Eric Ries's favorite mistake wasn't a failed product, it was not knowing what “strategy” meant until a panel of Boston consultants told him so. We trace that lesson from The Lean Startup to his new book, Incorruptible, and the structural reasons good...
Joe Hennes built a career around what he loves most — first as editor-in-chief of the Muppet fan site Tough Pigs, then as an employee at Sesame Workshop itself. In this episode he opens up about what it actually costs to get that close to your fandom...
Deborah Coviello, known as The Drop-In CEO, shares the leadership presentation that fell flat with her boss but resonated with her peers – and the deeper lesson about change management when introducing new ideas. We also dig into her three Cs framewo...
Jesse Jackson, contact center leader and host of Set Lusting Bruce, on the mistake of going gun-shy as a new leader when veterans push back with “we tried that, it didn't work.” He explains why deferring to that resistance costs you your best ideas –...
Dr. Melisa Buie spent years trying to avoid failure — until she realized the bigger mistake was disappearing after a win and treating rest as the finish line instead of part of the cycle. The author of Faceplant: FREE Yourself from Failure's Funk sha...
Joel Steele built a healthy fast food chain in his early 20s and watched it collapse into roughly $800,000 of debt – the result, he now says, of confusing growth with success. In this conversation, he unpacks the warning signs he refused to see, the...
Irna Hutabarat Athans is an innovation strategist, MIT Sloan grad, author, poet, and former Tango World Championship competitor. Her favorite mistake was walking away from technology entirely because she felt it was soulless and couldn't accommodate...
Andy Freed has spent 30 years helping leaders communicate with clarity — but one cross-cultural marketing blunder taught him that clever means nothing if you haven't considered your audience. The CEO of Virtual Inc. and author of “Lead Like the Boss”...
Dr. Julia Garcia built a performing arts collective before she understood the business model — and later walked away from a tech startup she believed in because her sense of self-worth had quietly collapsed. She shares why hope is a cognitive science...
My guest for Episode #344 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Mike Chaput, President and CEO of Endsight. Mike's favorite mistake was making “have a sense of humor” a core company value — a choice that inadvertently permitted blame-based behaviors,...