This week I’d like to kick off a new series inspired by lessons I’ve learned from writing and performing poetry.  My goal each week is to share a lesson I’ve learned and also share some poetry from other people or myself, so if you have a few moments check the poetry out too.  This week is about finding your voice.   

I’m assuming that most of you know, but in case you don’t I perform spoken word poetry.  When I do this in competitions it is called slam poetry.  I’ve been doing this for years and when I lived in Wisconsin I won a few competitions and was even on a few national teams.  Since then, I’ve performed in a couple of places around Indy and done a few Lilly events.  Before you think I’m an arrogant loser for bragging, the reason I mention these things is because when I first started I was horrible.  That’s not me being humble.  I wasn’t good.

You’re probably wondering why I sucked so bad.  Part of it was skillset and learning something new.  However, the major reason is I hadn’t found my voice yet.  I hadn’t uncovered and embraced who I am at my core as a person and performer.  I was performing in Madison Wisconsin, where the majority of poets were political and very serious, so I tried to be just like them.  I tried on poems and concepts like they were masks.  It didn’t work.  The poetry wasn’t authentic.  That style just wasn’t me, it wasn’t Andrew Embry.  This resulted in crappy poetry.

This all changed with the help of a poetry mentor named Evy.  I would describe Evy as a “middle aged frumpy loving mama bear with sharp claws and nerdtastic tendencies.”  And now you’re probably like, “Dude, calling her frumpy isn’t cool!”  I’m calling her frumpy because she has an entire poem about how she is bringing frumpy back the same way Justin Timberlake brought sexy back.  That’s the kind of woman she is.  She is fiercely Evy.  When she does the “Bringing frumpy back” other people kind of wish they were frumpy on her level.  This works because she embraces herself, her voice, and her awesomeness.    On the mic she is always Evy.  Her poetry was always slightly offbeat, a little twisted, willing to go to some different places to find truth.  She had a way of pulling deep wisdom out of the most unusual places like Sesame Street, Voltron, and C-sections.  Her poetry could hit hard, it could hit softly with a nice twist.  Regardless what it was about, it was always her.  It was watching her and working with her that encouraged me to find my voice.  The moment I did that, everything changed.  Basically overnight my poetry went up a level, because it was truly MY poetry.  My happiness went up a level, and I’ve tried never to come back down again.  If you’re interested, here is a poem Evy did with Ali about love, the Road Runner, and Wile E Coyote.  Evy is the one on the left.  Click HERE.

So what does this have to do with work?  Have you found your voice?  What does it sound like?  What kind of stories does it tell?  Have you embraced your voice yet?  Much like great poetry, great people and great leadership can come in a variety of styles.  There are a lot of leaders I love, who I think are very effective, and I can’t quite do it like them.  It’s not me.  It works great for me, but me trying to copy them exactly just wouldn’t work.  I have to find and live my voice. 

If you’re wondering, I would describe my poet voice as real, unfiltered storyteller, truth, filled with so much energy it’s on the verge of exploding like a star, clever, playful, sometimes piercing, and appreciative of the small and unseen.  I think my work voice is something kind of like that.  If you’d have anything else you’d like to throw in to describe my voice I’d love to hear it and learn more.  Along those lines, if I can ever help you find and define your voice just let me know.

The challenge: Have you found and embraced your voice? 

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry