Being Curious and Exploring (9-8-21)

Last week was about the power of yet. This week we are going to jump to my college years and a lesson about being curious and searching for more than what is in front of me.

Professor Skinner was my marketing professor at Butler and one of my favorite professors of all time. Her class was about marketing, but more importantly it’s about how the world works and how you can have success in the real world. She held a high bar and elevated you to reach it. She also had a knack for teaching important lessons in simple and powerful ways. When I took her class she would often assign us articles to read as homework and then we would have a short quiz about the article during the next class. I had read the article and was taking the quiz when I realize there is a question about something I don’t remember seeing. This confused me, because I have a pretty good memory. I turn in the quiz to her and say something like, “That one question was tough. I didn’t remember reading anything about that in the article.” She smiles and says, “When you read the article it pointed you to go and learn more in one of the links The question is about that. I want you and others like you to be curious and go looking for more information.” I leave the class and I’m thinking, “That’s a punk move, Skinner!” but then I calm down and realize the genius of the lesson. We need to be curious enough to search for things and explore what’s in front of us.

How does this connect to work? Our jobs are to serve others. There is no simple article on this. When you get a new project there isn’t a 1 page synopsis that tells you everything you need to know. You might start with a little bit of information, but it’s up to you to go find the rest. When I think of the best work I’ve done, it’s because I was curious enough to go the extra step. I was curious enough to go talk to the one extra person, to read the one extra piece of research, to ask the one extra question, and to click on that link on the side of the page that will give me more information. 😉

The challenge: Are you limiting yourself to what’s on the “article” or are you being curious and hunting for more information?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

The Power of Yet and Having a Growth Mindset (9-1-21)

Last week was about first grade spelling, clear expectations, and grace. This week is about the power of yet and having a growth mindset.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I asked Alice what happened at school and she told us that she learned about the power of yet. She was pretty excited about it. I had no clue what she meant, so I asked her to explain. She more or less responded like this, “Instead of saying I can’t do something, I should say that I can’t do it… yet. Instead of saying I can’t figure out the math problem, I should say I can’t figure out the math problem… yet. The power of yet means, I may not be able to do it now, BUT I can figure out how to do it in the future.”

How does this connect with life? My wife and I loved that Alice learned about the power of yet during school that day. It is a perfect example of growth mindset. It’s about being humble enough to admit where you are currently struggling, while also being confident enough to know you can figure it out. This type of mindset encourage us to challenge ourselves to grow. That growth mindset is very different than the negative and fixed mindset I find myself in sometimes.It sounds like this, “I’m not good at this. I can’t figure this out. I can’t achieve that goal. I can’t contribute value to the team. I’m not competent at this.” Do you ever find yourself thinking these things? If so, maybe we could all benefit from the power of yet.

The challenge: How are you embracing the power of yet?

Bonus Application 1: A few months ago I started working out more. I couldn’t do pull-ups. I kept telling myself, “I can’t do them…yet!” I can now do 3 or 4 at a time. #pumpedforprogress

Bonus Application 2: Just started a new role I’m super pumped, but all of a sudden the competence and expertise I felt in my last role is gone as I start this new adventure. I’m trying not to let that intimidate me. I keep telling myself, “I’m not as competent as I want to be…yet. I’m not a wizard in this role…yet.” (Yes, feeling like a wizard is what I aim for in roles 😉 The goal is to perform while making things look so easy and smooth that it has to be done by sorcery. It’s an incredible feeling if you can get there. #I’mweird #You’reawizardHarry #I’maHufflepuff)

I stand in solidarity against injustice and in support of humanity.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

First Grade Spelling, Setting Expectations, and Offering Grace (8-25-21)

Last week was about school and creating the right environment. This week is about expectations and grace. It’s inspired by Alice’s first grade teacher from public school.

Alice hasn’t ever been the best speller. My wife and I talked about this with her first grade teacher during a parent teacher conference. The teacher told us that Alice was the middle of the pack, that we shouldn’t be too alarmed, and that we could keep working with her to help her sound out words. After that, the teacher dropped this nugget. “I always tell my students that when we are writing our stories there is no such thing as perfect spelling in first grade. They are going to misspell words, and that’s okay. As long as they start a sentence with a capital letter and end it with punctuation, it’s a beautiful sentence.”

You might be wondering what that has to do with expectations and grace. With that one nugget about misspelling words and making a beautiful sentence that teacher did two things. First, she set the expectation for what was important. She was trying to teach the kids about sentence structure, more specifically about capital letters and punctuation at the end of the sentence. The misspelled words didn’t matter, as long as they did the other parts right. Second, she taught the children about grace and mistakes. She told the kids that they were going to mess up and that was okay. Can you imagine the burden she took off the children’s shoulders when she gave them permission to not be perfect?

Overall, what the teacher did was great leadership. Reflect on your own leadership for a moment. How often do you communicate a clear vision about what is important and what we need to focus on (capital letters and punctuation)? How often do you give people grace to make mistakes along the way (it’s okay to misspell words)? I know I could do better in these areas.

The challenge: Can you set clear expectations while also extending grace?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Being Intentional about Creating Classrooms, Environments, and Cultures (8-18-21)

Since school is starting, this week we will kick off a series inspired by lessons we can learn from school. We will begin by reflecting on decorating a classroom, creating environments, and building cultures.

This is our second year homeschooling our girls. After we made the decision last year, my wife turned our playroom into a classroom. Each year, the classroom has a theme that the girls choose. Last year, the theme was big cats. This year the theme is space. My wife’s goal with decorating is to create an environment that feels fun, engaging, and makes the girls feel like they have ownership in the classroom. She takes great care in buying decorations, working with the kids to do paintings, and adding in other little touches to bring the theme to life. She even gets themed tshirts for the entire family every year, so the girls feel part of something larger than themselves. As a result, the girls love and are proud of their classroom, and it becomes a welcoming space for them to do school every day.

Let’s think about how this connects to work. My wife understands that building the right environment for the girls will lead them to being more excited and curious about learning new things. While her physical environment is a classroom, what she is really doing is using a theme to create a culture of learning. She is intentional with every decoration, every schedule she creates, every rule in the classroom, and every system for rewards to create a place where learning is encouraged and fun. While we may not all teach in classrooms, we are all individuals who participate in and add to the environments and culture around us. Similar to my wife, the environment and culture we create will influence the vibes and behaviors of the people around us. If we want to create a positive environment and culture, we need to be INTENTIONAL about what we are doing.

The challenge: What kind of environment do you want to create? How are you being INTENTIONAL about building environment and culture?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry