You’ve probably heard of the Museum of Failure. It’s that traveling exhibit that showcases some of the most spectacular corporate faceplants in history. Think the Coke II, the Apple Newton, or the Bic For Her pens. But if you can't make it to a pop-up in Brooklyn or Helsingborg, the Museum of Failure book—formally titled The Museum of Failure: A Collection of the World’s Greatest Failed Innovations—is the next best thing.
Actually, it might even be better.
While the physical museum is a great visual laugh, the book digs into the "why." Why did smart people at multibillion-dollar companies think a "CueCat" was a good idea? How did the Segway go from "the future of transportation" to "the thing security guards ride at the mall"? Dr. Samuel West, the psychologist and curator behind the project, didn't just want to mock these products. He wanted to de-stigmatize the act of failing. Honestly, we need that now more than ever.
Why the Museum of Failure Book Hits Different
Innovation is risky. Most of us know that. Yet, corporate culture usually treats failure like a contagious disease. If a project dies, everyone involved tries to scrub it from their LinkedIn profile. West argues that this is exactly how you stagnate.
The Museum of Failure book serves as a physical catalog of what happens when ego outpaces market research. It’s a fascinating read because it doesn’t just focus on the hardware. It focuses on the psychology. It’s about the "groupthink" that happens in boardrooms where nobody wants to be the person who says, "Hey, maybe people don't want their lasagna branded by Colgate."
Yes, that really happened. Colgate Lasagna. It’s in there.
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The Psychology of the "Fail"
West is a psychologist by trade. That’s the secret sauce. Most business books are written by "winners" who conveniently forget the three companies they bankrupted before they got lucky. This book does the opposite. It looks at the Harley-Davidson perfume (yes, it smelled like musk and burning rubber, basically) and asks what the brand was thinking.
The answer? Brand extension gone rogue.
When you read through these entries, you start to see patterns. It’s rarely just "the tech didn't work." Usually, it’s a mix of over-hyped marketing, ignoring user feedback, and a massive dose of institutional pride. Take the Kodak Digital Camera. People forget Kodak actually invented the digital camera in 1975. But they buried it. They were so terrified of killing their film business that they let their own invention become their executioner. The book captures that irony perfectly.
Not Just a Coffee Table Book
It would be easy to dismiss this as a "bathroom reader" full of funny pictures. It isn't. The Museum of Failure book is actually a pretty dense study on organizational behavior. You see the same mistakes repeated across decades and industries.
- Solving problems that don't exist: The Juicero is the poster child for this. A $700 machine to squeeze a bag of juice that you could literally squeeze with your bare hands.
- The "Coolness" Trap: High-tech doesn't always mean high-value. The Google Glass was technically impressive but socially radioactive. Nobody wanted a "glasshole" filming them at dinner.
- Cultural Tone-Deafness: This is where brands like Pepsi (with that infamous Kendall Jenner ad) or the Bic for Her pens land. They tried to pander and it backfired spectacularly.
One of the most poignant examples in the book is the Rejuvenique facial toning mask. It looked like something out of a slasher flick. It used electricity to "tone" face muscles. It was terrifying. It failed because it ignored the "uncanny valley" and the basic human desire not to look like Michael Myers while doing a beauty routine.
Breaking the "Success" Narrative
We are fed a constant diet of "hustle culture." If you aren't winning, you're losing. But West's work suggests that if you aren't failing, you aren't actually trying anything new.
If you're an entrepreneur or a creative, this book is weirdly comforting. It shows that even the "titans of industry" are capable of being absolute idiots. It levels the playing field. When you see that Ford lost $350 million on the Edsel in the late 1950s—which is billions in today's money—your small business mistake doesn't feel quite so world-ending.
The Design of Disaster
The book itself is curated with a very specific aesthetic. It’s clean, it’s colorful, and it treats these "failures" with a sort of mock-reverence. It’s funny, sure, but there’s a lurking sadness to some of it. You think about the thousands of man-hours spent developing the Nokia N-Gage (the "taco phone"). People believed in these things. They put their careers on the line for them.
And then... nothing.
The Museum of Failure book also highlights some "medical" failures, which take on a darker tone. The Lobotomy, for instance, is included in the wider museum context. It reminds us that failure isn't always a funny marketing mishap; sometimes it’s a catastrophic lapse in ethics and science. It’s a necessary reality check. It keeps the book from being too flippant.
What We Can Actually Learn
So, what’s the takeaway? Is it just "don't be dumb"? Not quite.
The most successful companies are the ones that have a "high psychological safety" score. This is a concept championed by Amy Edmondson at Harvard. It means employees feel safe to take risks and admit mistakes without being fired. The Museum of Failure book is essentially a 200-page argument for psychological safety.
If the engineers at Nokia had felt safe saying, "Hey, this phone is shaped like a taco and you have to hold it sideways to talk, which looks ridiculous," maybe the company would still be the king of mobile. But they didn't. Or if they did, nobody listened.
Innovation Needs a Graveyard
Without a place to bury the bad ideas, the good ideas never have room to grow. That’s the core philosophy. You have to be willing to kill your darlings.
The book is a graveyard. But it’s a graveyard with a gift shop and a lot of lessons. It’s a reminder that Amazon had the Fire Phone (a massive flop) before they had the Echo. Failure is often the precursor to the thing that actually works.
Actionable Insights for the "Recovering Perfectionist"
If you've been paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake, or if your team is playing it too safe, here is how to use the lessons from the Museum of Failure book to actually move forward.
1. Conduct a "Pre-Mortem"
Before you launch your next big project, gather the team. Ask: "It’s one year from now and this project has failed spectacularly. What happened?" This gives people permission to voice concerns without sounding like "naysayers." It identifies the CueCat flaws before you spend a dime on manufacturing.
2. Celebrate "Intelligent Failure"
Distinguish between "sloppy failure" (forgetting to do the work) and "intelligent failure" (trying something new that didn't pan out). In your next meeting, share a mistake you made. It sounds cheesy, but it breaks the "perfection" mask. If the boss can fail, the interns feel safe to innovate.
3. Kill the Sunk Cost Fallacy
Just because you spent $5 million developing a Bic pen for women doesn't mean you should spend another $5 million marketing it once you realize it's a disaster. The book is full of companies that threw good money after bad. Learn to cut your losses. It’s not "quitting"; it’s "pivoting."
4. Listen to the "No" Person
Every team has that one person who is a bit of a skeptic. Usually, they’re annoyed. Instead of shutting them down, ask them for their specific "failure scenario." They might be the only ones seeing the iceberg.
5. Keep Your Own Museum
You don't need a book or a physical space. Keep a "failure log" of your own career. What did you learn from that job you got fired from? What did that failed product teach you about your customers? Revisit it once a year. It turns regret into an asset.
The Museum of Failure book isn't just about the past. It’s a roadmap for the future. It’s a reminder that the only true failure is failing to learn from the stuff that went wrong. If you can laugh at the DeLorean or the New Coke, you can probably survive your own next big mistake. And honestly, that’s a pretty big win.