My Favorite Mistake: Business Lessons from Failures and Success

NSYNC and the WNBA; Trusting The Process With Sixers & Devils CEO Scott O’Neil

CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake72
Warning: The episode does contain a brief mention of a death by suicide. If you are struggling, help is available Speak with someone today by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
My guest for Episode #72 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Scott O'Neil. He's the CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, a global sports and entertainment company that includes some of the most iconic and innovative teams and brands in the world, including the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA) and the New Jersey Devils (NHL).
With more than 20 years of experience in the NBA, NHL and NFL, Scott has worked in the NBA league office, was formerly the President of Madison Square Garden Sports and he's now the author of Be Where Your Feet Are: Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded and Thriving – which is available TODAY!
Scott was also featured recently in this fantastic Wall St. Journal article: “For Sports Executive Scott O’Neil, Failure Is the Best Teacher.”
Questions and topics include:
Scott's “favorite mistake” when working for the NBA league office
Why trying to reach teenage girls through NSYNC, as an attempt to grow the WBNA audience, was a mistake and why it “failed miserably”
The mistake of not being more hands on
Why relationships matter and how Scott came to appreciate this
Have to be able to fail… the Sixers were in first place when we recorded this and they lose one third of the time
The Sixers are famous for “the process” — were there ever times when you thought the process was a mistake?
“Trust the process” — no short cuts to the top, short term pain for long-term gain
How do you know when to stick with “the process” vs. adjusting to a new plan or approach
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Matchmaking CEO April Davis on Rushing Through College & Dating Mistakes

Founder and CEO of LUMA Luxury Matchmaking
Show Notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake71
My guest for Episode #71 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is April Davis, founder and CEO of LUMA Luxury Matchmaking, an INC. 5000 high-end nationwide Matchmaking service featured in Bravo’s Real Housewives of Orange County, Forbes, and CBS.
In today's episode, April shares her “favorite mistake” about pushing to get through college too quickly (she got her master's at age 20). You'll hear about how she left corporate America and started a matchmaking service (and why it was a mistake to not start it sooner). April also shares stories and advice about how to avoid mistakes when dating or when trying to find your perfect match for marriage and life.
Questions and topics include:
How did you come to start a matchmaking service?
How much of this is technology versus a person making matches?
Dating mistakes? Especially those by executives, entrepreneurs, and high net worth people?
How do you measure your matchmaking success rate?
How does your background in process improvement help you in this business?
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The Surgical Mistake and the Bad Decision That Followed: Dr. David Mayer

CEO of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake70
My guest for Episode #70 is Dr. David B. Mayer. He is both the Chief Executive Officer of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation and Executive Director of MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety.
In today's episode, Dave shares a compelling story from his time as an anesthesia resident. What happened after the surgeon cut into the wrong side of the patient? Was the coverup worse than the crime? What did Dave learn from this incident and the pressure to keep quiet? How has this inspired him to be a patient safety leader?
Questions and topics include:
Lectures now about how to respond to harm… how do the students react?
The book Wall of Silence about the harm caused by medical errors
Patients want the truth – parallels to the Garrison Brothers episode
CANDOR program
How do mistakes like this happen?
Culture? Feeling safe to speak up? Can’t just demand candor?
Just Culture
His ZERO hat — How many patients are harmed or killed by preventable medical error each year?
“Moon Shot?” Video
What would you do if you were made Patient Safety Czar?
1) Committee to talk about the moon shot
2) National patient safety authority like NHTSA or aviation
3) Incentives better aligned around patient safety & quality
4) Transparency
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Needing to Be Right, Staying Too Long, and Expecting the Organization to Love You Back: AmyJo Mattheis

Founder & CEO of Pavo Navigation Consulting
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake69
My guest for Episode #69 is AmyJo Mattheis, the founder and CEO of her firm Pavo Navigation Consulting.
She has worked in international development, government, higher education, and religion — a professor and a pastor. Works a lot with high-tech startups… she has managed teams, built roadmaps, facilitated groups, navigated boards, set vision, and led thousands of people to bring them into form.
Questions and topics include:
What were AmyJo's three favorite mistakes?
Needing to know the answer (or thinking I had to be right)
Staying too long in a job
Expecting the organization to “love you back” (even if that's a church)
How do you learn it’s a problem?
Somatic indicators – signals?
Is it fixable? Is it mine to fix? Advice: set a timeline to see if it can be better
Knowledge vs. assumption
Being right vs. testing hypotheses
Coaches people all the time who beat themselves up over mistakes — accepted part of the culture
Believing it was my responsibility to make everything right or successful
Founders in Silicon Valley and Venture Capital firms… fail fast, fail early? Easier said than done
“I am exactly where I am meant to be, doing what I am supposed to do, at the exact time and place it is needed. All of where I have been now culminates into a potent product that brings results of increase for all and a new pathway to profit for you, your company, organization, or institution.”
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Focusing on the Work More Than the Relationships: CEO Ahmed Aref

CEO of CorpoCure, host of the "Values & Leadership" Podcast
Notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake68
My guest for Episode #68 is Ahmed Aref, a global leadership coach, speaker, and strategic partner. He is an Egyptian currently living in Saudi Arabia, so he is my first connected with either country. He is CEO of CorpoCure, which produces the "Values & Leadership Podcast" and I was his guest there for Episode 11.
He is also an Associate Coach with Global Coach Group and Ahmed is an Executive and Team Coach with Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching. You can learn more through his LinkedIn page and his YouTube channel.
Questions and topics include:
What was Ahmed's favorite mistake?
Why was he excluded from a key meeting?
What happened with Ahmed focused more on the work instead of also focusing on relationships?
Why is it important to spend time on those relationships?
How can we give honest feedback with Emotional Intelligence?
What mistake did Mark make but then NOT edit out from the recording?
Not editing it out was an intentional choice, not an oversight…
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Believing Her Boss Who Said a ”Safe Space” Was Indeed Safe: Nika Kabiri

Co-author of the book Money off the Table: Decision Science and the Secret to Smarter Investing.
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake67 (go there to enter to win a free signed copy of her book)
My guest for Episode #67 is Nika Kabiri, who describes herself as a “forward thinking, science-loving entrepreneur, author, public speaker, teacher, and researcher.” She's a decision scientist, who has her firm Kabiri Consulting, is on the faculty at the University of Washington Department of Communication, and is co-author of the book Money off the Table: Decision Science and the Secret to Smarter Investing.
Nika has a PhD in sociology and, while she earned the JD degree, she's not an “attorney” (that was my mistake in the episode — oops!!). She has over twenty years of experience studying how people make decisions in a variety of contexts, from business to politics to relationships, and she's an active writer with a lot of great insights to share. You can also find her at YourNextDecision.com.
Questions and topics include:
What do mistakes even mean?
Was law school a mistake?
What’s your favorite mistake?
Was it a mistake in thinking that the “Safe space” at work was really safe? But she was TOLD it was!
How does a decision scientist decide whether she should speak up or not?
Minimizing regret vs. maximizing possibility of good outcomes
Helpful to delay a decision when you can?
Forecasting the probability of outcome.. can’t predict the future… but we're craving certainty
Broader themes on misinformation… what do you trust? Stories? Data?
As people decide should they wear masks? Should they get vaccinated?
You’ve written about solutions to conspiracy theories… what can individuals do, what must society do?
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The Girl Never Made Mistakes, By the Author Who Did: Mark Pett

Author of "The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes"
Show notes and enter to win a signed copy of his book: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake66
My guest for Episode #66 is Mark Pett, an “authorstrator”– he's the author (and illustrator) of children's books including the incredibly delightful and meaningful book “The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes.” Before writing his books, he created the syndicated comic strips “Mr. Lowe” and “Lucky Cow.”
In the episode, Mark shares his “favorite mistake” story about his early days as a political cartoonist, trying to find work and mistakenly submitting a cartoon that was too close to another artist's cartoon that was already published. A Pulitzer Prize cartoonist warned him about “borrowing” ideas from his influences — it was an honest inadvertent mistake, but he was “mortified” and he learned from it. Here is a blog post of mine that I mentioned, about “imitate, integrate, and innovate.”
We also talk about his book, which was powerful reading for me as an adult. I've dubbed it “the official book of the podcast” and I've been giving away copies to guests and friends of the show. We talk about perfectionism, growth mindset, and more.
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”Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” Personalities and Their Favorite Mistakes

Greg Cote, Amin Elhassan, Chris Cote, Roy Bellamy, Billy "Guillermo" Gil
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/LAF
This is a very, very special episode of My Favorite Mistake. Today, I get to share five stories from some of the personalities who are part of the highly popular Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.
They are:
Greg Cote (columnist for the Miami Herald and weekly guest)
Amin Elhassan (former NBA executive and frequent guest)
Chris Cote (Producer)
Roy Bellamy (Producer)
Billy “Guillermo” Gil (Producer)
Each of them share a story (or stories) about their “favorite mistake(s)” from their careers. I was able to get video via the app Cameo, so I paid a nominal fee for each of them and also offered to make donations to a non-profit.
This charity was started by a weekly guest of the show, Ron Magill, a zoologist from Zoo Miami — the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment. If you enjoy this episode and if you “get the show,” please consider donating to Ron's organization and its worthy cause.
I first started listening to the show when they were on ESPN Radio, although I normally listened to them via their wildly popular podcast (it's often the #1 sports podcast in the U.S.). Dan recently left ESPN, walking away in the middle of a contract due to a number of conflicts, including being upset that Chris was laid off by “the mothership.”
Le Batard and friends have been operating as an independent podcast, but recently announced a major sponsorship deal that is reportedly (if you can trust Greg Cote's reporting) bringing in $50 million over three years, as they build a new media company called Meadowlark Media. Congratulations to Dan and “the shipping container” and everybody associated with the show and their related podcasts and projects.
If you're not a listener or you “don't get the show,” some of the stories contain show references that you might not understand. That's OK. Unlike Dan, I won't interrupt the episode to explain the jokes. I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.
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Mistakes On The Jerry Springer Show, Reality TV, And Podcasts: Reena Friedman Watts

Host of the "Better Call Daddy Show," former producer on "The Jerry Springer Show"
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake65
My guest for Episode #65 is Reena Friedman Watts, the host of the podcast “Better Call Daddy.” She's also producing a new podcast called the “SNF Spotlight” (focused on Skilled Nursing Facilities).
She started as an intern, a guest booker, and a producer for The Jerry Springer Show and never looked back. She’s hooked on telling the stories of outsiders. There's a long list of shows she has worked on… including Nanny 911, Judge Alex, and Divorce Court, She helps entrepreneurs get seen! Reena is also a Media Marketing Specialist through her company MegaWatts Productions.
In the episode, Reena shares a few amazing stories about working with guests on “Springer.” Why is her favorite mistake “trying to make people what they're not”? Where did they find these guests? Did she ever feel unsafe with the fighting and the crazy situations? Did guests ever lie or make up stories? Spoiler alert: they did.
We also talk about podcasting mistakes and whether she ever thought it was a mistake to start a podcast with her dad.
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Forcing Change on Others in the Workplace: Lee Houghton

Business improvement consultant and podcaster
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake64
My guest for Episode #64 is Lee Houghton, coming to us from England. He's a business improvement coach — his company is called Get Knowledge and he's also the host of a podcast called “Business Problems Solved.”
Here is his episode with Adam Lawrence, who was also my guest here in Episode 41 of My Favorite Mistake. Coincidentally, today Lee is publishing his episode where I am his guest. It's funny how that worked out.
In the episode, Lee shares a few stories about how he was forcing change on others in the workplace (including the use of Lean manufacturing tools and methods). Why was he telling others what to do and what caused him to reflect on that? Is it a mistake to think that knowledge (training, education) is enough to influence people and affect change? What's the difference between “being told” and “discovering knowledge” in a way that includes learning from mistakes?
Lee also has a program that's worth checking out — “Creating Confident Change Leaders.”
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