Unlearning Old Habits: What a Pickleball Mistake Taught Me About Feedback and Learning

The blog postIn this Lean Blog Audio episode, Mark Graban reflects on an unexpected leadership lesson learned on the pickleball court. As a beginner unlearning decades-old tennis habits, Mark experiences firsthand how execution errors, muscle memory, and self-criticism can quietly undermine learning. A kind instructor and supportive playing partners provide timely feedback—without blame—turning mistakes into moments of growth.The story becomes a practical metaphor for leadership, psychological safety, and continuous improvement. Mark connects a missed serve, an illegal volley, and other rookie mistakes to familiar workplace dynamics: fear of speaking up, hesitation to give feedback, and cultures that confuse mistakes with incompetence. Drawing on themes from his book The Mistakes That Make Us, he explores the difference between judgment errors and execution errors, why unlearning is often harder than learning, and how leaders set the tone for Kaizen through their reactions.Whether in sports, healthcare, manufacturing, or office work, improvement depends on environments where people feel safe to surface mistakes, reflect, and adjust—one learning cycle at a time.