Making the Most of Your Mistakes
When you're learning, or trying new things, you're going to make mistakes. The trick is to try to fail in a way that gives you useful information. This week, we revisit a favorite conversation with researcher Amy Edmondson. She explains the difference between constructive failures and those we should try to avoid. Then, John Dinsmore answers listener questions about the psychology of debt, in our latest installment of Your Questions Answered.
- Duration
- 1h 34m
- Broadcast on
- 03 Aug 2026
- Audio Format
- other
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
When you're learning, or trying new things, you're going to make mistakes. The trick is to try to fail in a way that gives you useful information. This week, we revisit a favorite conversation with researcher Amy Edmondson. She explains the difference between constructive failures and those we should try to avoid. Then, John Dinsmore answers listener questions about the psychology of debt, in our latest installment of Your Questions Answered.
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This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedanta. In 2009, British businessman Philip Davison Sebri was celebrating his wife's 50th birthday in the Maldives when he got a phone call. The caller asked for a business meeting the next day at 8am. Philip explained that that would be a little difficult, seeing as he was 4,500 miles away from work on vacation. What are you doing away at a time like this? Devoice at the other end of the line shouted. Your company is in liquidation. Philip thought it was a joke in poor taste. In an interview with Wales Online, he recalled that the caller assured him that it was no joking matter. Here's what happened. A British government agency had reported the demise of Philip's 134-year-old engineering company, Taylor & Sons. The government agency, known as Companies House, serves as a kind of registrar for British businesses. It said that Taylor & Sons, created in 1875, was being shut down. Turns out, a government clerk had made a typo. The company that was going out of business was Taylor & Sons in Manchester, not Taylor & Sons in Wales. Philip felt sick. His company had been doing well. It had some 250 employees. Within days, he later said in that interview with Wales Online, his contracts dried up. Orders were cancelled, creditors demanded to be paid. The government agency did correct the mistake after some days, but a debt spiral had taken hold. In time, Taylor & Sons actually did go out of business. Not all errors are so consequential, but some are deadly and many have unpredictable effects. Wouldn't we all prefer that governments, organizations and companies avoid making mistakes altogether? That's an understandable response, but it turns out that demanding no errors might be the biggest mistake of all. Flaws, flubs and fallacies this week on Hidden Brain. When it comes to my policy, farmers gives it to me straight, so there's no surprises. It's your coverage you should never be confused. You hear that? An insurance provider with a conscience. We're a choir, but yes, we had that too. Straight forward coverage you can literally understand. That's what you get when you have farmers, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump. Learn more at farmers.com, underwritten by farmers truck or fire insurance exchanges or affiliate products not available in every state. Support for Hidden Brain comes from Southern New Hampshire University. The brain is in fixed. It's flexible. That means we're always capable of transformation. A master's degree from SNHU can help you build the skills to become whoever you want. A leader, career changer, dream chaser. With no set class times and low online tuition, SNHU makes grad school possible, because it's never too late to learn something new. Get started at snhu.edu/brain. Support for Hidden Brain comes from Land Rover. Even the boldest journey starts small, with a single decision to go somewhere new. Purpose-built and courage-driven, the Defender 110 combines on-road presence with off-road capability. It looks tough, because it is, with a raised hood and an exterior engineered for durability. Inside, capability meets comfort, with seating for five and the option for seven, plus refined finishes and thoughtful design. The Defender event is on now. Explore enhanced offers at landroverusa.com. To air is human. When people work on things, mistakes are inevitable. This is true in our personal lives, in our workplaces, and at the level of public policy. Not all mistakes are created equal, though. Some failures are trivial, while others can be disastrous. At Harvard Business School, Amy Edmondson studies how failures come about and what we can do about them. She has surprising insights into how organizations and people should think about the mistakes they make. Amy Edmondson, welcome to Hidden Brain. Thank you so much for having me.
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When you're learning, or trying new things, you're going to make mistakes. The trick is to try to fail in a way that gives you useful information. This week, we revisit a favorite conversation with researcher Amy Edmondson. She explains the difference between constructive failures and those we should try to avoid. Then, John Dinsmore answers listener questions about the psychology of debt, in our latest installment of Your Questions Answered.