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.

My Shingo Webinar Recording on Learning from Mistakes and More

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TL;DR: Learning from mistakes requires more than problem-solving tools -- it requires psychological safety.In this Shingo Institute webinar, Mark Graban explains why fear and...

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: June 13, 2024

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Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly...

Mistake vs Error: Is There Really a Difference? (And Why Leaders...

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What's the difference between a mistake and an error? When people search "mistake vs error," they're usually asking whether the two words mean different things...

Apple and I Made a Similar Mistake: 24 or 2024?

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The other day, I was presenting at a company about "Psychological Safety as a Pre-Condition for Continuous Improvement." It was a hybrid event and...

Shigeo Shingo on Learning from Mistakes: Why “Foolproofing” Became Mistake-Proofing

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tl;dr: Shigeo Shingo and Norman Bodek understood that humans are fallible, and blaming people does not prevent defects. Mistake-proofing works when it respects people,...

How Toyota Leaders React to Mistakes: Jeff Liker on Blame, Andon...

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Jeff Liker explains how Toyota leaders at every level are expected to respond when something goes wrong -- and why most other companies default...

Reflecting on Career Choices: The Wisdom of Hindsight in Quitting Jobs...

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The following material was cut from my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. It just didn't...

Chef Gordon Ramsay on Never Making the Same Mistake Twice

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I loved a recent New York Times article about Chef Gordon Ramsay, including this part: "Ramsay said that when he makes a mistake, he owns...

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: January 26, 2024

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Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this... there's always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Subscribe to get...

How to Build a Culture of Learning: Reducing Fear and Futility...

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TL;DR: A true culture of learning doesn't fear mistakes--it learns from them. Drawing inspiration from Toyota's mindset, this post explores how psychological safety and...

Mistakes Aren’t Only Made by ‘Rookies’

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This Snickers commercial always makes me chuckle, and I saw it again last night during an NFL playoff game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztKufG63o00&ab_channel=SNICKERS The punchline is that this stadium...

Beyond Mistakes: Uncovering Toyota’s Approach to Success Through Learning

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This post is built around excerpts from the book The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. Read more about Toyota,...
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