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Hosted by Mark Graban · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 403 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
My Favorite Mistake is a podcast about learning without blame in business and leadership.Hosted by Mark Graban, the show features honest conversations with leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, and changemakers about a meaningful mistake they made—and what they learned after things went wrong. It’s not just my favorite mistake; it’s yours, it’s ours, and it’s what we can all learn from when things don’t go as planned.This isn’t a podcast about failure theater, gotcha moments, or simplistic “lessons learned.” It explores how real people reflect, improve, and lead better in complex organizations—without scapegoating, shame, or hindsight bias.Drawing on systems thinking, Lean management, continuous improvement, and psychological safety, each episode focuses less on who messed up and more on what the system taught us.My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership
Mark Graban hosts My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership, a business show with 403 episodes published.
Andrea Carpenter and Elizabeth Ledoux, co-founders of The Transition Strategists, were mid-negotiation on a business succession deal -- Andrea buying into Elizabeth's business -- when Andrea found out she was pregnant. T
Publishing strategist Wiebke Tasch had built a bestselling book and a comfortable full-time income on Amazon -- enough to quit her PR job. Then one morning an automated email told her she had violated Amazon's terms, and
To save a few thousand dollars in legal fees, six-time Silicon Valley CEO Mike Grossman decided to act as his own lawyer on a routine distribution contract. Years later, when Dun & Bradstreet moved to acquire his company
Kate Lowry was fresh out of college and working at McKinsey when she saw a colleague do something she believed was seriously wrong -- something that could constitute blackmail, with another employee's ability to stay in
Eric Ries had a 40-page business plan. An Excel model so complicated it would crash Excel. A team of elite students, real investors, and a working product. What he didn't have was a strategy -- and he didn't realize it u
Joe Hennes runs Tough Pigs, the premier Muppet fan site, and for years he also worked at Sesame Workshop -- the dream company he had been writing about since 2006. In this conversation, Joe is unusually candid about what
Deborah Coviello has spent her career walking into businesses with quality crises and operational pressure, and walking out with stronger leaders behind her. In this conversation with Mark Graban, she shares the favorite
Jesse Jackson, contact center leader and host of Set Lusting Bruce, joins Mark Graban to share his favorite mistake: going gun-shy as a new leader when veterans push back with "we tried that, it didn't work." Jesse expla
Dr. Melisa Buie is an operational excellence leader and co-author of Faceplant: FREE Yourself from Failure's Funk. She has a PhD in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan, taught graduate engineering courses
At 24 years old, Joel Steele was buried in what would be roughly $800,000 of debt in today's dollars - the wreckage of a healthy fast food restaurant chain he had poured himself into since college. He had three locations
Irna Hutabarat Athans had an MBA from MIT, connections to VCs, and a front-row seat to the startup world. But technology felt soulless to her, so she walked away -- for years. She became a tango dancer, a poet, a world t
Andy Freed has seen Bruce Springsteen perform 95 times. Somewhere along the way, he stopped just enjoying the shows and started studying them -- how Springsteen prepares a set list, reads an audience, paces energy across
Dr. Julia Garcia -- psychologist, author, and host of The Journey with Dr. J -- built two businesses that didn't survive. Episode page with links, video, and more The first was a performing arts collective that grew to 2
Mike Chaput bought his first company at 24, went bankrupt at 28, and started over. When he co-founded Endsight, he and his partners worked hard to establish company values -- and landed on one that sounded great: "Have a
Kendall Berg was the most productive person on every team she joined. She was so technically good at her job that she thought she didn't have to be nice. Then a VP she respected -- someone outside her chain of command --
Patrick Engasser spent two years ranked near the bottom of a 615-person sales organization -- broke, in debt, and grinding through trial and error -- before one decision changed everything. He hired a coach. The problem
Dr. Jen Fry's favorite mistake is a disagreement with her best friend of over ten years -- a small miscommunication that led to eight months of silence. Neither of them knew how to reconcile it. Then Jen's mother passed
Baseball has always made room for human error. Umpires miss calls. Fans complain. Life goes on. But this season, MLB is rolling out the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system -- ABS -- giving teams two challenges per gam
In this episode of My Favorite Mistake, Mark Graban talks with Dr. Tyler B. Evans, infectious diseases and addiction medicine physician, public health leader, and author of Pandemics, Poverty, and Politics. Episode page
A forgotten water heater tap led to an overnight leak, an unexpected ice rink, and a reminder that the real lesson isn’t about blame — it’s about designing systems that catch small mistakes before they spread. A small, h
Deborah Coviello
The Drop in CEO™
1 appearance on this show
Mark Graban
Author of The Mistakes That Make Us · My Favorite Mistake
1 appearance on this show
Jesse Jackson
civil rights icon, pastor, activist, presidential candidate, founder of Rainbow PUSH Coalition · Rainbow PUSH Coalition
1 appearance on this show
Dr. Melisa Buie
problem solver, author, operational excellence leader
1 appearance on this show
Joel Steele
Financial Advisor, Speaker, and Author of Life Switch · Steel Financial Solutions
1 appearance on this show
Dr. Julia Garcia
psychologist, author, host of The Journey with Dr. J
1 appearance on this show
Mike Chaput
1 appearance on this show
Kendall Berg
career strategist and author of Secrets of the Career Game · Cetera Financial Group
1 appearance on this show
Patrick Engasser
Best Selling Author, Speaker, and Coach
1 appearance on this show
Dr. Jen Fry
Sports Geographer, tech founder, TEDx speaker, educator · Jen Fry Talks
1 appearance on this show
Olaolu Ogunyemi
leadership development speaker, award-winning author, U.S. Marine Officer · Parent-Child-Connect
1 appearance on this show
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My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership is hosted by Mark Graban. The show is categorised under business and has published 403 episodes.
My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership has published 403 episodes.
My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership regularly covers business. It sits in the business category.
My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership is accessible for guests with genuine business expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
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Episodes of My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership average 41 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
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