Do you have a great idea? An idea that may change the way we do things in the future? You know your idea is brilliant, but there is one thing stopping you – your fear that it may not work, people will laugh, and you will be left feeling embarrassed.
A trip to a new museum in Sweden may be a good idea for you if you feel this way. It’s called The Museum of Failure and its 60 exhibits have been put together by Dr. Samuel West. Until now, Dr. West’s job has been to advise companies on how to become more innovative and successful by embracing failure.
Each museum exhibit comes from an idea that just did not work. You may be surprised to find that even some of the most famous companies in the world have enjoyed that shocking experience of failure.
Take Coca-Cola, for example. In 2006, this global brand had the idea to create a drink called Coca-Cola BlāK. It was designed for people who enjoyed drinking not only Coca-Cola but also coffee. Coca-Cola that tasted like coffee. American journalist, Anderson Cooper, tried the new drink on TV and spat it out, it was so horrible. Coca-Cola BlāK was a failure.
For fans of the late Steve Jobs and his company, Apple, you may think that neither of them could do any wrong. Well, you’re wrong. A device called the Apple Newton entered the market in 1993. It was the first digital assistant and its main new feature was handwriting recognition. It was considered to be highly innovative but it experienced problems with its handwriting recognition software. Steve Jobs ordered it to be taken off the market in 1998. The failure cost the company millions.
There are lots of other weird and wonderful examples of failed innovation at the Museum of Failure. Who would have thought that a perfume created for the very masculine motorbike manufacturer, Harley Davidson, would not appeal to anyone? What about Google Glass? Remember? It was going to change the way we learned in school and how we interacted with other people? FAILURE!
So what’s the point of a museum that promotes failure? Surely we are more interested in success? Dr. West says that he got the idea for this museum after he had visited the Museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia – a museum dedicated to failed relationships. Dr. West says that if you are afraid of failure, you will never be able to innovate. What’s more, nearly 90 percent of innovations usually fail. If we don’t try, we will never succeed. As long as we learn from our mistakes, we will always continue to innovate.
Take a look at the Museum of Failure here:
QUESTION:
VOCABULARY:
