Practical Wisdom for Leaders with Scott J. Allen, Ph.D. A Better Way To Fail with Dr. Melisa Buie
Apr 1, 2026
Dr. Melisa Buie, an engineer and operational-excellence leader who wrote Faceplant, discusses how to make failure safe and useful. She explains the FREE framework for reflecting on setbacks. They talk about separating stories from facts, using small experiments, and how leaders can model cultures where people can learn without fear.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
FREE Framework To Separate Failure From Identity
- Failure carries heavy emotions like shame and embarrassment that make it feel intolerable.
- Melisa Buie describes FREE: Focus on the failure, Reflect on emotions, Engage, Explore as a framework to separate facts from the story you tell yourself.
Language Humiliation Sparked Her Personal Experiment
- Melisa learned she avoided risk after a native speaker laughed at her Spanish report and she felt humiliated.
- That moment revealed she treated real-life mistakes differently than lab failures, which triggered her book project.
Pick A Reflection Method And Use It Immediately
- Figure out your personal reflection method and use it when failure hits.
- Melisa suggests noticing whether you first want to call someone, journal, or walk to identify the right processing tool for you.
