Tag: Mistakes

Mistakes, Learning, and Leadership in Lean

Mistakes are inevitable—but how leaders and organizations respond to them determines whether they improve or repeat the same failures. These posts explore mistakes through a Lean lens: system design vs. “human error,” psychological safety, learning cultures, and leadership behaviors that turn errors into improvement rather than blame.

Drawing from healthcare, manufacturing, aviation, sports, and everyday work, this archive focuses less on who failed—and more on what the system made possible.

Mistakes are inevitable; learning is not. These posts align with ideas I expanded on in The Mistakes That Make Us, which examines how leaders, cultures, and systems determine whether errors become liabilities—or catalysts for improvement.

A Lack of Standardized Calendars Contributes to my Scheduling Mistake

7
TL;DR: A non-standard calendar layout caused me to book the wrong tour date. When the same mistake happens repeatedly to different people, it's not...

What Chefs and Restauranteurs Say About Learning From Failures & Mistakes

0
Speaking of mistakes, the cover image I selected for today's post reminds of traveling this past Monday. At DFW airport, a company was giving...

Who is Taking “Responsibilty” for the Mistake with the Australian 50...

5
Be honest, would you have seen the intentional typo in the post title if I hadn't put it on quotation marks? It's still not...

Throwback Thursday: This is Not a Drill — It Happened Again

2
I really don't enjoy the type of "Throwback Thursday" posts that are triggered by something in the news that reminds me of something that I've blogged about in the past. Sometimes, it seems people are doomed to keep repeating the same preventable errors instead of learning from others, improving systems, and mistake proofing things in life. In this post, we look back at repeated errors in pathology, building demolition, and emergency alert systems...

Food for Thought on Mistakes and Perfection

0
I saw this quote the other day and tweeted it. It seemed like food for thought and something to reflect on for a new year. A Google search doesn't lead to a clear creator of this quote... it's a common thought that has been around a long time, I guess.

Podcast #266 – Karyn Ross on Lean for Service Excellence

4
My guest for Episode #266 of the podcast is Karyn Ross (@KRCLean4Service on Twitter), co-author of the new book (with Jeff Liker): The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: Lean Transformation in Service Organizations.

Lean Thinking: Why We Don’t Blame Individuals for Systemic Errors

8
TL;DR: Lean thinking teaches us not to blame individuals for mistakes that are caused by broken systems. In healthcare, this mindset aligns closely with...

Medical Mistake in In-Vitro Fertilization: What’s More Effective, Blaming Process or...

0
IVF baby given to wrong woman - as couple's last embryo was aborted | Mail Online This was front-page news in one of the UK...

Do You Share Your Failures Like VC Firm Bessemer Ventures?

0
Bessemer Venture Partners - The Anti Portfolio This post was originally written in 2006, but was updated in 2023 with an updated link and some...
An AI that won't just give you the answer. That's what makes it useful.Free Demo -- Learn More
+ +
Free 48-hour demo - no credit card needed (3)