Ideas in the Wild: How Marney Andes Aims To Honor Her Father’s Memory by Sharing His Wisdom with the World

Marney Andes grew up on a farm outside of Wallace, a small town in western Nebraska. Today, she is a successful learning and development executive, coach, corporate consultant, and entrepreneur. She’s also a former educator and collegiate basketball player.

Marney attributes much of her success to her dad, who when he wasn’t working in the corn or wheat fields or tending to his Angus cattle, was teaching Marney how to grow as a professional, live with joy, and discover fulfillment. He taught her eight core lessons that grounded her and helped her create the life she wanted.

Success — in business and life — doesn’t come without taking advice, learning lessons, and living with intention. In Start with the Give-Me Shots, Marney outlines her dad’s lessons through honest storytelling, and simple, real-life examples. I recently caught up with Marney to learn more about her experience writing the book and where the process began for her.

What happened that made you decide to write the book? What was the exact moment when you realized these ideas needed to get out there?

I had thought about writing the book since 2006, six years before my dad died. I had shared a few of the lessons in some casual social media posts, as well as speaking about them during a women’s luncheon I was invited to keynote. When COVID hit and I was primarily working from home, prior to getting in my morning workout, I would start my mornings journaling.

To get inspiration, I went through old photographs and articles that my dad had kept for me. Photos turned into stories. For a few mornings, I drafted some of the best advice or quotes that I remember from my dad. And then one particular morning, I found myself drafting the eight core lessons into a list. I stared at it, read and reviewed them, and was struck by the comprehensive nature of the eight lessons. That these were in fact the eight lessons that have guided me throughout my life, both in my professional career and my personal endeavors.

While my dad may have had more sayings and more lessons beyond these eight, these were the staples, the foundational lessons. And after reading them over and over, I also realized that I had shared these lessons with others throughout my life without really even thinking about it. Most predominantly, over the past decades, these lessons had guided me in my personal relationships, the way I raised my boys, as well as how I led teams, and coached others in the professional setting. These lessons exemplify how I live.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned going through the journey you share in the book?

We’ve made things far too complicated in our lives today. I personally have had times in my life where I’ve made it far too complicated. Made too many commitments — to both work, events, and people — without first reflecting on whether or not those commitments are ones I truly want and need in my life. When we live or operate in a complicated environment, we find ourselves with limited time to do the things we truly want to do or focus on.

I talk about this throughout my book because the lessons that I share are the opposite of complication. They are simple and straightforward. They are lessons that we all can follow, adopt into our lives, and benefit from. But in order to benefit, we have to practice them.

Sometimes, it will be hard. The point of the lessons in my book aren’t that they are easy or a quick checklist, but a guide for how you can navigate both your professional career as well as your personal life — every day, for the rest of your life. As I’ve written about these lessons and reflected on them, both through the stories I share in the book and other stories that are related (outside of the book), I continue to gain confirmation that these are the lessons, for me, for my family, and for others who want to live a fulfilled life and want the simple guide in doing so.

How will you apply this lesson in your life moving forward?

They are the guidelines and values by which I live. Even when drafting the eight lessons and getting clear on the order I wanted them to appear in the book, I started to see a spiritual side of the lessons as well. Recently, I’ve started to explore that with my life coach.

For example, the first lesson: Be Proud of Where You Came From. This is about being authentic and in doing so, inviting authenticity into your relationships (helping others connect with you in an authentic way as well). Living authentically is just as much a life lesson as it is a way for someone to live. Here’s how I also see the other lessons I share in the book:

• Start with the Give-Me Shots: Honor Your Strengths
• Know the Rules of the Game: Explore What’s Possible
• Work While Others Are on Break: Make an Impact
• Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew: Hold Yourself Accountable
• Always Find a Win-Win Solution: Be Fair
• Tell the Truth and You Never Have to Remember What you Said: Live Honestly
• What Have You Done For the Community Today?: Make Time to Reflect

The additional view of each of the lessons is new for me but has really started to feel right. They aren’t simply lessons to follow but an “essence of life” to guide you. For some, these additional explanations may be really powerful, for others, they will find the straightforward nature of how the lessons are already titled, fit best with their lives. But when I reflect on both, I find that these will continue to carry me and will continue to be the lessons that I practice in order to have clarity for my own life, as well as fulfillment in what I do and how I engage with others.