Lessons from Being a Dad Part 3 Violet- Bubbles and Simple Things (6-24-15)

I hope that you enjoyed your weekend. This week I want to continue with lessons I’ve learned since becoming a dad by looking at couch cushions, chalk, and bubbles.

As we grow older we often lose the ability to see the beauty in things. Things that were once novel to us become commonplace and lose their luster. For example, before having kids I couldn’t tell you the last time I blew bubbles, drew with sidewalk chalk, or thought of couch cushions as anything other than where to sit.

Having the girls has helped me slow down and see the beauty in those things again. It’s helped me see the magic in bubbles, the spirit in a chalk drawing, and the appreciation of how quickly couch cushions can transform into a fort or “Pillowland”.

Think about work for a moment. How often do we get lost in the grind? How often do we lose the ability to see the beauty in things? Have you noticed any of these things lately?

The person who has been working hard and developing right before your eyes into a better leader.
The smile from an individual when you give them a pat on the back for a job well done.
The challenging question that someone asks that spurs the group to arrive at a much better place.
The joke that reminds us that we don’t have to be so dang serious all the time.
A simple high five just because.
The phrase, “This made me think of you…”
Someone wearing bright colors to fight the negative energy of a rainy day.

All of those things and many more are worth noticing. Are you seeing them? Are you showing them to others?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Simplicity and Yo-yos (7-2-14)

When I was younger I used to be good with yo-yos. I only wish I was as good as this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq3rn8g15po. I love yo-yos because they epitomize simplicity. This simplicity combined with gravity allows people to do some amazing things if they will put in the time to master the art.

Think about how a yo-yo connects back to what this blog has recently discussed. At its core a yo-yo is basically a wheel and axle attached to a string. It has been sculpted to its elegant essence and not overly engineered (last week’s message). You have something simple (a yo-yo), but that doesn’t mean it’s easy (“simple does not equal easy” from two weeks ago). How much time do you think that person had to put in before these tricks became second nature?

There is still one thing left though. Once we have that essence and communicated it in a simple way, how do we pull it through? That’s the third thing a yo-yo can teach us. Once you have uncovered the simple essence of something: you keep going back to that essence, just like a yo-yo is meant to always come back to your hand.

Think of the video. If the yo-yo doesn’t return to his hand, then those tricks are not impressive. Instead, they are just a bunch of twirls and loops that end up looking like a convoluted mess. Does this sound like any presentations, communications, or movements you have witnessed? They might start with a great essence, but the essence is never revisited so it gets lost. When the essence gets lost, the power is lost. Now think about things that have resonated with you over a long period of time. What was different? I would bet the farm that it’s because that person found a simple essence that resonated with you and whenever there was an opportunity they connected everything back to that essence, reinvigorating it with renewed passion and energy. Everything kept coming back to that essence just like a yo-yo going back to the person’s hand. How did you feel when someone was able to keep that essence alive and strong?

If we want to do amazing things, if we want to spark and support change in ourselves and others, then we need to embrace this yo-yo mentality. We need to put in the time and effort to sculpt a simple essence and then we need to keep going back to it again and again, just like a yo-yo doing tricks before snapping back to our hands. It won’t be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.

Have a jolly good day and a wonderful holiday,

Andrew Embry

Simple does NOT Equal Easy (6-18-14)

All apples are fruits, but that doesn’t mean that all fruits are apples. Apples and oranges are not interchangeable. I feel the same way about “simple” and “easy”. Things that are initially easy are simple, but this doesn’t mean that all simple things are initially easy. For example, riding a bike is simple and easy, right? Not really. Nobody jumped on a bike for the first time and said, “Whoa, this is easy and simple!” Instead, we practiced with training wheels and then after that we crashed and fell a lot until we finally figured out how to ride a bike. Now riding a bike is simple, because we put the work.

We live in a world that is growing increasingly complex, and we keep trying to find ways to simplify it. Getting to simple is not easy. It’s not magic. Getting to simple is hard work. Making things simple requires 2 distinct processes. You need one person to communicate things in a way that reveals the essence AND the person listening needs to put in the mental work to internalize concepts until they understand them. Often, if we don’t think something is simple we blame the person for not being able to boil a complex idea into a one pager or 3 bullet points on a slide. However, if we are honest with ourselves we aren’t always willing to put in the hard work to think through concepts in order to make them simple.

Together we are trying to do things that are simple but not easy. We are trying to be more patient centric and we are evolving to more of a strategic account management thought process where we spend more trying to understand our customers and accounts, plan how to deliver value, and execute the plan in a way that will provide value to customers. These concepts are simple, but all of the work that goes into being able to do these things is not easy. There are a lot of working parts and we need to put in the due diligence to think through how they fit together.

As leaders, how are we setting the standard that we expect people to spend significant time thinking through concepts before saying, “It’s not simple enough” and throwing out the ideas?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry