1-Up Mushrooms, Extra Lives, and Extra Chances (4-1-26)

Last week was about balancing where you are and lofty goals. This week is about 1-up mushrooms, extra lives, and the power of having extra chances.

If you’ve never played the Super Mario games, it’s important to know that in many of the games you have limited lives. Once you exhaust those lives, the game is done. With this in mind, imagine playing Mario and you are on your last life. If you make a mistake, it is game over. How do you feel? I’m assuming you feel a bit anxious, less likely to take risks, worried about failure, etc. Now imagine, that you have found some of the beautiful green 1-up mushrooms. All of a sudden you have multiple lives. Your chances aren’t unlimited, but you have more than just one. How do you feel now? I’m assuming you’d feel a little more relaxed, more willing to explore and experiment, and in a better mental place to do well in the game.

Let’s connect this to work. Have you ever been on a team or in a situation where you felt you were on your last life? You knew that if a mistake was made it would be punished harshly. It would be game over. What did that feel like? Did you do your best work in that situation? When I’ve been in those situations I’ve felt tense, hesitant to take risks, and kind of miserable. I did good work, but I definitely didn’t do my best work in that situation.

Now think about the teams and situations where you felt you had some extra lives. What did that feel like to you? Did you do your best work in these situations? For me, these are the situations where I knew I could take a risk. I knew I could make a mistake and it would be okay. I knew I had the opportunity to learn from these shortcomings and make it even better. It’s true that I had misses, and it’s true that my work product was FAR SUPERIOR.

At the end of the day, whether you feel like you have extra lives or not isn’t just about you. It’s also about leadership and culture. Leaders, whether formal or informal, go a long way in shaping the culture that dictates the norms and how the game is played.

The challenge- How will you create an environment where people feel like they have extra lives and extra chances?

Bonus thought- Just want to say I’m thankful for a leader, HiT crew, and broader market research culture that gives me the feeling of having extra lives, especially as my work is focused on AI. I feel every couple of months things change drastically and I realize that my initial thoughts were a miss. Without those extra lives, it would have been game over for me a long time ago. With those extra lives, we are building something incredible together.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Quarterly Self-Assessment (3-25-26)

It’s a bonus blog! I hope you’re excited 😉 For the past few years I’ve used the last Wednesday of the first quarter to share a blog on doing quarterly check-ins for work and yourself. This will be a longer email, because I’m sharing my own self-assessment.

I just had my first performance check-in of the year at work. In preparation for that I asked myself, what are 2-3 highlights? What are 2-3 opportunities to do better? What are some learnings from Q1 I can apply moving forward?

What does this have to do anything? While this is great for work, we could apply this same thinking to our personal lives as well. What are some of your goals for 2026? How did you do with them in Q1? Take a moment and CELEBRATE progress you’ve made. After you celebrate, then you can reflect on your gaps, why they exist, and how you can close them.

The challenge: Will you take the time to do a quarterly check-in? What changes will you make to set yourself up for the rest of the year?

Bonus: Here is my review based on the dimensions in my life I set goals for. Hopefully, it sparks a thought or two for you.

Make a Choice (B-) This is my theme for the year. I wanted to be more intentional about where I invested my time and energy, because things were better when I was intentional. While I did okay, there were a few areas, mainly in my physical health where I just kept falling into mindless habits.
Mental Health (B) The goal is to feel like I’m in a good, strong, solid mental state. I’m feeling pretty good right now, which is particularly impressive with all that is going on in life and work. In the grand scheme of things I think I’m doing a good job of being grounded and focusing on the things I can control. To get to an A, I need to make improvements in my physical health and I also need to be more intentional about investing in things that recharge me vs just resting.
Physical Health (C) Overall, the goal is to be healthier. On the good side, I’ve been getting pretty good sleep and I completed my yeti race. On the needs improvement side, I haven’t been able to find a rhythm where I’m working out/being active on a regular basis.
Family (B+) The goal is to feel like I’m being an amazing husband and dad. I’m feeling pretty good about things right now. My kids are 12 and almost 14, and the teenage hormones are real. There are a lot of days filled with dragons, but I’m comfortable standing in the fire and not getting burned. I do think I’ve been a bit caught up in work lately and I don’t want to lean too heavy into the work side.
Career (B) The goal is to feel like I’m delivering magic, where things are effortless and just cranking out high quality work constantly. It’s a high bar, and one I always strive for. I feel good about what I’ve done and delivered this year ranging from AI strategies to AI playbooks to evolving AI tools, but it doesn’t feel like magic yet. I’m still trying to navigate some swirl and wrap my brain and arms around a potential future that seems to change every day. Also, in the midst of all of the AI evolution and organizational change, the flood is real and trying to survive that and help others survive that feels overwhelming at times. Overall, I’m on the right path and need to keep focused on pushing the next evolution and broader adoption/utility. I’ll get there and the magic is going to be pretty incredible 😉

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Balancing Where You Are and Lofty Goals (3-25-26)

Last week was about Mario, chasing Power Moons, and making progress. This week is about Super Mario Wonder, celebrating where you are, and having lofty goals.

Currently, I’m playing Super Mario Wonder, a recent side scrolling game filled with bright colors and fun powers. I’m pretty good and I often reach a flow state, where I effortlessly sprint through the level, perfectly time every jump and move, dodge the bad guys, gather all of the purple coins, find all of the wonder seeds, and capture the flag at its peak at the end of the level. Sometimes, I’m not in this flow state. I still beat the level, but it’s not quite as magical or smooth. When I’m not beating levels in the flow state, I’m still having fun. I’m still doing well. It’ s just not magic. I don’t beat myself up when this happens. I don’t get mad or overly critical. I am proud of beating the level AND I continue to go after achieving the flow state.

Let’s make some connections. Think about work for a minute. How do you balance being proud of where you are and aspirational goals? Yesterday, I had my first performance check-in and I told my boss I was feeling pretty good about things. He asked me what it would look like to be doing great. I told him I would be delivering magic. Everything would move and be effortless, and he basically said, “So you’d be doing miracles?” Well, basically 😉

I explained that I’ve done magic before at work, so I know what that looks and feels like. That’s what I’m chasing. I’m very proud of everything I’ve done this quarter. However, similar to our Mario story, I’m beating level, but it’s not flow state level magic right now. I’m not crushing myself because I failed to meet a borderline unrealistic expectation. I’m just acknowledging that I have lofty goals that I know I can get to. I’m reflecting and thinking about how I can handle things in the future to enhance my chances of delivering magic. I’m celebrating what I’ve done, while still aiming high.

The challenge- How will you balance lofty goals with being proud of what you’re delivering?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Feeling Overwhelmed and Taking Small Steps Forward (2-26-26)

Bonus blog about feeling overwhelmed and focusing on moving forward, no matter how small the step is. The Universe says someone needs this message today, so if it was you give the Universe a thank you.

I had some physical health related goals for myself related to working out, training for races, etc. I’m nowhere close to where I wanted to be in relation to those goals. The more I realized how far off I am the more I thought about how much I needed to do to catch up, which made me feel overwhelmed and paralyzed to the point that I stopped taking action toward my goals. Eventually I snapped out of it, when I asked, “What’s the smallest step forward I can take?” I took my initial lifting routine and significantly cut it down. I took my running program and significantly cut it down. Then, something interesting happened. I wasn’t paralyzed anymore. I allowed myself to focus on just moving forward, so I started to take action. It may not be perfect, but taking steps forward is better than not moving. I’m now taking more consistent action in the right direction.

Let’s connect this to work. In our story, I described how the looming physical goals ended up leaving me overwhelmed and paralyzed. Have you ever felt that way at work? I had this exact experience at work this week. It is my job to enable and drive adoption of AI for our incredible market research community. I’ve been reading and listening to leaders talk about AI and the ideal state, and it just hit me hard for some reason. I saw the ideal state, and I saw how big and complicated the gap is to get there. The gap is a tech gap, a culture gap, a workflow gap, a new habit gap, and more. The questions of, “How do we close this gap fast enough? How do we find a way to catch something moving so fast?” began swirling and I started to notice that overwhelm and paralysis was trying to set in. Then I remembered, it’s not my job to be perfect. It’s not my job to solve all problems in one day and miraculously get ahead of a massive shift that no one really knows where it is going. It’s my job to find a way to help us all move forward in the right direction, even if those steps feel small. It is my job to consistently keep us moving forward, because sooner or later those steps will add up. Once I embraced that I need to keep taking steps forward, I could get more focused on identifying what those steps are and get moving again.

The challenge: If you are feeling paralyzed, will you remember you just need to move forward, even if the steps are small?

Bonus: Part of what helped me snap out of it on the work side was a friend who said something nice like, “You’re doing a pretty god job of keeping us moving.” Sometimes an affirming word is all you need.

Peace,

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 Translating Conceptual Thinking into Action (2-18-26)

Last week we kicked off a series about how my kids play chess and examined how we can change the rules. This week is about translating conceptual thinking to action.

Cam and I sat down to play chess and he talked me through the different variations in the rules he made up. We would bring pieces back from the dead, have backstabber pieces where we controlled opponent pieces, and new pieces that would block parts of the board. As he explained them, I thought to myself that this was all relatively straight forward. Then, we started playing and Cam crushed me! It was then I realized that while I might have understood the rules, I was having difficult translating that to action. It took me several rounds before I began to internalize how I could apply these concepts differently to ultimately win.

Let’s make some connections. Have you ever had an experience like this at work? Maybe it looked like this. You had a beautiful process diagram, and everything felt like it made sense. Then, once you started executing the process you realized you were still unsure of how it worked. Or maybe it looks like this. You conceptually know how to leverage AI, but once you got to the tools you didn’t really know how to put that into action. I experience this all the time. I’ve found that it’s easy to get lost in overthinking. It’s easy to swirl around frameworks and process maps, talking about them until you feel everything is perfect. It’s important to do the thinking AND it’s also important to jump in as soon as you can to apply these concepts. The application is what forces you to turn those ideas into action, because thinking can only get you so far.

The challenge: How will you translate conceptual understanding into action?

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

Finding Lessons in Challenging Situations (Abominable Snow Race) 2-4-26

This is a one-off entry inspired by the Abominable Snow Race. It’s about finding lessons in challenging situations.

I managed to talk my entire family into doing the Abominable Snow Race this year. We did the 5k obstacle course race through the snowy wooded trails of Wisconsin. I can’t say it was exactly fun, BUT it was an adventure. Here are a few of the highlights/lowlights 😉

It was cold! At the start of the race we were at 0 degrees Fahrenheit, a lot worse than we thought it would be. The course also had more hills than anticipated.
The first mile was gorgeous. Beautiful wooded trails, lots of fresh snow to eat, and a few easy obstacles to warm up on. We even saw a local racing legend who does the race in a speedo every year. I don’t know if he is brave, tough, crazy, or all of the above.
By mile 2 things got rough. We were tired and cold. We were all a bit cranky. I kept telling the kids that we only had one really difficult thing left. We had to climb up this steep hill with a rope. We got about ¾ up the incline when we all went tumbling down. I skinned my knee and for a moment the kids thought we would be trapped in the woods forever living as forest monks. (actual quote)
Now we were at mile 2.5. We were taking a break, the kids gasping for breath, overwhelmed and unsure if they could make it. Out of nowhere this woman comes over to check out on us. She tells my kids she feels their pain and is suffering right along with them. She tells us she’s from North Carolina and NOT AT ALL READY for the cold or snow. We look at her face and a combo of sweat, ice, and tears had her mascara running down her face like war paint. The kids snap out of their moment and go walking along like they are perfectly fine, and the woman joins us, another duck in our row. We become a merry band of misfits, offering moral support as we wind through the woods for the last half mile of the race. The woman says how her kids would never be able to do this, which makes my kids feel incredible.
We crossed the finish line, and while it wasn’t pretty we made it. We were all angry, exhausted, and freezing. We had been through some things. Everyone was so grumpy we didn’t even talk for like 15 minutes. After we got some food in our belly we looked back and started laughing at the wild series of events. Also, I helped the kids see that even if it was hard, even if they struggled, they did something that day that most people wouldn’t even try to do.

Our lessons from the day

It’s possible to find humor and even joy in things that suck. It may not have all been fun at the time, but looking back, the entire experience is HILARIOUS! We have laughed so hard recounting the tales with folks.
Part of the reason why it was so hard is we assumed it wouldn’t be as hilly and as cold as it initially was. It’s a good lesson that being physically AND mentally prepared for the worst comes in handy.
It’s nice to have a reminder of what you are capable of. The race was a testament that we can do hard things. During future challenges one of our measuring sticks will be, “Is this as hard as the Abominable Snow Race?” Probably not. I’m so dang proud of my kiddos for doing this.
There are always people out there to commiserate with and help along. Our encounter with the woman was a cool one. She helped us and we helped her.
If you’re angry and hate the world, maybe you’re just tired, cold, and hungry. A good warm meal can solve a lot of problems 😉

Connection with work- Maybe you’re not trudging through cold and snow right now. I’d bet that you are facing some challenges. With this in mind, I imagine that some of the lessons we learned during our race are applicable to where you are too.

The challenge- What lessons will you take from the challenge you are currently in?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

What would cause me to miss achieving my goals? (1-28-26)

This week will be the last in our series about questions we should ask ourselves at the beginning of the year. This week I want us to ask ourselves, “What would cause me to miss my goals?”

In January we spend time outlining goals and objectives. We focus our efforts on identifying what winning looks like. It’s easy to assume that things will go well, but the chances of everything going well is slim to none.

Recently, I asked myself, “What would cause me to miss my goals? What would cause me to lose?” I quickly identified a few things. I will miss my goals if I don’t invest my time in the right things. I’ll miss if I don’t carve out the time to do the right things. I’ll miss if I’m not being intentional about orchestrating change management efforts. I’ll miss if I don’t get certain projects moving in Q1.

After identifying the things that would make me lose, I took a second to look at my plan for the week. I quickly realized that I had been caught in the swirl. I was doing a lot of things, but they likely weren’t the right things. They were a distraction. As a result, I moved a few things around on the calendar, blocked time for key work, and I gave myself permission to be slow and non-responsive on a few other things. Ultimately, I was able to make good progress on things that mattered. Looking forward, I’m already blocking time and thinking about other things I can do to minimize my chance of missing and increase my chance of being successful.

How does this connect to work? The world moves fast. If we aren’t intentional about things we might end up participating in behaviors that will lead to us not reaching our goals. Spending time doing a pre-mortem and identifying the key things that go wrong brings awareness and gives us a chance to gameplan on how we will handle these things. Be honest. Take a look at this month. How much time did you spend on things that will lead to you being successful vs how much time did you spend on things that will result in you missing? What is getting in the way of you making progress?

The challenge: Will you identify what would cause you to miss your goals and then take action?

Bonus- You can apply this thinking to your personal life. Something that will make me miss my physical health goals is pushing myself too hard too fast. My shoulders aren’t what they used to be, and after pushing them too hard with weight that was heavier than I should have been doing I needed to take a few weeks off for them to heal. I’ll go a lot slower from here on out.

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