Enabling Trade-offs (7-15-26)

Last week was about making trade-offs in order to avoid burnout. This week is about enabling trade-offs.

The other day my boss did something that was very simple and very effective. I was on an email chain with my boss and someone else. My boss wrote something along the lines of, “You should connect with Andrew on this. Andrew will be wrapped up this week and next week on X.” It was a simple two sentences. It drove home that this was important. It also gave me air cover that he didn’t expect me to move on it right away. He was enabling me to make a trade-off to focus on X, and get to this at a later date. It was a simple two sentences that were powerful and appreciated. Have you ever had a leader give you air cover? How did it feel?

Let’s connect the dots. How often do you hear leaders talk about how we need to make trade-off decisions? I feel this is a constant talking point at most townhalls. Now, how often do leaders enable you to actually make trade-off decisions? How often do they proactively give you the air cover to not do all the things all the time at the same time? This is where things tend to fall apart. It’s easy to say the right things, and much harder to do the right things.

Something I’m trying to do a better job of is ensuring there is more comfort, clarity, and alignment around what can move slow in comparison. The conversation usually goes like this, “The top priorities are A, B, and C. I see you are also trying to move X, Y, and Z. If X, Y, and Z ever threaten A, B, and C, then I want you to know I’m okay with X, Y, and Z moving slower. I’m comfortable with you pausing that work and making that trade-off, so we can nail A, B, and C.” You can have conversations like this if you are officially in a leadership position and even if you are an individual contributor partnering with cross-functional teams.

The challenges: How are you giving your people air cover to make trade-off decisions?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Standing in the Tension (6-17-26)

This is week 4 of our series based on lessons I’ve learned working in a central role. This week is about being comfortable standing in the tension between different ideas.

I’ve mentioned before that in this role I have to navigate a lot of ambiguity without have any formal power. As a result of this, I often find myself in the center of competing forces. I’m being asked to scale enterprise solutions while moving fast. I’m challenged to help meet the needs of individuals while creating things that meet the needs of the masses. I’m asked to customize things to specific needs while keeping things scalable. I’m asked to experiment with new things while also standardizing. I’m asked to encourage exploration while maintaining a level of intentional design and control. I’m asked to imagine a future, build it, and drive adoption all at the same time (like building the airplane while flying and acting as air traffic control).

Let’s make some connections. Have you ever felt trapped in the middle of competing ideas? Maybe you’ve been asked to do more with less. Maybe you’ve been asked to embrace failure, while also being told you can’t miss. Standing in the middle of ideas is a lot. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the complexity. The instinct is to resolve the tension as quickly as possible, but the truth is that the tension will always be there. The second instinct is to avoid the tension if you can’t resolve it.

The beauty comes from standing in the middle of the tension and knowing it won’t break you. The power comes from realizing multiple ideas can be true at the same time, and leaning into that until you see solutions and possibilities that never existed before. Once you do that, you stop living in a black or white world. You stop living in a world of this or that. Instead, you begin living in a world of “Yes, and…” which is incredibly powerful.

The challenge- How will you embrace standing in the tension?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Taking Steps Forward Through Ambiguity (6-10-26)

We are now on week 3 of lessons I’ve learned from working in a central role. Last week was about leadership and power. This week is about the importance of taking steps forward when you’re mired in ambiguity.

I’ve been in a few central roles in my career. Generally, these roles are pretty ambiguous. For example, in my career role I’m supposed to lead innovation and lead us to the future. Let’s be honest. I have no idea what that means. I can’t say with certainty what will happen. Recently, I’ve been sharing thoughts on what a future agentic insights ecosystem could look like. If more than 40% of that ends up being true, I’ll consider that a miracle. All of this complexity and ambiguity can feel overwhelming. It can stop me from taking action.

Let’s make some connections. Have you ever felt paralyzed by ambiguity? It’s easy to get stuck thinking and thinking and overthinking every possible angle and every possible contingency. While that thinking might make us feel like we are doing something, the truth is that thinking isn’t always the same thing as taking action.

I don’t with certainty the exact coordinates of where we need to go in the future. I do have a north star though. I do have things I believe will likely continue to be true. The value of data will continue to increase in a world of AI. Getting data AI ready will continue to grow in importance. Having tools to help get the most of the data will be critical. As there are more and more tools, being clear on the tool and the problem they solve will be more important than ever.

I know that if I take action toward solving those problems, I’ll likely be walking in the right direction. I’m humble enough to know I can always redirect along the way. Instead of being paralyzed, I’ll keep taking steps and keep taking steps and keep taking steps until we finally get to that future.

The challenge- How will you keep taking steps forward through ambiguity?

By the way, the picture is from a Tough Mudder last year. I crawl through mud as a hobby, which explains a lot about how weird I am 😉

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Leadership and Power (6-3-26)

Last week we kicked off a series based on reflections I’ve had from working in a central role. This week we will look at leadership and power.

In my previous role in the business, I was a HCP marketer on a brand team. I had explicit and formalized power in that role. I had a dedicated budget that I was responsible for. I had the ability to make decisions. In some ways, this made things easy, because if push came to shove, I could just make a call.

I don’t have formalized power in my current centralized role. I don’t really have a budget that’s truly mine. I’m working across business units and functions, and I have no explicit power or control. Let’s be real, no one actually has to listen to me. I can’t just make a call the way I could in my former job. Instead, I have to be more thoughtful and intentional about creating a compelling vision, building trust, bringing others along, and giving people reasons to actually want to come along on this journey.

Let’s make some connections. Think about your favorite leaders you’ve ever worked with. Think about the people you would be willing to follow. How many of them would you follow primarily because they have official power? I’m guessing that number is low. How many of them would you follow because they did things like care for you, had a vision, brought you along, etc. regardless of them having official power? I’m guessing that number is a lot higher. I’d also argue these people are the true leaders.

While having official power can be nice, it is easy for it to be a crutch or a cheat code. If we overuse it, then we risk people feeling like they aren’t heard or valued. Being forced to influence without authority is the true test of leadership. All of this has led to some reflection questions like, “What does my leadership look like? How can I lead in a way that will make others want to come along? Where do I need to lean on power vs influence?”

The challenge- Will you take the time to reflect on how you are leading?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Embracing a Broader View of Leadership and Support (5-27-26)

Recently, I had a conversation with someone who is working in a central function for the first time when they have spent the rest of their career “in the business”. This led me to reflecting on what I’ve learned from working in a central role. This week is about embracing a broader view of leadership and support.

Let’s start by talking a bit about what it means to be in a central role vs working in the business. If we oversimplify things, central roles are there to support and enable other roles to deliver for the business. If you work in the business, you generally are accountable for making the decisions that drive results and revenue. Another difference is that typically central roles are more focused on driving a capability and thus support a wider variety of stakeholders across business units. For example, in my role, I’m responsible for leading AI efforts across the entire market research function.

If I’m being honest, it’s sometimes hard to navigate this idea of leading efforts and supporting so many different groups of people. What exactly does leading look like in this space? My inner critic whispers, “Andrew, if you’re leading AI efforts and supporting these people then you should be able to lead from the front and be all things to all people.” The other day someone was sharing something awesome they were doing in the AI space, and I hadn’t really been involved in it. I was excited for them, and I felt guilty that I wasn’t doing enough for them at the same time. Ultimately, I shared the work with some other folks to spotlight how great it was and spotlight how we might be able to adopt this as best practices. However, my inner critic was like, “You should have been there to help shape that or you should have been more involved to provide value.”

Let’s make some connections. Even if you don’t currently work in a central role, I’m assuming you have an inner critic. I’m also assuming that your inner critic has probably whispered similar things to you. My inner critic still whispers. However, this role has done a great job of broadening my view of what leadership and support looks like.

I’m becoming more comfortable that I don’t have to be all things to all people, because I’ve expanded my beliefs on what leadership and support can mean. I’ve learned that leadership doesn’t always mean being out in the front. I’ve learned that being supportive doesn’t always mean being hands on. Sometimes, leadership and support are working behind the scenes to remove barriers. Sometimes, leadership and support are creating space, so other people can step into it and embrace their awesomeness. Sometimes, leadership and support are shining the light on others, so they are seen.

The challenge: How will you embrace a broader view of leadership and support?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Legos, Change Management, and Fitting Into a New Vision (5-20-26)

Our last entry was about Legos, change management, and making the next step easy to take. This week is about helping Lego pieces and people fit into a new and different vision.

I first heard about Brad Barber about a year ago. He is a Lego builder with a knack of being able to turn any set he gets his hands on into a Millenium Falcon, the famous ship from Star Wars. He does this by creatively rearranging the pieces from that set only. No outside pieces are allowed. Simba becomes the Millenium Falcon. Cinderella’s dress becomes the Millenium Falcon. Dinosaurs become the Millenium Falcon.

Let’s connect things. In the world of work, there are a lot of pieces including employees, processes, and tech. Often, they are configured in a specific way, so people assume they can only be that thing, much like many people would assume a Simba Lion King set could only be Simba. The truth is, we all have the ability to grow, change, and become part of new things if we are guided in the right direction.

This all makes me think of Brad’s work. The beauty of his work is that he can see the pieces for what they are, understand their value, and also how they might exist in a new design and system. He doesn’t break the pieces. He doesn’t twist and pull them into new shapes. He understands their strengths and leverages them differently. He designs something, so he can leverage all their strengths to achieve a new goals. One of the most important parts of change management is connecting with people to help them understand how they are valued AND how they could fit into the new system. This shifts change from something to be afraid of to being something we can be part of.

The challenge: As you lead change, how will you help others see where they fit?

Bonus thought: AI is one of the forces changing our vision for how work gets done. I can’t speak for all areas, but I can speak a bit for market research. It’s true that AI is changing and will continue to change the way do research and gather insights. At the same time, the value and the core of what makes market researchers great will always be there and will always be important. Things like curiosity, the ability to define business questions, understanding decisions in context, and influencing without authority will be constants even as we evolve.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Legos, Change Management, and Clear Milestones (4-22-26)

Last week we kicked off our series about Legos and change management by focusing on knowing what you’re building. This week is about breaking Lego builds down into sections and having clear milestones.

My parents bought me this Spider-man set a few years ago for Christmas and it’s one of my all-time favorites. It is comprised of 2099 pieces. Imagine how difficult that would have been if all of the pieces would have just been mixed in together. That would have been horrible! Luckily, Lego doesn’t do that. They break the build down into digestible sections. Each section has a bag with the pieces you need for that section. You then work through the instruction book section by section until you’re done.

Let’s connect this to work. How often have you been involved in an organization wide initiative and been utterly confused on how to execute it? That’s happened to me a lot throughout the years. It’s almost like they dump a bunch of info (Lego bricks 😉) on you and hope you just figure it out.

Now, think about the time when you’ve been involved in something complicated, but they did a nice job of breaking it down into digestible sections. You could see how all of the milestones would add up to get you to where you need to go. You also were clear on what you needed to accomplish for each milestone. What impact did this have on you? I’ve found in these situations I was less confused and could put my effort toward executing vs figuring out what the heck was going on.

The challenge- How can we break complicated initiatives down into easier to execute milestones?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Legos, Change Management, and Knowing What You are Building (4-15-26)

This week we are going to kick off a series focused on Legos and change management. By the end of this, we will build concepts that you can leverage to lead change management efforts. The first entry in this series will be about the importance of knowing what you are building.

Imagine for a minute that I dump a bunch of Legos in front of you and ask you to build something that is faster. I then tell you that it’s important you get this right. If you miss there will be negative consequences. From here, I don’t give you any additional clarity. How would you feel? What kind of a thing would you build?

Now, assume I go back to you and I show you this picture of a rocket house, and say this is what we are trying to create. Would you have naturally built something like this? How much rework would you need to do to create something like this rocket house?

Let’s make some connections. If you were in our Lego situation above, I bet you would have felt frustrated. You also likely would have wasted a lot of effort creating something that looks nothing like the rocket house. At the end of the day, one of the most important steps in change management is being able to articulate where you’re going. If we are unclear on where we are going, we can’t build something to get us there.

Think about your experiences at work. How often has there been an organizational effort that was unable to paint a clear picture of where the company is trying to go? The company might use all the right buzzwords. They might say, “We are transforming. We are trying to move faster. We are trying to deliver better experiences. We are becoming more agile.” The buzzwords are not the same as clear direction. As leaders, we need to be able to articulate a clear vision if we want to lead people to new destination.

The challenge- How will you paint a clear picture of where we are trying to go?

Bonus thought

For the record, I’m not claiming I’m perfect at change management. The reflections from this series are reminders for me as much as they are for anyone else. This stuff is hard and requires intentionality to do it well.
If you recognized the rocket house as Emmet’s dream house from The Lego Movies, then you get 579 bonus points.

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

Lesson 5- The Importance of Reward and Recognition (11-26-25)

This is the last in the series of lessons that kept repeating for me throughout the year. Lesson 5 is that reward and recognition are more important now than ever before.

I’ve noticed a pattern over the past few months. When I’ve shown appreciation for people this year, their reaction has been stronger than in years past. Don’t get me wrong. People have always been thankful. They have always appreciated being seen and recognized for their work. It just seems like rather than words of recognition and appreciation being a small boost, they are now filling a deep hole. Have you noticed this?

Why is this happening? I’m not sure what it is. I don’t know if it’s because we are running faster and harder than ever before. I don’t know if it’s because life feels less stable than it ever has. Maybe it’s because collectively we’ve lost touches of our humanity as we have become connected with devices and less connected to each other. Maybe it’s because our unspoken question is, “Do I matter?” as we exist in large corporate machines. Whatever it is, I feel that there is less acknowledgement of others and their worth than there has been in years past. It’s a massive tangible difference that I can feel with individuals AND more broadly with groups. What do you think?

While I don’t have any idea what is causing this, it is making me more aware of how much power each of us has, and how easily we can use that power as a force for good. Taking a few moments to say a kind word. Spending a few minutes writing an email shouting out someone for their effort. These things don’t just create ripples; they create powerful waves now.

The challenge: We have more power to lift others up than we will ever realize. Will you use this power to recognize someone and fill them up today?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry