Loyalty, Time, and the Cost of a Batphone (6-29-16)

A couple of weeks ago we talked about being intentional with people. This week we will explore the result of being intentional with people by looking at the cost/value of a Batphone. In DC Comics Batman has given Commissioner Jim Gordon a Batphone, which is a direct line that enables Gordon to call Batman whenever he needs help. This Batphone gives the Commissioner access to Batman and everything he has. It’s virtually priceless. Something worth so much, must cost a great deal, so what did it cost Gordon to earn the Batphone? The “cost” was the TIME and EFFORT it took Gordon to prove to Batman that he was a partner in the fight against crime.

How does this connect to work? Think about the people you work with. Who has given you a Batphone, a promise to help you whenever, with all of their might? Who have you given a Batphone to? Who would you bend over backwards to help and why? What did it “cost” them?

I’d like to share the story of how I recently gave a Batphone to Sally (made up name for a real story). I don’t work for her or owe her anything. I just happened to work on a project with her, so why would I give her a Batphone? One day Sally was so busy she didn’t even have time to eat lunch. We had a one on one meeting scheduled. I saw her and saw how busy she was, so I told her that I didn’t have anything uber critical at that time, so we didn’t need to meet that day. She could have walked away, but instead she said she wanted to meet with me anyway. I didn’t have anything business critical, so why did she want to meet? She told me, “I just want to know how you’re doing with work and life and that I’m giving you everything you need to be successful on this project you’re helping with.” We spent 15 talking about life and work. How do you think this made me feel? At the time she didn’t realize this was a big deal for me, but that moment right there was when I knew I’d go the extra mile for her just because she showed she cared. Her “down payment” on a Batphone to Andrew Embry “cost” her 15 minutes and a display of caring.

What does an Embry Batphone get you? An Embry Batphone gets you access to everything I can do and everything I have in my possession to help you. The other day Sally emailed me to ask a favor that had nothing to do with the project or any other work I was doing. When I saw the email was from her, I stopped the work I was doing on another project so I could send her a thoughtful response to her email in an immediate fashion. I also told her I’d be willing to chat more if she wanted. She was appreciative and thankful, so I told her just to ask if she ever thought I could help and I’d do what I could to provide some ideas. Then I sent her the Batphone image in this email and said, “Consider this your Batphone. Call whenever you need me.” I don’t work for Sally. I don’t owe her anything, but I choose to offer her everything because of her spending the time and effort to show she cares about me. For 15 minutes and a few other “small” gestures she gets a Batphone to Andrew Embry and everything that comes with it.

The Challenge: What are you doing to earn a Batphone from the people you work with?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Superhero Lessons Part 3 Wonder Woman, Warrior AND Princess (4-13-16)

Last week we talked about Green Lantern and conquering fear. This week, we will think about Wonder Woman and how we can tackle those “supposed” contradictions within all of us in order to make ourselves stronger.

Wonder Woman is one of the most powerful characters in the DC Universe. I believe that she is one of the few characters who could go toe to toe with Superman in a fistfight, and I also believe she would have a great chance at winning because of her strength, brains, and magic lasso. In case you don’t know, Superman is vulnerable to magic, so that could play into Wonder Woman’s hands with her lasso and weapons. Also, her bracelets could reflect his laser vision. Finally, she’s an Amazon warrior. Nuff said.

Anyway, Wonder Woman is a fascinating character to me, because she is a collection of traits that are “supposed to be” contradictions. She’s a warrior AND a princess. She’s strong AND feminine. She’s a leader AND a servant. She’s caring AND tough. She’s all powerful AND merciful. She’s not one or the other. She is ALL of these things wrapped up into one person. She’s an example of how the different sides of us don’t have to be at odds with each other. In fact, we are richer when these different sides work together inside ourselves.

What does this have to do with life? In life we don’t always appreciate the complexity of people. Instead, we often want to make people choose to be one thing or the other. You are either a jokester or someone who takes their job seriously. You are either a leader or a follower. You are either creative or methodical. You are either strong or vulnerable. You are either an expert or a student.

If Wonder Woman would wrap us in her Lasso of Truth we’d quickly see that we don’t have to choose between these false dichotomies that we set up. Instead, we can be both. We can be a collection of traits that are “supposed to be” contradictions, and that is what can make us powerful.

The challenge: How can you be like Wonder Woman and embrace all sides of yourself?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Superhero Lessons Part 1 The Flash vs. Batman: A Battle of Speed and Thought (3-30-16)

This week we are going to kick off a series of lessons inspired by superheroes. We’ll start by thinking about speed, direction, Batman, and The Flash.

Imagine for a moment that Batman challenges The Flash to a race. The Flash accepts. The two racers meet at the starting line. The Flash will do the race on foot and Batman will drive the Batmobile. Alfred says, “Go!” and the racers take off. The Flash takes off heading north at the speed of sound, roughly 768 mph. Meanwhile, Batman jumps into the Batmobile, enters coordinates into the Bat GPS and starts heading south at his top speed of 230 mph. Batman wins the race.

The Flash is more than 3 times faster than Batman in his Batmobile, so how does Batman win? For the sake of argument, let’s just say that Batman wins, because he takes the time to figure out where the finish line is before he goes. This is why Batman headed south when The Flash headed north. In our story we’ll pretend that The Flash was so excited about racing that he took off before ever knowing where the finish line was. This probably sounds pretty comical. This is a silly gag that would show up in a poorly written comic. You’d probably read this and say, “Come on! The Flash would never do anything like that.”

Now here’s the gut check. How often are you sprinting at work without understanding where the finish line is? This never happens to me, because I’m so awesome. However, I have a friend who likes superheroes and has two daughters and I hear this has happened to him before. My friend even told me it has happened to him over the past month. My friend says, he probably shouldn’t admit his shortcomings, but the last time he checked he’s still human and he still can’t walk on water, so mistakes are part of being human. My friend wonders if anyone else has made the same mistake. (<-Comic sans font equals obnoxious sarcasm)

Bottom line: It is way too easy to get sucked into the flurry of activity, the need to feel like you’re sprinting and contributing, but the fact is that speed without the proper direction is useless. Even worse, speed with the wrong direction can be detrimental.

The Challenge: Before you use your Flash speed, will you use your Batman intellect to locate the finish line?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

From Inclusion to Superempowerment (8-26-15)

This week’s blog was partially inspired by an article written by Dr. Gates, “Inclusion is bad for business”. Click HERE for the article. Last week we talked about the silent questions we ask such as: Can I be myself? Does this person value different people and thoughts? Can I trust this person? We also spent time thinking about the difference between diversity and inclusion. Often when people talk about inclusion they talk about creating a safe environment, but I want to challenge us to do more. How can we take inclusion to the next level?

I want you to think about the teams you’ve been on throughout your life. I’ve been on teams where it was safe to jump in and people tiptoed into the waters. I’ll call this an inclusive team. I’ve also been on teams that had some kind of extra magic where you jumped in, cannonball style, unleashing your personality, talent, and abilities for the greater good. I’ll call this a team that practices superpowerment (Super+Empowerment). Which team would you rather be on?

By now you are probably trying to figure out what superpowerment looks like? These are the leaders who go one step further on everything. Inclusive leaders encourage you to be yourself. Superpowerment leaders go out of their way to make sure you understand how your uniqueness is valuable to them, the team, and the organization. Inclusive leaders give you the chance to be visible and Superpowerment leaders ensure you are seen. The bottom line is that an inclusive leader sees a spark and gives it room to flourish, while a superpowerment leader sees the spark and pours gas on it to make it burn brighter, bigger, and longer.

Is inclusion good enough for you? What kind of a leader do you want to be? How can you answer those silent questions and move from diversity to inclusion and then from inclusion to superpowerment?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Leadership Lessons from Nick Fury and the Avengers (10-15-14)

This week’s entry is inspired by a conversation I had with a colleague about leadership. Her hypothesis is that the true test of leadership is how well you can influence without authority, which is something that all of us are doing on a daily basis. It’s one thing to lead a group of people when you are the clear authority figure, but it is an entirely different animal to lead a group where you don’t have that authority. This hypothesis got me thinking about the movie The Avengers. If you haven’t seen The Avengers, don’t tell me because I will lose respect for you. In all seriousness, it’s a great case study in influencing without authority.

Think about it. Nick Fury (super spy extraordinaire) assembles a team of some of the most powerful beings in the universe including the Hulk (strongest there is) and Thor (a thunder god) to stop a bad guy. This should be easy, right? It’s not easy though. Each superhero is a powerful individual with a different background, approaching everything from their unique perspective. They don’t know or trust each other. There are no clear expectations, sources of authority, or defined goals. All of these issues cause them to spend the first 2/3 of the film getting duped and getting their butt kicked, because they waste time jockeying for power amongst each other. It takes a tragic turn of events to get the team focused on a singular goal- saving the world! Only then are they able to come together as a team, defeat evil, and save the world from yet another egotistical madman.

Now think about the teams we are on at work. We can make the argument that we are a lot like the Avengers. We are a collection of individual superheroes used to doing things our own way, all pulled together to accomplish some important task. This is the true test of leading without authority. In my experience, if we spend the time in the beginning with the team getting crystal clear on expectations, roles, and what success looks like, then we go on to accomplish great things. If we don’t spend the time doing this, the wheels fall off. (Side note, I’d also argue that the same skills that enable a person to lead without authority makes them an even better leader when they have authority.)

How will you lead your fellow Avengers?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Captain America’s Shield and being Proactive (2-12-14)

It’s near Valentine’s Day and we’re being bombarded by images of love. How do you show love and keep love alive? Here is where we can take a page from Captain America’s book. Check out this quick clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqpnjf3NKDo .

Most of the time, a shield is just used for defense, but Captain America uses his shield for a defensive AND an offensive weapon. If you stop a moment and think about people who make you feel loved, I’m sure that you’ll notice a neat pattern. They tend to use their understanding of you the same way that Captain America uses his shield, BOTH reactively and proactively.

Non-work example

Reactive-I know that the dishwasher is full, and I wait until my wife asks me to empty the dishwasher. I do it. She is content.
Proactive- If I know the dishwasher is full, I could empty before she ever asks. Later she sees that I did this without being asked to, and instead of just feeling content, she thinks I’m the best husband in the year. The difference is that I showed initiative which demonstrates that I pay attention to situations, understand how they apply to her, and I take action. (I know, romantic situation right? That’s real when you have kids. That act right there is better than a dozen long stem red roses).

Our Work

Have you ever been asked by a colleague or a customer to do something? You tell them that you’ll have to go work on it/think about it. You go do it and tell them it’s done. The person leaves the situation feeling content. This is using knowledge in a reactive way.

Now, think about the same situation. The colleague or customer asks you to do something. Imagine how different everything becomes if you’re able to respond by saying, “Actually, based on what I learned in past conversations and some of the the things going on, I thought we might run into this. Here’s what I think we can do.” Better yet, you take care of the issue before it even really happens. How do you think that person would feel? I know that when I have seen people who are proactive I walk away super impressed and feeling that they care about the cause I care about. I start having more faith and trust in them.

How cool would it be if we could deliver that type of experience to our customers and each other more often?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry