TL;DR: A sound check, live song requests, and a naming regret — what watching Brandi Carlile perform taught me about specific problem-solving, vulnerability, and continuous improvement.
My wife and I got to see the amazing Brandi Carlile perform near Chicago on Friday night.
She is a multi-Grammy award-winning singer, musician, and songwriter — though calling her a solo artist would be a mistake.
A Naming Decision She Calls a Mistake
Her name, “Brandi Carlile,” is actually also the band's name, something Carlile herself thinks was a mistake. She considers the project a full collaboration with Phil and Tim Hanseroth — “the twins” — and as she told The Seattle Times,
“One of my biggest regrets is going with my name as the name of the band.”
If you know me, you know I like people who can admit mistakes.
It is a good reminder that even naming decisions made early on can have lasting, unintended consequences — and that being honest about those mistakes, rather than pretending they were intentional, is a form of integrity.
We also had a chance to attend the sound check beforehand — and what I saw there turned out to be just as interesting as the show itself.
This was roughly the fifth date on the tour, so the band wasn't brand new to the setlist. They had already played these songs in front of audiences. But they were still practicing. And more specifically, they were practicing with a clear, specific goal.
Not Just Warming Up — Improving
What stood out to me was how targeted the sound check practice could be. Practicing with a purpose.
Brandi pointed to one particular song (“Church and State”) from her latest album, “Returning to Me,” and said it had been too slow at the last few shows. She talked about struggling to play some of the eighth notes quickly enough. The song was starting at a good tempo, she said, but then losing some “urgency” as it went on.
No blame. No finger-pointing. Just a calm, honest assessment: here is what is not working, here is what we are going to work on.
That kind of specificity matters. They were not just running through the setlist to warm up. She had identified a gap between what they wanted (a certain tempo and feel) and what was actually happening in recent performances. They set a focused goal and rehearsed with that goal in mind.
In Lean terms, you might call that a target condition. They knew what good looked like (sounded like!) and could feel the difference between that and their current state. The practice session was their countermeasure. She wasn't just telling herself and the band to “play better” in a vague way.
And from what I could tell during the show, it seemed to help.
The song, as performed at Red Rocks:
Vulnerability as a Feature, Not a Bug
I also noticed Brandi had what you might call a musical teleprompter on stage — a monitor displaying lyrics. This is actually very common. Major artists and bands use stage prompters, especially when managing large catalogs of songs across long tours.
It is not a crutch. It is a backup plan — a safety net for the inevitable moment when your brain goes blank under stage lights. In Lean terms, you might call it mistake-proofing, or at least setting yourself up for quick error recovery.
You acknowledge that mistakes will happen and build in a way to catch them gracefully instead of telling yourself to be perfect — and then regretting not having the backup plan, perhaps out of ego.
The other thing that struck me was what happened during the concert itself. Brandi took two live requests from the audience — genuinely unplanned (she did that during the sound check also). People were calling out relatively old or obscure songs from earlier in her career, some from 15 years ago or more.
She did not pretend to have every song memorized and ready to go. Instead, she and “the twins” worked through it together in real time. Was it in the right key? How did the intro go again? There was some trial and error right there on stage.
It was more authentic than trying to be 100 percent polished from start to finish. And the crowd loved it. When the person at the front of the room is willing to say, “I don't remember — help me out,” it gives everyone else permission to do the same.
That willingness to struggle a little in public, to not have all the answers, created a connection with the audience that a perfectly rehearsed set might not have.
When Something's Wrong — Ask for Help
During the song “The Story,” Brandi switched from an acoustic guitar to an electric right before the song begins to really rock out. Something was apparently wrong — I am not sure what. I happened to catch some video. I think her hopping up and down might have been the signal for help.
What struck me was what happened next. She signaled for help, and a crew member came out on stage. From what I could see, he checked her mic pack and may have adjusted the volume on the guitar. ChatGPT thinks, from the photo, that the crew member is adjusting a “tone control” knob (not volume) and that it's normal for the crew member to do that so the musician can keep playing.
In a Toyota factory or other Lean settings, you might call that “pulling the andon cord” — speaking up to flag a problem and having somebody come help within seconds. The idea is that it is better to ask for help early than to let a small issue become a bigger one. Some hospitals have embraced a version of that process, such as the “Patient Safety Alerts” system at Virginia Mason Medical Center.
Brandi did not look angry or upset with anyone. No blame, just a problem to deal with. I would be curious what the conversation looked like afterward — in the spirit of continuous improvement, that is exactly the kind of thing worth examining together after the fact.
It's OK to Change Your Mind
One of the encores from her Saturday show in Minneapolis (that we watched online as part of a fundraiser), featured a song titled “It's Okay to Change Your Mind.” It has special significance with what's going on in Minnesota and I'll just leave it at that.
But the same theme came up in the latest episode of the “My Favorite Mistake” podcast. My guest, Dr. Tyler B. Evans, said,
“Changing your mind when the evidence changes isn't weakness — it's responsibility.”
That can apply in medicine or any other workplace. When presented with new data or information — do we remain stubborn or do we change our minds? As discussed on LinkedIn, I think good leaders are willing and able to demonstrate vulnerability by saying, “I was wrong.” Or “I had made a decision based on a certain assumption; and now I know that's not true. So we're changing course.”
That's powerful, humble leadership.
What Leaders Can Take From This
There is a pattern here that connects to how improvement works in any setting.
First, the sound check: Brandi and the band were specific about the problem. Not “we need to be better” but “this song is losing tempo in a particular way, and here is why.” That is the difference between vague exhortation and real problem-solving. Leaders who tell their teams to “do better” without identifying the specific gap are not coaching — they are just hoping.
Second, the vulnerability during the show: being willing to not know something in front of other people, and working through it openly, creates trust. It signals that perfection is not the standard — learning and effort are.
That is what psychological safety looks like in practice. It is not the absence of struggle. It is the willingness to struggle visibly and without shame. And when a leader models that, it makes it safer for everyone else to do the same.
Brandi Carlile is a world-class band. They have won multiple Grammys. And they are still practicing with specific goals, still admitting what is not working, and still willing to be imperfect in front of thousands of people.
Most leaders do not perform under stage lights. But they do perform in front of their teams every day. The question is the same:
Are you willing to name the specific problem, work on it together, and let people see that you are still figuring it out?
What would change in your organization if that kind of honesty were the norm instead of the exception?
If you’re working to build a culture where people feel safe to speak up, solve problems, and improve every day, I’d be glad to help. Let’s talk about how to strengthen Psychological Safety and Continuous Improvement in your organization.
