My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership

Being the Last to Know, Professionally or Personally with Matt Granados

Consultant, coach, speaker, CEO
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake7
My guest for Episode #7 is Matt Granados, the cofounder of LifePulse, Inc., a consulting, coaching, and speaking organization. He is also the author of the recently-released book, Motivate The Unmotivated: The Proven System for Sustainable Motivation. He and his wife also have a podcast called REALationship.
Today, Matt shares some examples of similar mistakes from his professional life and his personal life — being the last to know about something major or not paying attention to the things that matter. We also talk about common mistakes that are made when leaders try to motivate others in the workplace.
Visit his website for a special offer for podcast listeners.
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Communicating a Difficult Fact to a Client with Brenda Batista

Consultant, entrepreneur, engineer, attorney, Black Belt
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake6
Joining me for Episode #6 is Brenda Batista, the president of her firm Inspiring Company Culture. She's an engineer and an attorney — she's a management consultant and an entrepreneur. And, today, she's sharing her “favorite mistake” from her time as a consultant.
Brenda shares a story about giving a factual piece of information to a client… and why the way she delivered the message was a mistake that created many learning opportunities on many levels. We'll also talk about how she helps leaders create inspiring company cultures and high performing teams.
Brenda is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Project Management Professional, and 5 Voices System certified trainer. Over the past 25 years, she has been at the helm of many high performing teams dedicated to performance improvement. Brenda has managed complex multi-million dollar client accounts, created computer simulations to predict business performance, and established a scalable consulting methodology for start-ups and established businesses.
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Don’t Compromise the Standard — Billy Ray Taylor on Leadership and Accountability

What happens when a leader compromises the standard—even with good intentions?
In Episode #5 of My Favorite Mistake, Billy Ray Taylor, a retired Goodyear executive and founder of LinkedXL, shares a formative mistake from early in his leadership career: allowing small deviations from standards in the name of being liked and fitting in.
Show notes with links and more
That choice nearly derailed his effectiveness as a leader—until a blunt wake-up call from a mentor changed everything.
Billy explains why what you accept becomes the culture, how inconsistent standards erode trust and safety, and why accountability must be clear, fair, and unwavering. He also shares how strong standards can coexist with psychological safety—and actually enable learning from mistakes rather than blame.
This episode is packed with practical lessons for leaders in operations, manufacturing, healthcare, and any environment where standards, safety, and performance matter.
Key topics include:
Why compromising standards is a hidden leadership mistake
“What you accept, you cannot change” — and why it matters
How leaders unintentionally teach the wrong behaviors
The relationship between standards, culture, and accountability
Creating psychological safety without lowering expectations
Why leaders must model standards consistently
If you’re responsible for people, processes, or performance, this conversation will challenge how you think about leadership—and what you’re willing to tolerate.

When Clients Reject the Work: A Consulting Mistake with Jim Benson

Consultant, author, "Personal Kanban" expert
Notes: http://www.markgraban.com/mistake4
My guest for Episode #4 is Jim Benson, the creator of the "Personal Kanban" method and an expert making work flow and decisions easy. He is the CEO of Modus Cooperandi and is a Founding Partner in Modus Institute. And, he's co-creator of the "Lean Coffee" meeting format.
Today, Jim shares a story about working his mistakes and assumptions that he made when working with a large telecom / communications clients that had thrown out the new cross-functional way of working that Jim had helped them put in place. It's a mistake that was humbling to Jim and a mistake that he cheerfully learned from.
Jim is co-author of the book Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life. You can find him on Twitter as @ourfounder.
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A Lost Suitcase, Kind Leadership, and Learning to Be Present | Karyn Ross

Author and consultant, entrepreneur, kindness enthusiast
Show notes: http://www.markgraban.com/mistake3
Joining me for Episode #3 is Karyn Ross, an author and consultant who also works in my field of the “Lean” management system. Today, Karyn will discuss her favorite travel-related mistake and what she learned. We'll also talk about how we can be kind in our coaching of others (and how we can be kind toward ourselves when we make mistakes).
Her books:
The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: Lean Transformation in Service Organizations
How to Coach for Creativity and Service Excellence: A Lean Coaching Workbook.
Think Kindly – Speak Kindly – Act Kindly: 366 Easy and Free Ideas You Can Use to Create a Kinder World…Starting Today!
Big Karma and Little Kosmo Help Each Other
Karyn signed a deal with a publisher for a new book, The Kind Leader -- available now
Please check out Karyn's non-profit, The Love and Kindness Project Foundation.
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Campaign Mistakes, CIA Training, and Leadership Lessons with Will Hurd

Republican Representative from Texas
Show notes: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake2
My guest for Episode #2 is not currently a business leader, but he is going back into the private sector in January 2021. He is Congressman Will Hurd, a Republican representing Texas’s 23rd Congressional District.
Hurd was student body president at Texas A&M University, he served as a CIA undercover operations officer including stints in the field in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. After working for a cybersecurity company, he was elected to the House in 2014.
Today, the Congressman talks about his “favorite mistake,” which includes his lessons learned from running and losing his first election in a runoff. We'll also hear about his experiences in the CIA and how they focus on training — and executing the mundane tasks perfectly — as a way to prevent bigger, catastrophic mistakes.
Update March 2022: Hurd is now the author of the book American Reboot: An Idealist's Guide to Getting Big Things Done.
Thanks for listening -- please subscribe, rate, and review. You can support the podcast: https://anchor.fm/favorite-mistake/support
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/favorite-mistake/support

One Shark and Two Mentors: Kevin Harrington and Mark Timm on Mistakes and Mentorship

Kevin Harrington from "Shark Tank," Mark Timm from many entrepreneurial ventures, co-authors
Episode web page: http://www.markgraban.com/mistake1
I'm really excited that my guests for the inaugural episode of the “My Favorite Mistake” podcast are Kevin Harrington and Mark Timm, co-authors of the new book Mentor to Millions: Secrets of Success in Business, Relationships, and Beyond.
You probably know Kevin as one of the original “sharks” on the hit TV program “Shark Tank.” He's the creator of the infomercial, pioneer of the “As Seen on TV industry,” and co-founding board member of the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO), founded in 1987.
Mark Timm has been a serial entrepreneur and exponential-thinking practitioner for almost three decades. He has started more than a dozen companies, several of which have multiplied and been sold. He has spoken professionally for more than 25 years, giving thousands of speeches to over a million people around the globe.
In today's episode, they both open up about their “favorite mistake” and what they learned from that. They'll also share stories about Kevin mentoring Mark and others and some common mistakes that can be made in a mentoring relationship.
If you're interested in the book, be sure to check out their website. I am also running a giveaway contest, via my blog, where you can enter to win one of two copies of the book.
At the end of the episode, Mark and Kevin share a special offer related to some extra materials that you can get, for free, when you buy the book.
Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast -- that helps others find this content and you'll be sure to get future episodes as they are released weekly. Support the podcast: https://anchor.fm/favorite-mistake/support.
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Trailer: ”My Favorite Mistake” (2023)

http://myfavoritemistakepodcast.com/
I hope you'll enjoy listening to My Favorite Mistake, published weekly. Please subscribe, rate, and review!
And please check out my new book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation.
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