1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:11,799 Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum Here. Some of the biggest, richest, 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: and smartest companies in the world have a long track 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: record of spectacular fails. Remember Google Glass Time magazine named 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 1: the augmented reality I wear one of the best inventions 6 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: of but the public strongly disagreed and decried its wearers 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: as glass holes. And Apple, arguably the most successful technology 8 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: company in the world, was also the creator of the 9 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: doomed Newton clunky touchscreen PDA from the late ninety nineties, 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: plus during the same time period, a six dollar gaming 11 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: console called Pippin that absolutely no one bought before the article. 12 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: This episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with 13 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: Samuel West PhD, an organizational psychologist and the founder and 14 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: curator of the Museum of Failure, a touring collection of 15 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: product flops and fiascos. According to him, it may be 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: easy to laugh at the misfortunes of billionaires, but it's 17 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: also instructive, he said, we need to accept failure if 18 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: we want progress and innovation. You can't have innovation or 19 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: progress without taking meaningful risks. And as soon as you 20 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,559 Speaker 1: try to be innovative, there's going to be failure. There's 21 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: no way around it. For every iPhone, Oculus, and Netflix, 22 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:31,119 Speaker 1: the Museum of Failure reminds us that there was an 23 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 1: Amazon fire Phone, a Nintendo Virtual Boy, and a Blockbuster video. 24 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,759 Speaker 1: You can't hit a home run without taking a swing, 25 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: and it's okay if some of those swings are full 26 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: blown whiffs. When West launched the first Museum of Failure 27 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: exhibit in Sweden, in he wanted to show corporations and 28 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: organizations that failure itself isn't bad. He had noticed companies 29 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: were averse to taking the kind of risks that can 30 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: lead to very successful innovations. The only real failure, he notes, 31 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: is failing to learn from your mistakes and adapt, a 32 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: popular engineering concept known as failing forward. But what surprised 33 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: West was how much the general public embraced the museum's message. 34 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: He said, people felt liberated. Did see all of these big, 35 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: bad multinationals with all of their resources and knowledge and realize, 36 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: if they can foul up, so can I. The Museum 37 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: of Failure has dug up some true technological turkeys that 38 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:33,920 Speaker 1: should never have existed. Take the Twitter Peak. This was 39 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 1: a two d dollar device. Released in two thousand nine. 40 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: That did one thing access Twitter. You might be asking, 41 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: wasn't there already a Twitter app for smartphones in two 42 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: thousand nine? Yep? And wasn't it free? Also yep? So 43 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: why would anyone pay for a second handheld device just 44 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: to read and send tweets? They didn't, as it turned out. 45 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: Or take Google TV. It was ahead of it time, 46 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: though not in a good way. Back in the search 47 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: Giant knew that would be streaming YouTube and movies on 48 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: the small screen, but Google's TV execution was clunky. The 49 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: technology just wasn't ready for prime time. Exhibit A is 50 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 1: the Sony Google TV remote, which included a staggering eighty 51 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: eight buttons. The Museum of Failure features a fair share 52 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: of food and beverage fails. To release of new coke 53 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,959 Speaker 1: was one of the most famous marketing disasters in recorded history. 54 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: Even the Coca Cola company admits that it was foolish 55 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: to mess with the year old formula for its flagship soda, 56 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: Even if hundreds of thousands of taste testers said that 57 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: they preferred the new flavor, The product only lasted a 58 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: few months before Coca Cola bowed public outcry and reintroduced 59 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: the classic taste. But let's not forget about some other 60 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: high profile food and beverage blunders. Remember Crystal Pepsi, a 61 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: Coke's rival, tried to capitalize on the year and natural 62 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: craze of the nineties with a clear cola. Why did 63 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: it flop? A former Pepsi CEO O David Novak said 64 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: in a two thousand seven interview with Fast Company, it 65 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: would have been nice if I had made sure the 66 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 1: product tasted good. Another food fat from the nineties was olestra, 67 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: the magic ingredient in fat free, low calorie versions of 68 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: snack foods like Pringles, Lays, Ruffles, and Derrito's. Procter and 69 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: Gambles spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars developing 70 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: an artificial fact that tasted just like the real thing, 71 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: but wasn't absorbed by the digestive tract. Unfortunately, the science 72 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: of a lestra backfired, literally, leading to unpleasant side effects 73 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: arranging from painful gas to urgent diarrhea. A West might 74 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: giggle at fumbles like Google Glass and Google Wave, which 75 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,720 Speaker 1: was an early and overly complicated version of Slack, but 76 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: says he has nothing but respect for what he calls 77 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 1: Google's evolutionary approach to innovation, basically invest tons of resources 78 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: into hundreds of new ideas and seeing what sticks. In evolution, 79 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,600 Speaker 1: generally only the beneficial mutations are passed on, and so 80 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: it is with innovation. The bad ideas either go extinct 81 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: or are folded back into the gene pool for a 82 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: new and improved development later. If you want a lesson 83 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:23,720 Speaker 1: in failing forward, check out the Google Graveyard, a comprehensive 84 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: list of every single Google product and service that's been 85 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: killed since two thousand one, all two hundred and sixty 86 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 1: four of them. You can find it it killed by 87 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: Google dot com. So before you let your own dreams 88 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,919 Speaker 1: get derailed by a minor setback or a major flop, 89 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: consider this quote from Alberta Alesie, an award winning product 90 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: designer and favorite of West's. He said, revel in your 91 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: glorious failures. Dance on the borderline between success and disaster, 92 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: because that's where your next big breakthrough will come from. 93 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: By the way, the Museum of Failure does not have 94 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,719 Speaker 1: a permanent site, but tours around the world. It's currently 95 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: in Taiwan, and Samuel West welcome suggestions for other items 96 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: to include. You can send your ideas to info at 97 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: Museum of Failure dot com. Today's episode is based on 98 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: the article The Museum of Failure Celebrates Flops and Fiascos 99 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: on house to works dot com, written by Dave Rus. 100 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership 101 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: with how stuffworks dot com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. 102 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts on my heart Radio, visit the i 103 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 104 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:35,720 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.