Embracing Failure: Dr. Melisa Buie on Learning to Faceplant

From People Solve Problems by Jamie Flinchbaugh

January 21, 2026 · 23 min

About this episode

Dr. Melisa Buie discusses her journey with failure and personal growth, leading to her book 'Faceplant'.

Dr. Melisa Buie brings a fascinating perspective to the challenge of failure, one forged through decades of building high-powered lasers and leading manufacturing transformations in the semiconductor industry. With a PhD in Nuclear Engineering and Plasma Physics from the University of Michigan and over 15 years at Coherent, Inc., Melisa has spent her career solving complex technical problems. But it was a personal struggle that led to her latest book, "Faceplant: FREE Yourself from Failure's Funk," co-authored with Keely Hurley. Melisa shared a compelling story that became the catalyst for her book. Despite being completely comfortable with failure in the laboratory, where experiments routinely don't work, and models need constant refinement, she discovered she was terrified of failing in her personal life. When she took a Spanish class at Stanford and tried speaking her first sentence to a friend, the friend burst out laughing. Melisa's immediate reaction was to shut down completely. She realized she had developed a fixed mindset about failure outside the lab, and this contradiction troubled her deeply.  She spent years reading everything she could about failure, learning…

People in this episode

Host: Jamie Flinchbaugh

Guest: Dr. Melisa Buie

Topics covered

failure
personal growth
mindset
manufacturing
semiconductor industry
learning from mistakes

Keywords

failure
personal development
mindset
semiconductors
learning
high-powered lasers
manufacturing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Coherent, Inc., University of Michigan

Books & works: Faceplant: FREE Yourself from Failure's Funk