Mario Kart and Choosing the Right Set up for the Task (8-13-25)

Mario Kart 8 Kart Customization

Happy Wednesday,

Recently, my family and I have got back into playing Mario Kart 8 on Switch, which is the inspiration behind this blog series. Our first entry will be about choosing the right set up for the task in front of you.

In case you’re not familiar with Mario Kart, here is how it works. You choose from a collection of Super Mario characters along with a variety of vehicle, tire, and glider options. These choices impact your speed, acceleration, weight, handling, and off-road capabilities. Here was my predicament. Typically, I would choose characters and set ups that were higher on speed and not so much on acceleration. This was great at the lower difficulty levels. Then, once I got to 200cc, I was no longer able to have success with this set up. I slid off courses, struggled, and ultimately lost. As I reflected, I realized that 200cc is more about stopping and going vs staying at a continual top speed. My builds focused on speed may have worked in previous situations, but now I was facing a different challenge. I needed to adapt. Maxing out speed was no longer serving me. Instead, I needed to choose characters, carts, tires, and gliders that would give me high acceleration. Once I switched to this new set up, I started winning!

Making connections. Work is a lot like Mario Kart. We have different options of tools and skillsets we can use to solve problems. Over time, we find set ups that we become comfortable with that we can use over and over again. This serves us well, until things change. Then, our tried and true methods are no longer effective. Has this ever happened to you? You better believe it’s happened to me. From time to time, we need to take a step back to understand the problem we are solving for. From time to time, we need to take a step back and ask whether our current tools and skills are the right ones to solve this problem.

The challenge: Will you be willing to switch your set up when the environment and challenges around you change?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

AI, Tools, and Expectations

Last week was about my kids using ChatGPT and not limiting our thinking. This week is about AI, tools, and expectations.

Let’s say that you needed to assemble something, so you grab a wrench out of your toolbox. You use the wrench to fasten the nuts and bolts. Then, you realize there are screws you need to insert. Your wrench won’t be able to insert the screws. Does this make the wrench bad? Would you throw the wrench away, because it wasn’t good at solving this challenge? I’m guessing you wouldn’t. I hope you’d recognize the value and the limitations of the wrench, and every other tool in your arsenal.

Let’s connect some dots. We should apply this same thinking to AI. I’ve been in conversations exploring different AI tools and heard people say, “It can’t do X, so I don’t know if it’s any good.” Have you ever heard someone say something like that? This would be like saying, “This wrench doesn’t work for every single situation, so that means wrenches are bad.” It’s true that the tool couldn’t do X. However, the tool could do A, B, and C and get you 70% of the way there in minutes vs the weeks it would take you to do this manually. That is powerful. That is valuable.

Whether it’s wrenches and screwdrivers from a toolbox or types of AI applications, it’s important to have the right expectation for each tool. We don’t expect a wrench to be perfect and solve all problems. Instead, we understand we need a variety of tools to be successful. In a similar way, we shouldn’t treat AI as if it is just one tool. AI spans a variety of tools and use cases, each with their own benefits and limitations.

The challenge: How will you properly set expectations for various AI tools?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Your Craft and Having the Right Tools (8-4-21)

Last week was about focusing on one thing to improve your craft. This week we will build on that by reflecting on the tools we use in our craft.

Have you ever been over to someone’s house who really enjoys the craft of cooking? I’m not one of those people. I’m an okay cook, but I don’t have a desire to be great at it. One thing I’ve always noticed about people who enjoy the craft of cooking is that they have better tools than I do. Tools could mean pots, pans, and utensils. Tools could mean a better grill or smoker with better fuel. Tools could even mean higher quality of ingredients than I would normally think of purchasing. If I would ever hope to get to their level, not only would I have to practice more, but I would need to invest in better tools.

You might be wondering where this is going. Last week we reflected on being intentional about focusing on the right thing to improve. One of the aspects of getting better is making sure we are investing in the right tools, because having the right tools can make a big difference. For example, about a year ago I was doing some marketing planning for a brand and trying to figure out how to adjust approaches due to COVID and everything else going in the world. I had no idea how to go about thinking about this until a colleague introduced me to a framework. She has a background in futurist thinking, and since we were thinking about the future she introduced me to some tools that she learned in her training. Now that I had better tools, I was better equipped to attack the problem. This futurist thinking is now something I have in my toolbelt to help me with my craft of moving people. The challenge: What tools and frameworks are you picking up to help you master your craft?

Bonus- Below is a collection of frameworks/tools/questions I’ve picked up over the years that has taken my game to the next level.

Playing to Win– Book about key questions to leverage to think strategically
Radical Candor– Book about giving feedback.
Six Thinking Hats– A book about how to execute PRODUCTIVE team brainstorming.
Atomic Habits– One of the few things about habits that have helped things stick.
Secret Structure of Great Talks– A TED talk about the structure of communication. Helps me shape stories.
Flipboard- It’s an app that curates articles based on your personal preferences. I like to spend a few minutes on this each day seeing if I can find anything cool.
Karen Wurster’s Prioritization Grid- I initially used this to prioritize market research work, but have expanded and adapted it to prioritize any project. Check out this link.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry