I’ve written about the AI translations before, but I wanted to mention again that my award-winning book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation, is now available in Spanish — thanks to a high-quality AI-powered…
Recently, I saw someone reference a chapter from Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s book Out of the Crisis on LinkedIn–Chapter 11, titled “Common Causes and Special Causes of Improvement. Stable System.” It was a good nudge for me to revisit a…
TL;DR: A new poll shows that psychological safety at work is often fragile–nearly half of respondents say it “depends on the boss.” Real improvement requires leaders who respond to mistakes with curiosity, consistency, and follow-through. When someone on your team…
We all say mistakes are a part of learning. Or at least many of us do, as individuals. But how many organizations actually act that way? Too often, people are punished for systemic errors. So, problems get hidden. When problems…
Today’s post is a longer and annotated version of my acceptance speech at last week’s Shingo Conference awards gala. It’s a great honor that The Mistakes That Make Us has received the 2025 Shingo Publication Award. I’d like to use…
TL;DR: New Coke failed not because of execution, but because leaders misread data and misunderstood customer loyalty. Forty years later, it remains a powerful lesson in leadership humility, learning from mistakes, and improving systems instead of reacting to noise. Just…
TL;DR: Aviation’s safety culture is built on humility: pilots expect mistakes, admit them quickly, and learn without blame. Leaders in any industry can create the same psychological safety by modeling humility, encouraging people to speak up, and treating mistakes as…
Thanks to Audible, I am giving away ten audiobook copies of my book The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. You can enter to win an audiobook copy here. The contest is open until next…
I’m very excited to announce that my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation, has been officially selected as a recipient of the Shingo Publication Award by the Shingo Institute (the home of…
I’ve used the LeanPub.com publishing platform for a long time. I initially published Practicing Lean and Measures of Success as iterative “in progress” books that people could buy while I was still adding chapters and making revisions. Those books are…
I’m excited to be presenting this webinar on February 12th at 1 pm ET as part of the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement webinar series: Mistake-Proofing in Action: Real-World Examples Across Industries The webinar description: “Are you looking for practical ways to…
TL;DR: Blame shuts down learning and drives mistakes underground. High-performing organizations move beyond “who’s at fault” and focus on understanding systems, building psychological safety, and learning from failure–turning mistakes into fuel for continuous improvement. Mistakes happen everywhere–on factory floors, in…
