The Original Nintendo and Being Easy to Work With (4-8-26)

You can’t talk about Mario without talking about the original Nintendo console. This week is about how temperamental those original game cartridges were and being easy to work with. This entry is inspired by a nostalgic trip down memory lane that Jenna Alspaugh took me on.

The Nintendo console was launched in the 1980s with Super Mario as the flagship game. When the console worked, it was amazing! You were instantly transported to the mushroom kingdom to experience a new type of entertainment. The only problem is that the console didn’t always work immediately. Getting it to work was like performing a ritual for the video game gods and hoping for their blessing. You’d grab the video game cartridge, blow into it to clean it, insert it into the system, wiggle it just slightly, say a few more prayers, and then hit the power button. You’d repeat variations of this until it finally worked.

Let’s connect this to work. Whether or not you’ve ever played Super Mario, we’ve all likely ran into some version of having to put in a lot of extra effort just to make something work correctly. When have you interacted with processes or systems that were just difficult? When have you interacted with people who were just difficult? How did those make you feel? In both experiences, I’ve left those situations feeling frustrated and wondering if it was worth it or not. Also, I felt less inclined to use that service or partner with that person again. Also, since we are being honest, have you had times where you were being the difficult person? (sheepishly raises his hand) While it’s true that bumps and mistakes are going to happen, we can also ensure we are doing things to make it as easy as possible for customers and partners to work with us.

The challenge: How can we make it easier for customers to interact with our products and solutions? How can we make it easier for individuals to partner with us?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

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

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

Mario, Power Moons, and Making Progress (3-18-26)

Last week was about how Mario contains multitudes. This week is about Mario, collecting Power Moons, and making progress.

Super Mario Odyssey is one of the most recent and one of my favorite Mario games. Your ultimate goal is to defeat Bowser. To do this, you need to progress through a variety of open world levels. The only way to move from one level to the next is to collect enough Power Moons to power your spaceship to fly to the next level. Here’s the thing though, these levels give you a lot of space to explore. You could spend hours jumping around, fighting bad guys, collecting coins, etc. without ever gathering the Power Moons you need to make progress.

Let’s connect this to work. Our Mario example was about how I could play a level for hours without ever getting anywhere. Has this ever happened to you at work? Have you ever come to the end of the day and realized you had done a lot of things, but didn’t actually do anything that enabled meaningful progress? Obviously, this never happens to me (he says while infusing the text with as much sarcasm as possible). It’s easy to get lost in email, conversations, meetings, etc. without ever actually moving the needle.

I’ve found the only way to avoid this is to be disciplined and intentional about consistently revisiting what my priorities are, where I am in relation to them, and what steps I need to take to make meaningful progress. Then, the most important part is working to make my calendar reflect my priorities. Have you ever looked at your calendar and realized it didn’t reflect your priorities? This never happens to me (#moresarcasm). The world is louder and more complex than ever before, if we aren’t clear on what we need to chase to make progress we will never move forward.

The challenge- How will you ensure you are gathering Power Moons to enable progress?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Mario Contains Multitudes (3-11-26)

Yesterday was March 10^th, often written as MAR10 aka Mario Day! In honor of that we are going to kick off a series inspired by the Super Mario universe. This week will be about Mario containing multitudes.

Many of you might be familiar with Super Mario. You most likely know him from his adventures saving the Mushroom Kingdom. I’m excited that you know that side of Mario, but he’s so much more than that. He is a true renaissance man. He is an Italian plumber and brother. He is the savior of the Mushroom Kingdom. He has been to the land of dinosaurs and to space. He is a doctor who has treated deadly viruses. He is an incredible go kart driver, a scratch golfer, star soccer player, homerun hitting baseball player, and a multi-event gold medalist in both the summer and winter Olympics.

What does this have to do with anything? When you first read this was about Mario, you likely thought about him jumping around, hopping on koopa troopas, and going down pipes. You likely didn’t think about all of the other things that Mario is and the other roles he plays. Now think about the people you work with. How do you view them? Do you primarily view them as employees? Do you view them as people who contain multiple aspects worth exploring?

The challenge: How can we see the multitudes in each other?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Super Mario 3D World and Working Together (4-6-23)

Last week was about video games and diagnosing the situation before offering any advice. This week is about Super Mario 3D World and the challenges of working together.

Super Mario 3D World is our latest 4 player family video game. It’s a cute adventure with Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach who work together to stop Bowser. It’s also an INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING game at times. How can something so cute and joyous be so frustrating? It’s all because the actions of the characters impact each other, so it’s easy to get blindsided and knocked off track. You might run into another character and accidentally knock them off the edge to their doom. You might go to one side of the screen, making the screen follow you, so no one else can see what they are doing, leading to their death. You might get lost in all of the chaos and get ambushed by a lowly goomba. In order to survive, we have to be able to look at our own character and how everyone else is moving. We also have to spend a lot of time coordinating and communicating. Sometimes, we even have to pause the game to talk about what we need to do, so we are all on the same page. This is the only way to capture the flag at the end of each level to advance.

What if work is just like Super Mario 3D World? Think about it. You have multiple players with various skill levels who all have their own power-ups and abilities. Everyone is racing to a goal. Your actions impact you and others around you and vice versa. Have you ever been blindsided by actions of a “player”? Maybe, you’ve been hit by an unexpected process at the worst time. Maybe, you were trying to zig, while everyone else was zagging. Maybe, you had a deadline ambush you from behind a corner. Maybe, you made a decision that had unintended ramifications down the road. I know all these things have happened to me. Like my family playing Super Mario 3D World, in order to be successful you have to understand your role AND look at the big picture to see how it all fits together with other players. You need to spend time communicating with the other players. Sometimes, you might even have to pause and slow things down to ensure everyone is aligned on the end goal. That’s the only way to win.

The challenge: How are you integrating with all of the players in your game? What are you doing to ensure everyone is working together?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Super Mario, Warp Pipes, and Looking for New Ways of Doing Things (3-23-22)

Happy Wednesday,

This is the last entry in our Super Mario series. We started with Super Stars and how we aren’t always invincible. We looked at Luigi and being brave enough to face fear. We thought about leveraging strengths and being curious about each other. This week is about Super Mario, secret warp zones, and looking for different ways of doing things.

The original Super Mario Brothers game was a simple side scrolling game. When I first played the game as a little kid, I assumed that I would need to fight through EVERY single level. The layout and design for the first level made it clear that the screen would scroll in one direction and that I needed to reach the flag at the end of each level to complete it. I ASSUMED I would need to repeat this process over and over and over again. However, I was wrong. If you kept your eyes open and tried new things, you could find hidden passages aka warp zones that could enable you to skip entire worlds. See the picture.

What does this have to do with anything? While work isn’t a side scrolling video game, it is a system comprised of standard rules, approaches, processes, and frameworks that we use daily. In some ways, all those things help us move faster. However, sometimes, those things become programming that we start to follow without realizing it. Similar to my experience with Mario, we get so used to the way things are designed that we don’t question if those rules, approaches, processes, and frameworks are always the best ones. One of my mantras is “There is always the hidden option.” It doesn’t mean that I necessarily know what the hidden option is. It doesn’t mean that the hidden option is always best. Instead, it’s a constant reminder that I shouldn’t allow myself to become so comfortable in the status quo that I stop searching for something better. Who knows if exploring a little bit outside of the status quo might help us find our own warp zone to better serve our customers?

The challenge: Will you break the status quo and keep your eyes open for a new way of doing things?

Bonus real world example: Last fall I had A, B, C workstreams I wanted to work on in parallel. I was told that our processes dictated that I only do one at a time, so I’d have to do A then B then C. Doing the projects in this way was the standard approach, but it would also add weeks to our timelines and make us miss our deadlines. Instead of accepting this, I researched the process. I realized technically we could work on A, B, and C simultaneously, even though we normally didn’t do it that way. I called the person who owned the process, explained the situation, and how we could work on A, B, and C at the same time and still be compliant with the process. They basically said, “That’s different, but you can still do it. I just need you to email Bob and then make a note in the system about this, so we remember.” All of a sudden, the things that couldn’t be done because of the process were now being done. We were able to work on A, B, and C to hit our deadlines, and all I ended up doing was researching a process, having an extra conversation, and sending an email. It was about 30 minutes of work to shave weeks off our timeline. It’s all because I kept my eyes open for the hidden option when I hit a wall, and I found that warp pipe to get us to where we needed to be.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Shy Guy and Allowing Ourselves to be Curious (3-16-22)

Last week was about leveraging our strengths and the strengths of others. This week is about Shy Guy and allowing ourselves to be curious.

Shy Guy is a relatively minor side character and Super Mario enemy. See the image. A few years ago, I stumbled across an image of Shy Guy and I paused. This character I had known since I was a little kid, now had piqued my curiosity. There was something intriguing about a character wearing a mask and robe. As I looked at him, I began to wonder. What is his story? What are some of his favorite memories? How does he feel about things? As I explored my curiosity, I began to write different things. “Shy Guy doesn’t talk much but has journals full of sweet love poems.” and “Shy Guy wears a mask, so the world can’t see him snickering.” From there I began to write poems further exploring who he is. As I did this, I quickly realized this quirky character had more depth than I ever imagined. (Poems are at the bottom of this blog if you’re intrigued.)

What does this have to do with anything? I gave myself permission to be curious about Shy Guy and it led me to explore and better understand a character I had never given a second thought to. We live in a world focused on speed and rushing, which often interferes with our ability to slow down and be curious. Imagine what would happen if we gave ourselves permission to be more curious about our work and the people we work with. Imagine how we would have a deeper appreciation for each other if we gave ourselves permission to spend a few more valuable minutes trying to understand someone’s story, their motivation, and the way they see the world. Imagine how much stronger our relationships would be. Imagine how much more beauty we would see.

The challenge: Are you giving yourself permission to be curious and explore?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Shy Guy Poems

Shy Guy and Soul Music
3 months. 13 days.
Shy Guy sneaks around his house.
Stealthy.
Silent.
He doesn’t want the curtains to know.
He pounces, shutting them.
The house entirely dark
he stumbles over furniture to find the light.
He curses as he trips.
He peeks outside one more time.
No one is watching.

He blows the dust off the record player.
Memories float up into the air with the dirt specks.

He thinks of his mother,
clutching his hand and his teddy.
Showing them how to twist.
The pearls around her neck
moving in time with the music.

Shy Guy has never been to church,
but is convinced this is soul music.
James Brown.
Funk starts hitting Shy Guy like a wrecking ball,
making the walls he built around himself crumble.

Slowly.
His foot starts tapping.
Slowly.
He smiles again.
Slowly.
He begins peeling back the curtains.

Andrew Embry 2010

Shy Guy Haiku 1

Mask over his mouth.

Hooded robe over body.

He tells no secrets.

Shy Guy Haiku 2

Black holes for his eyes.

Nothing escapes his strong gaze.

No words leave his mouth.

Shy Guy Haiku 3

Mario villain.

Koopa henchman is a monk.

Meek inherit earth.

(Shy Guy) Mask over Heaven

His blackhole eyes consume literary galaxies
with stars and the heavens swirling.
Gravity so strong words cannot escape him.
Not even these,
so fragile
with black ink so faded.
He puts down Milton for the night.

His fingers fiddle with folds of his fierce fire fleece hooded robe.
He places the book down on his nightstand.
His mask beside it.
His beads are already on the door
moving with the night breeze like purple butterfly wings.
With the cloister so quiet
he ruminates
on his own paradise lost.

Andrew Embry 2010

(Shy Guy) Unzipping Closed Secrets

He only speaks before bedtime.
Shy Guy whispers secrets into ziploc bags.
Presses his fingers hard together
sealing every last syllable in tight.

She receives the gift.
Shy Guy blushes burgundy in a white mask.
Surprise!
How can empty ziploc bags weigh so much?

Andrew Embry 2010

Super Mario Odyssey and Leveraging Strengths (3-9-22)

Last week was about Luigi and being brave. This week is about Super Mario Odyssey and leveraging strengths.

Super Mario Odyssey is one of the more recent Mario games. In this game you are able to throw your hat to “capture” enemies. Once you capture them, you become them and gain all of their abilities. For example, you might need to swim deep underwater. Mario can’t do that, because he has to breathe. However, if you become the fish enemy (see pic of fish in the middle) you can swim underwater indefinitely. On the other hand, maybe you need to fly. You could capture a flying goomba (see bottom middle of pic), and all of a sudden you have wings to get you where you need to go. The fish’s powers are awesome, but they won’t help you fly. Likewise, leveraging the talents of the flying goomba is cool, until you need to swim.

What does this have to do with anything? In order to be successful in this game, you have to leverage the strengths of different characters. We may not be able to throw our hats and capture the strengths of others, but we can make sure we are building teams that have people with different strengths. We can also make sure that we are putting people in situations that maximize their strengths.

Have you ever been in a role or situation at work that made the most of your strengths? What did that feel like? I love being in that situation. I find myself in flow states, where the work is hard, but it also feels effortless. My energy is limitless and my engagement is through the roof. I’m at the top of my game in those roles. Not only am I performing at a high level, but I’m doing it in a way that brings a little extra magic to the situation that has positive ripple effects across everything I touch. As a result, the organization benefits because it gets the most out of what I can uniquely provide. On the flip side, have you ever been in a role or situation at work that didn’t make the most of your strengths? What did that feel like? I’ve been there. It’s nowhere near as engaging. In fact, I’ve found those situations to be draining and frustrating. Sure, in those situations I’ve been able to do the work and perform, but there is a difference between being able to do the job and performing in a way that brings extra magic. In these situations the organization loses, because the value I provided in that role was nowhere near the value I could have provided in a role that leveraged my talents.

The challenges: Are you recognizing the strengths of yourself and others? Are you building teams filled with different people with different talents? Are you putting yourself and others in a situation where we can leverage our strengths?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Luigi, Fear, and Bravery

Last week was about Super Mario, Super Stars, and recognizing we can’t be invincible all the time. This week is about Luigi, fear, and bravery.

In case you aren’t familiar, in the Super Mario series, Mario (in red) has a brother named Luigi (in green). Mario is typically player 1 and Luigi is player 2. Mario is portrayed as a happy go lucky hero, always there to save the day. Luigi is typically portrayed as anxious, nervous, and afraid. He gets startled and scared easily. They both end up saving the Mushroom Kingdom and other kingdoms on their joint and solo adventures.

At the surface level, Mario is the hero we all want to be. He always seems to be confident and sure of himself, saving the day with a smile on his face. However, I’d argue that Luigi is actually the braver hero. Luigi is consumed by fear, yet he understands that his mission (saving the kingdom, his friends, and/or his brother) is worth fighting for. Luigi is terrified, AND he continues to step into scary and difficult situations in order to do the right thing. Luigi might be player 2, but he’s number 1 in my heart 😉 #smooth

What does this have to do with anything? Similar to Mario and Luigi, it’s easy to assume that bravery and heroism looks like the outwardly confident person who saves the day. However, this isn’t the only way to be a hero. Often, the real hero is the one who faces their own fears, their own personal demons, and keeps moving forward. This is the person who says, “This is going to be an uncomfortable discussion, AND I’m going to lean into it anyway.” or “I’m afraid of this challenge before me, AND I’m still going to tackle it.” Whenever you feel fear in your life, I hope you’re like Luigi. I hope you allow that feeling to wash over you, AND still find a way to take a step forward.

The challenge: How can you better embrace your inner Luigi to be brave in the midst of fear?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry