My Favorite Mistake: Business Lessons from Failures and Success

Wendy Steele Explained the What, But Not the Why as Her Non-Profit Grew Quickly

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My guest for Episode #208 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Wendy H. Steele, the founder and CEO of Impact100, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to uniting and empowering over 30,000 women to create a transformational impact in their communities has today collectively granted more than $123 million to worthy nonprofits across more than 65 local chapters and four countries.
Wendy's debut book, Invitation to Impact: Lighting the Path to Community Transformation, was released in April 2023.
Wendy brings the ideal combination of corporate leadership (SVP/Regional Manager in the banking industry), entrepreneurship (Successfully launched and led both non-profit and for-profit enterprises), and civic engagement resulting in keen business acumen and thought leadership. 
In this episode, Wendy shares her favorite mistake story about starting up her nonprofit and explaining what it did, but not why it existed. How did she come to see this problem and how did it affect the organization as it grew nationally? And how did Wendy adjust?
We also discuss some of her previous experience as a founder and CEO of a company that manufactured an innovative duct tape dispenser. How do we make sure we're moving the needle on results in a business or a non-profit?
Assumed the why was obvious…
What was the what?? To help women get involved in their community on their terms… thought it was designed for women in Cincinnati
The leadership team understood the why at launch
How did you realize people didn’t understand the WHY? It took a while
What got off track? How did you adjust?
How would you articulate the WHY? Did others make up their own why in the absence of that?
Entrepreneurship trap of getting popular and growing too quickly before some of those foundations are sorted out, including systems, documents, training
Your journey from banking to manufacturing CEO to banking to philanthropy? Lessons learned?
Tell us about the new book Invitation to Impact: Lighting the Path to Community Transformation
Iteration on the book writing and editing too?
How to make sure our philanthropic activity has impact?
Mark's New Book – “The Mistakes That Make Us”Questions and Topics:
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Kim Crowder, DEI and Six Sigma Strategist, Speaker, and CEO — on Red Flags and Double Standards

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My guest for Episode #207 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Kim Crowder, the Founder & CEO of Kim Crowder Consulting, one of the country’s leading executive, leadership, inclusive marketing and communications firms.
Kim and her team work across industries serving global organizations. From leaders and executives at Adobe to Smugmug, the American Library Association, HarperCollins Publishers, and more, Kim and her team provide executives and leaders with actionable tools to build healthy, people-centered workplaces long term.
She is a certified DEI and Six Sigma Leadership CEO, strategist, speaker, and consultant featured or quoted by Forbes, The New York Times, CNN, and Business Insider, among countless others — she's a sought after commentator and voice.
In this episode, Kim shares her favorite mistake story about not “honoring red flags” during the process of interviewing for a job. Did she experience “micro-aggressions” or just flat out aggressions? Why does Kim say this was her favorite mistake in terms of the growth it provided for her?
Questions and Topics:
Unwillingness to talk about money, or negotiate salary – could they have open dialogue on other things?
Attacking you for reporting the problem instead of addressing… the problem
That next job – I bet you were really on guard for red flags?
The need to account for past experiences of employees from marginalized groups?
Stay away from saying “toxic?”
Is it easier for white men to admit mistakes? Do we have a certain amount of privilege?
Low # of Black head coaches in the NFL — equality of the opportunity and also the situation?
You provide support for “The Onlys” in organizations – tell us about that
Hiring / Promoting Black men or women is not enough? 
What does it mean to use data-driven approaches to understand team member experiences over time?
 “We call social media the new accountability partner”
Being authentic at work — you recently wrote about a double standard related to Angela Bassett and her reaction to losing out on the Best Supporting Actress Oscar
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Working Class Rock Star Ivan Bodley Was Fired by a Disco Diva; Reflecting on Other Epic Firings

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My guest for Episode #206 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Ivan “Funkboy” Bodley. He is a bass player and music director for the stars. He has performed with 52 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and counting (ranging from Elvis Costello, The Temptations, Bo Diddley, and Wynonna Judd. He's the author of the book Am I Famous Yet?: Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star — and it's also a podcast.
He’s played in 13 Broadway shows, the President Obama Inaugural Ball, many late-night shows (including Late Night with Conan O’Brien), and morning shows, including Today and Live with Regis & Kelly. Funkboy is a magna cum laude graduate of the Berklee College of Music and an inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame. He has traveled to 31 countries worldwide and played to audiences of up to 82,000 people. 
In this episode, Ivan shares his favorite mistake story about getting fired by a certain “disco diva” because he asked for a raise. But what did Ivan learn from that situation? What could he have done better? Does he second-guess what he should have done before any of his “epic firings”? We discuss what it's like to be a musician who travels the world playing with household names and legends. We also talk about our mutual love of the film “This is Spinal Tap.” But, hey, enough of my yakkin'… Whadaya say? Let's boogie!
Questions and Topics:
What was the audience of 82,000 you played for?
Did you have the full range of relationships with the big name performers? “Can’t be overly familiar with the boss…” 
Do you ever get bored playing the same music every night?
You have a whole section on my resume/website and book called “Gigs I DIDN'T get and why.” Why do that? 
Lessons learned — it’s often not your fault
Do you try to find out why the last guy was fired?
Sam Moore – Conan O'Brien video with him playing
“Am I Famous Yet?: Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star”
Did you want to be famous?
This is Spinal Tap??
Favorite scenes or mistakes from that?
Funniest “Tap” type moment that happened to you?
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A Hiring Mistake, Busting in to Meet Hugo Chavez, Learning What Love Is: Kim Sorrelle

Author of Love Is.
⁠Episode page with video, links, and transcript⁠
My guest for Episode #205 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Kim Sorrelle. Kim is the director of a humanitarian organization, a popular speaker, and the author of two books. Her first, Cry Until You Laugh, is about her and her husband's battle with cancer after being diagnosed just four months apart. Her second, Love Is, chronicles her year-long quest to figure out the true meaning of love, a sometimes funny, sometimes scary, always enlightening journey that led to life-changing discoveries found mostly on the streets of Haiti.
In this episode, Kim shares her favorite mistake story about buying a grocery store in St. Croix (she lives in Michigan) and hiring the wrong manager to run that business. How long did it take her to discover the mistake? Did she try to coach him up? When did she decide to make a change, and how did she avoid repeating the mistake based on what she learned the first time?
Oh, and she slips in a story about the time she “busted in” to meet Hugo Chavez, the president / dictator of Venezuela. How did she build rapport and trust and for what purpose?
Questions and Topics:
Learned: need to hire slow…
You were new to this type of business though…
How did this even come to be?
Do you fire or try to coach him up??
Tell us about the 2nd hiring… what you learned, adjustments you made?
Tell us about your non-profit — Rays of Hope
Avoiding mistakes about cultural assumptions going into other countries?
Just busted in to meet with Hugo Chavez
45 minutes — had to build rapport and trust
Tell us about your book “Love Is”.
What is the meaning of love, what is love?
“Love keeps no record of wrongs” — does loving ourselves mean being able to put our wrongs (our mistakes) behind us?
Loving yourself when you make mistakes?
Stephen Covey episode
How does understanding love help us in the workplace?
14 day love challenge – not a year
What your next book? – on grief
 

Amanda Watts, The Empowered Introvert, on Battling, Recovering From, and Preventing Burnout

Episode post with video, links, and more⁠
My guest for Episode #204 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Amanda C. Watts, “The Empowered Introvert.” She is the award-winning founder of Oompf Global. Embracing her ‘hidden’ introvert strengths, she has served over 700 clients in 23 countries, amassed a community of 25,000 followers, and written three best-selling books.
Her mission is to educate other introverted professionals – including accountants, business coaches, and consultants – on how to do marketing and manage their energy so that they can make more money with fewer clients.
In this episode, Amanda shares her favorite mistake story about her "journey of burnout." How did she get burned out, how did she recover, and how can others avoid or prevent burnout? Why did Amanda go through multiple cycles of burnout and what can we all learn from that?
Questions and Topics:
What’s an introvert doing as a guest on a podcast?
Burnout – avoiding it, not repeating the mistake?
Recovering from burnout?
Again, I’m an introvert… I could use your help, I think!
A “chatty introvert”
Maintaining Energy for introverts
What types of sales & marketing activities feel right to introverts?
Not charging your worth? — free ebook
 

Overcoming Author and Speaker Mistakes: Insights from Bret Ridgway on Getting Comfortable on Stage

Episode page with links, transcript, and more
My guest for Episode #203 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Bret Ridgway. He is a 25 year veteran of the speaking industry and brings a unique perspective handling the back of the room sales table at 150+ conferences, providing fulfillment services for some of the biggest names in the industry and speaking on many stages himself. He's also the host of the Spotlight on Speaking podcast.
He's the author of eight books focused on speakers, authors, information marketers and event promoters, including:
— 50 Biggest Mistakes I See Information Marketers Make
— Mistakes Authors Make
— 50 Biggest Website Mistakes
His latest book is How to Build a Profitable Speaking Business.
In this episode, Bret shares his favorite mistake story about not having the confidence in himself to get out from behind the scenes — helping authors and speakers — to get up on stage to share what he knows in a way that helps others. How did he discover this pattern? How did he take action and what adjustments did he make? We also discuss some of the biggest mistakes that speakers and authors make. And why write books about mistakes? How does that help others?
Questions and Topics:
Working “the back of the room” to help other speaker / authors
Writing and speaking fear — having the fear of sharing ideas in both ways?
Taking baby steps to get started? Forced into it
Fear – content-related or presence related?
Not beating yourself up? Gotten better about that?
Why write books about mistakes?
Are some of the same mistakes being made now by information marketers?
Doing a book as digital only – mistake?
Mistake to not have an audiobook?
Mistake to not do a paperback / Kindle?
Book as a marketing tool – lead generator
Working with publishers vs. “self publishing”?
Some of the worst speaker mistakes?
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A Former Bank CEO’s Journey from Entrepreneurship to Incarceration and Back: Shaun Hayes

Author of "The Grey Choice" -- Episode page with links, transcript, and more
My guest for Episode #202 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Shaun Hayes. He was the cofounder and former CEO of Allegiant Bancorp, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Shaun started multiple successful businesses, was involved in the casino business, and bought, owned, and sold hundreds of residential and commercial properties. He is an entrepreneur, an author, a speaker… and a felon.
He was a principal at three banks that failed in 2011 and 2012. Five years after selling a company for an enormous profit, Shaun committed a felony. He was incarcerated for his crime eight years later. Now out of prison, he’s the author of The Grey Choice: Lessons on My Journey From Big-Time Banking to the Big House (and Back).
In this episode, Shaun tells two favorite mistake stories. The first was about “going crazy and wanting to fire somebody” when he then realized that the problems were the result of his mistakes as CEO of the bank. The second story is about the mistakes and bad choices that led to his conviction.
Shaun discusses the impact of his experience on his personal and professional life and how he has worked to rebuild his reputation and move forward. The episode offers valuable insights into the challenges of entrepreneurship and the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions.
Shaun provides valuable insights into the challenges of entrepreneurship, discussing how his ambition and drive to succeed led him down a path that ultimately resulted in his downfall. He emphasizes the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions and not making excuses, acknowledging that he made mistakes and accepting the consequences of his actions. Despite the difficulties he faced, Shaun remains optimistic and determined to use his experience to help others learn from his mistakes.
We also discuss the challenges of being a CEO, the importance of transparency and honesty in business, and the need for forgiveness and second chances.
Questions and Topics:
At an early age – making decisions that are not illegal but grey in the “interpretation of the rules”?
How he justified it…
Why go forward with it even knowing it was illegal?
Did this lead to bank failures?
Why did the legal process take 7.5 years to play out before being indicted?
The dynamics / decision around pleading guilty?
Do you remember something early on that got you 1% off course?
The need to specifically define your moral compass?
What’s it like starting a business once out of prison?
Being a speaker today to help others?
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Marché Pleshette on Navigating Change Initiatives and Making Career Choices After College

Co-author of the upcoming book “Change: How to Turn Uncertainty Into Opportunity.” - Available April 18th, 2023.
Show notes with links and more
My guest for Episode #201 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Marché Pleshette. She is a skilled leadership coach who has been a FranklinCovey consultant since 2008. She’s a co-author of the book Change: How to Turn Uncertainty Into Opportunity, available April 18th, 2023.
As a keynote speaker and facilitator, Marché’s work focuses on effective communication, leadership, professional change and transitions, employee engagement and retention, and the organizational value of human capital.
She has been the subject matter expert for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® and serves on Franklincovey’s coaching team that ensures the quality of their world-class consultants. Before coming to FranklinCovey, Marché worked for a major health system in Atlanta as a manager of employee retention. She holds a B.A. in mass communications with a journalism focus, and is a certified coach.
In this episode, Marché tells her favorite mistake story about what happened on the first day of what was supposed to be her first job out of college. Was she an early example of “ghosting” an employer? Why did she have conflicted loyalties about wanting this job — but feeling pressure not to take it? We talk about her lessons learned and why having a champion inspired her to be a champion for others.
Questions and Topics:
Do most major change initiatives fail? Is some of the data / numbers overblown?
Why/Where most change initiatives fail?
Minimizing the dip… Giving up in the dip?
“Move, minimize, wait, resist, and quit”
The technical part of change and the people part…
Not just logic and reasoning but emotions and feelings…
Why does change trigger our “fight or flight” instincts?
Please follow, rate, and review via Apple Podcasts or Podchaser or your favorite app — that helps others find this content and you'll be sure to get future episodes as they are released weekly. You can also become a financial supporter of the show through Anchor.fm.
You can now sign up to get new episodes via email, to make sure you don't miss an episode.
This podcast is part of the Lean Communicators network.
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/favorite-mistake/support

Celebrating 200 Episodes — Mark Graban on Podcasting Mistakes and His Upcoming Book

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My guest for Episode #200 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is… me, Mark Graban. It's hard to believe that the podcast has reached 200 episodes. If you forgive me for the other episode (#16) where I talked about my own mistakes, that's 198 guests who have shared compelling “favorite mistake” stories with me.
Enter to win a My Favorite Mistake coffee mug!
In this episode, I'm joined by my guest host, Tom Ehrenfeld. He's the editor who is working with me on my upcoming book, The Mistakes That Make Us. He's also the host of the WLEI podcast from the Lean Enterprise Institute. Tom asks me about my reflections and lessons learned from hosting this podcast, including some of the mistakes I've made as a host and producer. We also discuss themes from my upcoming book about creating a culture of learning from mistakes.
Links and Topics:
Healthcare Kaizen book
KaiNexus
Donnis Todd and Dan Garrison episode
David Mayer episode
Mark's podcast mistakes:Didn’t always properly prep guests – especially through a 3rd party PR
An experiment that didn’t pan out — recording via a web-based service
Naming mistake – My Favorite Mistake vs. Our Favorite Mistakes?
Almost lost some recordings (Ep. 16)
Please follow, rate, and review via Apple Podcasts or Podchaser or your favorite app — that helps others find this content and you'll be sure to get future episodes as they are released weekly. You can also become a financial supporter of the show through Anchor.fm.
You can now sign up to get new episodes via email, to make sure you don't miss an episode.
This podcast is part of the Lean Communicators network.
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/favorite-mistake/support

Finding Your Value & Embracing VIBRANT Leadership with Nicole Greer

CEO at Build a Vibrant Culture™
Episode page with links, transcript, and more
** Mark's Upcoming Book: The Mistakes That Make Us **
My guest for Episode #199 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Nicole Greer. She is a principal coach and CEO of Build a Vibrant Culture™, who specializes in helping individuals, corporations, faith-based organizations, and non-profits fulfill their mission and exemplify VIBRANT Leadership™.
For the last 20+ years Nicole has worked as a coach, marketing director, master of first impressions, and sales trainer in the many facets of business. Her experiences working with all kinds of people led her to found Vibrant Coaching. Nicole is a speaker, trainer, facilitator, life and business coach.
In this episode, Nicole tells her favorite mistake story about giving herself away and not realizing her value when she was in a property management job. Why did she agree to do what seemed like a second full-time job for free? How did Nicole realize this was a mistake? What did she learn and how did she adjust? What was “the big mistake” within the mistake story?
We also talk about change management, showing grace, and keeping employees vibrant through coaching them as leaders (which goes beyond reacting constructively to mistakes).
Questions and Topics:
“Master of first impressions”?
How do you decide the value that you bring? What you’re getting paid?
What does “vibrant” in terms of personality?
How do you define “VIBRANT Leadership”?
“Get LIT” Lead from within, Integrity, Transformation
Nicole's LinkedIn article… “The Love Habit”
What does “showing others grace” mean to you?
C3: Circumstances Conduct and Consequences
How have you coached leaders who struggle with how to react to mistakes?
Book: The One Minute Manager
Book: How Full is Your Bucket?
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