We Say We Want Innovation, Then Punish It
We Say We Want Innovation, Then Punish It Episode 193 Organizations say they want innovation, then quietly punish the behavior that produces it. Dr. Melisa Buie on courage, failure, and the experimental mindset that solves hard problems. Curiosity gets labeled a distraction. Experiments get labeled risk. Failure gets treated as something close to fatal, so people stop trying things, and the safest path becomes the only path anyone walks. The result is a workforce full of capable adults doing careful, forgettable work. Dr. Melisa Buie (PhD, nuclear engineering and plasma physics; leadership roles at Lam Research, Coherent, Applied Materials, and Advanced Energy; author of Faceplant: Free Yourself From Failure's Funk) joins Dr. John Dentico on why fear of failure stops people from trying, how to get through failure's funk, and how leaders make experimentation a normal part of how work gets done. Key takeaways Fear of failure is close to universal: nearly half of people worldwide won't try something new because of it, and 80% of risk-taking founders and CEOs say it keeps them up at night. The goal isn't to stop feeling failure. It's to get through the funk and turn those emotions into energy and curiosity. Limit the blast zone: small, incremental experiments beat betting the whole farm on one big launch thrown over the fence. Strategic planning looks for answers; strategic thinking makes sure you are asking the right questions, and risk-based thinking belongs in the boardroom, not only in the quality department. A pre-mortem asks, "It's four years out and this failed. What happened?" No one is attached to a failure that hasn't happened yet, so people name the red flags freely. Many failures are really gaps between expectations and reality; spell out expectations and plan what you will do if they aren't met. Nested mission statements give every team its own marching orders tied to the larger mission, turning people into self-leaders. 00:00 — Welcome: when organizations punish the behavior that produces innovation 00:58 — Meet Dr. Melisa Buie 01:49 — An Alabama family farm, math with Dad, and Auburn's farm experiments 03:55 — After the PhD: design of experiments and a mentor at Applied Materials 07:14 — Faceplant: courage and the global fear of failure 09:19 — "Successful attempts" and the emotional side of failure 11:28 — Getting free of failure's funk 13:27 — The safe cracker: keep what you've learned 15:26 — Bureaucracy, big bets, and limiting the blast zone 18:45 — Strategic thinking vs. strategic planning 21:33 — Risk-based thinking belongs in the boardroom 24:50 — The pre-mortem, explained 28:28 — Pre-mortems as simulation: reverse-engineering failure 32:03 — Failure as a gap between expectations and reality 34:11 — Forward deployed engineers and nested mission statements 39:03 — Cascaded missions create self-leaders 40:20 — What's next: Faceplant for organizations, two new books, a project with Mom 42:27 — Perseverance, resilience, and close If you enjoy the Throttle Up Leadership Podcast, please like, share, and subscribe, we genuinely appreciate your support.
