The Museum of Failure 失败博物馆

Sarah Kuta

When a new product totally flops1，companies usually try to switch to otherthings as quickly as possible and put all oftheir energy into developing fresh ideas thatthey hope will catch on.

But the Museum of Failure never forgetsthese flops. This traveling exhibition2， whichfirst launched3 in Sweden in 2017， has justbeen to New York City.

By collecting more than 150 commercial4ideas that didnt pan out5 fordifferent reasons， the exhibition aims tostimulate6 discussion about accepting andlearning from failure， such as New Coke，Limeade-flavored Oreo cookies and so on.

The exhibition is curated7 by psychologist8Samuel West. He sees it as animportant learning opportunity.

West says， “One of the big obstacles9to innovation10 is the fear of failure. I wasplaying with this idea， ‘How can Icommunicate the importance of acceptingfailure？”

In fact， many of the brands in theMuseum of Failure havent let one or twounsuccessful efforts stand in their way.For example， Oreo has made plenty ofdelicious new flavors， and Coca-Cola isstill thriving11.

“People feel liberated12 when they seebig well-known brands and companies thathave extreme amounts of money and skillsand experience and they still fail whentrying new things，”West said. “Big boyscan fail， so why cant we？”

Visitors can write their own failures on a“Share Your Failure”wall. West also hopespeople know that failure usually isnt as badas many imagine， and that the lessons fromfailurecould actually be important to success.

“Learning” is the keyword. To simply try， try and tryagain—without improving—isnot enough.

You fail but you gain insight13， build on it， try a different way and come backagain with something better.

West adds， “I want people to take meaningful risks and learn from them. Thatswhere the action is， when it comes to innovation： People trying something new，accepting the level of risk that comes with itand learning from it if the new thing fails—as it probably will.”

当一个新产品完全失败时，公司通常会设法尽快转向其他方面，并将所有精力投入到开发他们希望能流行的新想法上。

但失败博物馆永远不会忘记这些失败。这个巡回展览于2017 年在瑞典首次启动，刚刚去过纽约。

该展览收集了150 多个因不同原因而未能成功的商业创意，旨在激发人们关于接受失败和从失败中学习的讨论，这些失败的创意有新可乐、酸橙汽水味的奥利奥饼干等。

该展览由心理学家塞缪尔·韦斯特策划。他认为这是一个重要的学习机会。

韦斯特说：“创新的一大障碍是对失败的恐惧。所以我一直在思考这个问题‘我该如何传达接受失败的重要性？”

事实上，失败博物馆中的许多品牌都没有让一两次失败的尝试阻碍他们。例如，奥利奥已经制作出了大量美味的新口味，而可口可乐仍在蓬勃发展。

“当人们看到那些拥有巨额资金、技能和经验的知名品牌和公司，以及他们在尝试新事物时仍然失败时，他们会感到释怀。”韦斯特说，“大亨都能失败，因此为什么我们不能呢？”

参观者可以在“分享失败”墙上写下自己的失败。韦斯特还希望人们知道失败通常没有许多人想象的那么糟糕，以及从失败中吸取的教训实际上对成功至关重要。

“学习”是关键词。仅仅尝试、尝试、再尝试而不改进是不够的。

你失败了，但你获得了深刻的见解，在此基础上，尝试不同的方法，然后带着更好的东西卷土重来。

韦斯特还说：“我希望人们承担有意义的风险，并从中学习。涉及创新时，重点就在这里：人们尝试新事物，接受随之而来的风险水平，如果新事物失败则从中学习，因为它可能就是会失败。”

Notes

1. flop 失败

2. exhibition 展览；展出

3. launch 发动；发起

4. commercial 商业的；商务的

5. pan out 成功

6. stimulate 促进；激发

7. curate 操持展出；组织演出

8. psychologist 心理学家

9. obstacle 障碍

10. innovation 新事物；新方法；創新

11. thriving 欣欣向荣的；繁华的

12. liberated 无拘束的；思想解放的

13. insight 深入了解; 深刻见解