Free checklist for leaders – Mark Graban
The Last to Know
A checklist for leaders who’d rather hear bad news first
Most leaders say they want to hear about problems early. Many still find out late, after a small mistake has had time to grow. The gap usually isn’t honesty. It’s what people expect will happen after they speak up.
This free two-page checklist turns five habits from my Shingo Award-winning book The Mistakes That Make Us into boxes you can actually check, plus a three-question self-check you can answer in a minute. The habits come from leaders at Toyota, KaiNexus, Garrison Brothers Distillery, and hospitals who chose learning over blame.
Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive, says the book “shows how to enlist our mistakes as engines of learning, growth, and progress.”
Get the free checklist (PDF)
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What’s inside
- Five habits, fifteen checkboxes: lead with vulnerability, react kindly to mistakes, prevent instead of punish, ask better questions, and make it safe to speak up
- A one-minute self-check, starting with the question that matters most: do people bring you bad news early?
- Three ways to use it with your team this week, including what to reread right after someone reports a mistake
- A line from the book behind each habit, so you can find the stories when you want more
Why leaders end up the last to know
Mistakes are inevitable. What separates strong leaders from struggling ones isn’t whether mistakes happen. It’s how they respond when they do, and what people learn from that response.
If speaking up has led to blame, people get quieter. Problems stay hidden until they’re too big to hide, and the leader hears about them last. Leaders who get bad news early don’t rely on fear or demands for perfection. They make speaking up worthwhile, treat mistakes as information, and fix the systems that made mistakes easy to make.
This checklist isn’t a silver bullet. It’s a practical starting point you can use to reflect on your own habits and start better conversations with your team.
Go further
The Mistakes That Make Us
The stories behind this checklist: leaders at Toyota, KaiNexus, Garrison Brothers Distillery, hospitals, and startups who chose learning over blame. Winner of the Shingo Publication Award.
Bring this to your team
Keynotes, workshops, and coaching on learning from mistakes and psychological safety, in person or virtually.
My Favorite Mistake
Conversations with leaders, entrepreneurs, and experts about the mistakes that shaped them.