Pat. In fact, I’d say that most people are like Pat. The people side of leadership doesn’t come as naturally and instinctually to them as it does to Sam. This doesn’t make Pat bad. It just means Pat needs to be a little more intentional about engaging with people and building a culture.

Here’s where things get interesting. Over the years I’ve had a lot of conversations about leadership, building a culture, and being intentional. Often, there is a fear from people that if they are more intentional about engagement (i.e. acting like a Pat) that it will seem fake or inauthentic. Essentially, they are saying that if they are intentional vs. doing everything naturally/organically/impromptu the food will be bad, because they don’t make it on instinct alone. I think these people are wrong. At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters if leaders have to make a concentrated effort to build a better culture vs. if leaders are the ones who create amazing cultures purely on instinct. Authenticity is NOT linked to whether or not you are impromptu or intentional about engaging with people. Authenticity is linked to whether or not you actually care. In fact, I think we would all benefit if we ALL acted a little more like Pat and were more deliberate and intentional about what we are doing. If we all acted like Pat, I’m willing to bet the food would be even better.

Being intentional and deliberate could take many forms. For example, let’s say you naturally and organically don’t do great with recognition. Since you aren’t great at doing this organically, you probably don’t provide your team with the recognition they deserve. In order to do better you’d need to become more intentional. There are a lot of different things you could do to address this issue. For instance, you could put a reminder on your calendar telling you to reach out to people to let them know you value them. Nobody would care about or notice the fact that it took you putting a reminder on your calendar to send them recognition. All they would notice is that you were recognizing them more for their work. They would taste great food, and not care about the fact you had to follow a recipe and make an effort to be more intentional. #Confession->I do this. When I see someone who needs to be recognized, I save time on my calendar with a note reminding me to reach out to them. Recognizing people officially goes on my to do list.

The challenge- I think we’d all be a little better off if we assumed that we were more like Pat and needed to be more intentional about engaging with others. How can you be more intentional about building an engaging culture/vibe with the people you work with?

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