Preventing Failure

Lessons Learned to Lessons Applied

Organizations do not repeat failures because they lack intelligence, experience, or data. They repeat failures because learning breaks down under pressure and lessons fail to change how decisions are made.

Mike Ciannilli works with leaders in high-consequence systems to prevent repeat failure by turning hard-earned lessons into disciplined operational change.

Bring Mike Ciannilli to Your Organization

58 Space Shuttle
Flights Supported

30 Years in U.S.
Space Program

21 Launch Countdowns Led
as NASA Test Director

378 People Launched Into
Outer Space

500+ Speeches and Media
Appearances

When Decisions Carry Consequences

This work is designed for leaders operating in environments where small signals can become major failures, pressure distorts judgment, and silence around risk creates exposure.

Mike works with organizations in aerospace, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, aviation, transportation, defense, finance, and technology. These are environments where leaders are responsible for preventing failure, not explaining it after the fact.

The Problem Leaders Recognize

Most leaders can explain what went wrong.
Fewer can stop it from happening again.

Across industries, the same pattern appears:

Near-misses repeat 12 to 24 months later
Lessons learned are documented but not embedded
Risk goes quiet as pressure increases
Minor deviations become accepted practice
Failures feel surprising even when warning signs were present

These are not intelligence problems.
They are operational learning problems.

The Difference This Work Brings

Mike Ciannilli is a former NASA Test Director who spent 30 years inside systems where failure carried irreversible consequences.

At NASA, learning was incomplete until it changed decisions, operations, and safeguards. That same discipline informs Mike’s work today.

He equips leaders with a practical way to ensure learning survives pressure and prevents repetition.

From Learning to Prevention

Mike’s keynote and leadership work are grounded in a structured learning discipline:

Preventing Failure: Lessons Learned to Lessons Applied

This discipline equips leaders to:

Identify Risk

Identify risk before it becomes dangerous

Establish Shared Understanding

Establish shared understanding of what happened and why it made sense at the time

Apply Lessons

Apply lessons to real operational decisions

Maintain Vigilance

Maintain vigilance as pressure, urgency, and familiarity return

The goal is not insight.
The goal is prevention.

See More About Preventing Failure

What Changes After This Work

Organizations that apply this discipline consistently experience:

Earlier identification of risk and weak signals
Clearer communication across roles and silos
Explicit ownership of lessons learned
Fewer repeat failures and near-misses
Learning embedded into daily operations, not just post-incident reviews

Most importantly, leaders gain a reliable way to move from explanation to prevention.

Failure is inevitable in complex systems.
Preventing repeat failure is a leadership discipline.

Bring Mike Ciannilli to Your Organization

Why Leaders Trust Mike

Mike’s credibility comes from lived responsibility.

He trained launch leaders, briefed astronauts, orchestrated Space Shuttle launches, and later helped recover Columbia and her crew. He went on to lead NASA’s Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned Program, ensuring hard-earned lessons were not forgotten or ignored.

Today, Mike brings that same discipline to organizations where getting it wrong is not an option. He also serves as a trusted consultant to film and television productions and as a media voice on aerospace and organizational failure.

See more testimonials

Turning Tragedy Into Lifesaving Lessons

Mr. Michael Ciannilli gave a very stellar presentation! He was very frank, humble, unapologetic, and worked closely with this tragedy. He was one of Columbia’s Test Directors, I consider him to be a survivor of one our Nation’s darkest moments in our Space history (beside Apollo1, Challenger) the loss of Columbia and her crew 16 minutes from home. He lived the tragedy up close and personal. He oversaw the recovery of Columbia and her Crew. What I admire about him is that Instead of living with a nightmare and caving to it, he has turned it into an educational experience for all of us who work to save lives. I commend him for that.

Senior Vice President,
Lockheed Martin

Keeping NASA’s Hard Lessons Alive

Thank You for sharing your very personal experience, your relationship with the Columbia crew, the impact of the accident, subsequent response activities, and lessons learned is a poignant way to convey this important message to our entire workforce.The care with which you convey your personal story, and those of the crew members, resonates especially well with younger members of our workforce who may not have experienced these tragedies—this is critical in making sure we never forget. We appreciate your efforts and we look forward to welcoming you to Langley in the future to help carry forward this important work.

Clayton P. Turner, Director of NASA Langley Research Center

A Voice Senior Leaders Can’t Ignore

I am the CEO of a very large multinational entertainment corporation. But even with that position, if I was ever to share so freely and transparently, speaking from the heart, if you will, as you have done today for our senior executive leadership team in your speech…simply put, I would likely be fired. We don’t even like to acknowledge mosquito bites in the competitive world in which we operate. Honestly, most of us, in positions like mine just can’t do that. Period! So please be aware of the very unique position that you are in and together with your talent to communicate, you have the ability to truly impact the lives of so many out there for the better. I just want you to know that.

CEO,
Entertainment and Theme Parks