My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership

Leadership Mistakes at Work — AmyJo Mattheis on Being Right and Staying Too Long

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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Leadership Mistakes at Work — Ahmed Aref on Results vs. Relationships

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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When “Safe Spaces” Aren’t Safe: Nika Kabiri on Psychological Safety and Speaking Up

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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On-Air Mistakes and Media Lessons From the Dan Le Batard Show

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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What Working on Jerry Springer Teaches You About Human Behavior

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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Moving For a Cheating Boyfriend After Graduating: Christy Whitman

Author of "The Desire Factor"
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake63
My guest for Episode #63 is Christy Whitman, a Transformational Leader, Celebrity Coach and Law of Attraction expert, as well as the two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Having It All and Taming Your Alpha Bitch. She is also the author of the international bestseller Quantum Success. Her new book The Desire Factor: How to Embrace Your Materialistic Nature to Reclaim Your Full Spiritual Power is available now.
Christy has appeared on The Today Show, The Morning Show, and The Hallmark Channel and she has been a TedX speaker.
Today, Christy and Mark talk about topics including:
How did a new friendship point your career in a new direction?
“A life of no excuses” — acknowledging mistakes means no excuses? Learning without beating yourself up?
What is an “hyper-aggressive alpha bitch” and why is that, being that, a mistake for women?
Why “watch your words“?
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Why 5S Fails Without Culture: A Toyota Leader on Learning From Mistakes

TPS Manager, The Raymond Corporation
Show notes and links: http://markgraban.com/mistake62
My guest for Episode #62 is Keith Ingels, the “TPS Manager” (Toyota Production System Manager) at The Raymond Corporation, a Toyota Industries Company. Learn more about the “Raymond Lean Management System., which is based on TPS. We had a longer conversation about this on my Lean podcast series, if you want to check that out.
In today's episode, Keith and host Mark Graban talk about one of his “favorite mistakes,” misunderstanding what the common Lean /TPS method called 5S really was really about. How did he make the “mistake of bad assumption” in the course of that work? Why was that mistake repeated, and how could it have been avoided? Why was it a mistake to blame people for being messy?
One key lesson was about how can we help others “discover the need” for an improvement or a method instead of “forcing” them to do it?
Keith also discusses how they work to create a culture where it's OK to talk about mistakes, so we can learn about them — that's the key theme of this entire podcast series!
The Raymond Corporation also offers a free “quick tips” series on improvement, if you want to check that out.
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New Job in Toyko, Mistakes on the First Day at Honda: Laura Kriska

Author of The Business of We: The Proven Three-Step Process for Closing the Gap Between Us and Them in Your Workplace
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake61
My guest for Episode #61 is Laura Kriska. When she was just 22, Laura became the first American woman to work in the Tokyo headquarters of Honda Motor Company.
Her experience working with thousands of middle-aged Japanese men inspired her to write her first book The Accidental Office Lady: An American Woman in Corporate Japan.
Inspired to create a ‘WE building’ revolution, Laura wrote her latest book The Business of We: The Proven Three-Step Process for Closing the Gap Between Us and Them in Your Workplace – a new approach to diversity, cultural difference, and inclusion that will increase employee retention and productivity and prevent misunderstandings that lead to lost revenue, lost time and increased legal risk.
In today's episode, Laura and host Mark Graban talk about her experiences working Japan and what she has learned about working across cultural and organizational divides.
Laura also discusses topics including:
How her mistake could have been avoided with one sentence
Failing to see how “cultural data” matters – the ways people are different
Why did she offend the “most important office lady”?
A “quality circle” project about getting rid of the women's uniforms
What do you mean by a “we” culture?
What's the connection between “we” and the Japanese word “wa” (harmony)
Is a “we culture”? more prevalent in Japan and other Eastern cultures?
What does she mean by being on “the home team” in a country or a culture?
Paul O'Neill as a “we builder”
Her article: "Covid-19 is not killing us, polarization is"
Laura on her first day of work: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/laura-kriska-she-her-0a93902a_mistakes-firstjob-webuilding-activity-6788436074688516096-rIvq
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