2025 Shingo Publication Award Recipient Somewhere in your organization this week, someone made a mistake and told no one. Not because they're dishonest -- because they learned it wasn't safe. That silence has a cost. The error repeats. The process stays broken. The next person hides the same mistake the same way. This is how cultures of fear quietly compound into cultures of mediocrity -- and most leaders never see it happening. The Mistakes That Make Us is about breaking that pattern. Mark Graban draws on more than 200 conversations from his My Favorite Mistake podcast -- with CEOs, founders, clinicians, and frontline leaders -- and reveals a consistent truth: the organizations that improve fastest aren't the ones that avoid mistakes. They're the ones that make it safe to admit them, study them, and fix the systems that caused them. This isn't a book of theory or inspiration posters about "embracing failure." It's a practical guide to the leadership behaviors, habits, and systems that actually shift a culture from blame to learning. You'll see how leaders at Toyota, in healthcare, in software, and in startups turned specific missteps into structural improvements -- and how to do the same with your team, starting now. If your people aren't surfacing problems, they aren't hiding them out of laziness. They're responding rationally to a system that punishes honesty. This book shows you how to change that system. Mark Graban is the author of the Shingo Award-winning Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen , and the creator of the My Favorite Mistake podcast. His work is grounded in Lean thinking, respect for people, and the principle that improving the system matters more than blaming the individual. "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 "Mark's exhibition of errors, in The Mistakes That Make Us , not only acknowledges a core human experience that is frequently concealed but also fosters a feeling of togetherness among his audience, inspiring us to persevere in their pursuit of education and personal development." * Jim McCann , founder & chairman, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC. "Mark's exploration of mistakes provides a new body of knowledge—both practical and psychological—for individuals and businesses alike to capitalize on. This book's greatest power is in how Mark weaves in the tenets for success with real-world examples and lessons that readers can apply right away. It would be a mistake not to read this book!" * Karen Martin , President & Founder TKMG, Inc. and TKMG Academy, Inc. and award-winning author of Clarity First and The Outstanding Organization . "In business, as in life, everyone makes mistakes. How we view and move on from mistakes can transform them from problems into opportunities for learning and growth. The Mistakes That Make Us delves into the ways we can use errors to help build and foster a culture of understanding and continuous improvement." * Eric Ries , author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way "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 "Finally, a book that goes beyond noting the importance of growth and improvement and shows how embracing mistakes can lead us there. The Mistakes That Make Us provides practical insights and real-world examples on how to foster a psychologically safe environment that encourages experimentation and innovation. The path to continuous improvement is there; learn how to embrace the bumpy road." * Ethan Burris, Ph.D., Niessa Professor of Management and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin "Another useful book from Mark Graban! Creating the conditions to surface and learn from mistakes not only drives continuous improvement and innovation but also good jobs. In The Mistakes That Make Us , Mark Graban shows us how to get there. I found his lessons useful for business and life." * Zeynep Ton , Professor of the Practice at MIT Sloan, President of Good Jobs Institute