The Mistakes That Make Us

Book excerpt: “At last! A book about errors, flubs, and screwups that pushes beyond platitudes and actually shows how to enlist our mistakes as engines of learning, growth, and progress. Dive into The Mistakes That Make Us and discover the secrets to nurturing a psychologically safe environment that encourages the small experiments that lead to big breakthroughs.” DANIEL H. PINK, #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF DRIVE, WHEN, AND THE POWER OF REGRET We all make mistakes. What matters is learning from them, as individuals, teams, and organizations. The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation is an engaging, inspiring, and practical book by Mark Graban that presents an alternative approach to mistakes. Rather than punishing individuals for human error and bad decisions, Graban encourages us to embrace and learn from them, fostering a culture of learning and innovation. Sharing stories and insights from his popular podcast, “My Favorite Mistake,” along with his own work and career experiences, Graban show how leaders can cultivate a culture of learning from mistakes. Including examples from manufacturing, healthcare, software, and two whiskey distillers, the book explores how organizations of all sizes and industries can benefit from this approach. In the book, you'll find practical guidance on adopting a positive mindset towards mistakes. It teaches you to acknowledge and appreciate them, take necessary measures to avoid them while gaining knowledge from the ones that occur. Additionally, it emphasizes creating a safe environment to express mistakes and encourages responding constructively by emphasizing learning over punishment. Developing a culture of learning from mistakes through psychological safety is essential in effective leadership and organizational success. Leaders must lead by example and demonstrate kindness to themselves and others by accepting their own blunders instead of solely pushing for more courage from their team. This approach, as Graban highlights, fosters a positive and productive work environment. The Mistakes That Make Us is a must-read for anyone looking to create a stronger organization that produces better results, including lower turnover, more improvement and innovation, and better bottom-line performance. Whether you are a startup founder or an aspiring leader in a larger company, this book will inspire you to lead with kindness and humility, and show you how mistakes can make things right. Table of Contents: Chapter One: Think Positively Chapter Two: Admit Mistakes Chapter Three: Be Kind Chapter Four: Prevent Mistakes Chapter Five: Help Everyone to Speak Up Chapter Six: Choose Improvement, Not Punishment Chapter Seven: Iterate Your Way to Success Chapter Eight: Cultivate Forever Afterword End Notes List of Podcast Guests Mentioned in the Book More Praise for the Book ”Making mistakes is not a choice. Learning from them is. Whether we admit it or not, mistakes are the raw material of potential learning and the means by which we progress and move forward. Mark Graban's The Mistakes That Make Us is a brilliant treatment of this topic that helps us frame mistakes properly, detach them from fear, and see them as expectations, not exceptions. This book's ultimate contribution is helping us realize that creating a culture of productive mistake-making accelerates learning, confidence, and success.” TIMOTHY R. CLARK, PHD, AUTHOR OF THE 4 STAGES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY, CEO OF LEADERFACTOR