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In today’s episode, Thom Singer shares an interview he conducted on “The Webinar Talk Show Podcast”, in which he and co-host Eliz Greene interviewed Mike Ciannilli, the head of NASA’s EDGE Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned project.  This project explores what can be learned and what can be avoided from the tragedy of space disasters. Mike understands the importance of recognizing our mistakes, being open and transparent about them, and learning from them in order to create a more successful future.  He shares the importance of embracing the diversity of dissenting opinions in order to produce the best possible outcome on any project, and highlights some of the lessons you take away from the chaos and change that has been forced upon all of us in today’s COVID-19 world.  

On today’s podcast, you will learn:

The value of learning from your mistakes 

• NASA has done a lot of things right over the last 6 decades, but the times they missed the mark are the lessons that they need to learn from most.
• Study and understand your history and the reasons that certain decisions were made. 
• Pinpoint the good and the bad, and then choose which one you want to repeat.

Lessons learned from the Columbia disaster

• Rocket science is the easy part of a NASA project, communicating with people is the harder but most essential part of the success of any project. 
• Learn to be a better listener to decrease the likelihood of miscommunication among team members. 
• Over time people can be conditioned to ignore small changes, so be wary of the human ability to be conditioned to accept negative changes. 
• Be vigilant in keeping up the habits that matter most every day. 
• Understand your audience so that you can communicate effectively with them. 

The critical role of diversity in your organization 

• Encouraging diversity of dissenting opinions is a critical component to the success of every team and project. 
• Allowing team members to share different opinions or possible solutions will produce better results for everyone.
• Apollo 13 proves that every idea has the potential to save the day. 
• The ability to problem solve is at the heart of NASA’s success. 

Advice from a NASA expert

• Every person on your team is built with the DNA to do amazing things. 
• Be aware of the traps that we all fall into of not listening or considering different ideas.
• Keep learning everything you can and bring your A-game to work every single day. 
• Build a strong network of relationships with your team members. 

Overcoming the chaos and change of COVID-19

• Identify what you can learn from the losses you are experiencing. 
• Don’t disregard the difficulty of now, but also don’t lose out on the lessons that could save the day in the future.
• Find the rays of sunshine that will help you do better and be better. 
• Ask yourself what is around the next corner that will make the future better than today. 

Do you have an example of extraordinary efforts or innovation during these unprecedented times? We would love to hear your story and possibly interview you for an upcoming episode. Please reach out to us at www.DigitalEnterpriseSociety.org

Shareables:

[6:02] “Learning lessons from the past ensures future success.” — Eliz Greene

[8:25] “Take all of the really good things and repeat those, but learn from the things you could have done better and do not repeat those mistakes.” — Mike Ciannilli

[19:54] “Cultivating a freeness for finding solutions to problems is critical.” — Mike Ciannilli

[26:21] “We are all built with the DNA to do amazing things.”  — Mike Ciannilli

[30:29] “Don’t disregard the difficult, but don’t lose out on the amazing lessons that could save the day in the future.”  — Mike Ciannilli

Learn More: 

The Webinar Talk Show Podcast

NASA EDGE