9th December 2024
I recently read about this wonderful Museum.
When a new product totally flops, companies typically try to move on as quickly as possible and put all of their energy into developing fresh ideas that they hope will catch on.
But the Museum of Failure never forgets. The museum has an exhibition curated by Samuel West, a clinical psychologist who specializes in organizational science. The museum has its permanent home in Helsingborg, Sweden but it also travels around the world.
Samuel West curated this Museum to help normalize and demystify the concept of failure, which he sees as a critical learning opportunity.
The Museum of Failure is a traveling exhibit of failed products and innovations from around the world.
Some examples of the items on display include the Apple Newton, Bic for Her, Google Glass, N-Gage, lobotomy instruments, Harley-Davidson Cologne, Kodak DC-40, Sony Betamax, Lego Fiber Optics, the My Friend Cayla talking doll, the New Coke, etc. etc.
The description of the exhibit states:
Innovation needs failure.
All progress, not only technological progress, is built on learning from past failures and mistakes. The museum aims to stimulate productive discussion about failure and inspire us to take meaningful risks.
In other words, our failures play a necessary part in our successes—so they should be celebrated.
I love this idea.
It got me thinking: What if we all built our own Museum of Failure?
What if we celebrated our own failures just as much as our successes?
Perhaps through learning to celebrate our failures as part of our journey to success, we would more readily confront our fears, take those leaps, and build the lives we were meant to have.
My Museum of Failure would need to be pretty big as I have had numerous failures in business & in personal life.
Reflecting on them, each one of these failures has made me into who I am today. Each one of these failures is a part of any success that I might achieve in the future.
One of my favorite quotes of all time: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan
What would be in your Museum of Failure?
Celebrate those losses as a necessary precursor to your future wins & stay blessed forever.