Dr. Samuel West, a licensed psychologist, and PhD in Organizational Psychology, is thefounder and curator of the Museum of Failure. He talks to us about the fear of failure, psychological safety, taking risks and how he started the museum.
The Museum of Failure tours the world and showcases failed ideas, products, services and innovations. It was first launched in Sweden in 2017 and has been featured in numerous countries since. The exhibit is making its way to Brooklyn in March 2023. The museum aims to stimulate productive discussion about failure and inspire us to take meaningful risks.
Show Notes:
2:49 - Samuel West tells us about his background in psychology and how he came up with the idea for the Failure Museum
5:18 - how Samuel launched the Failure Museum and curated the items
11:54 - who’s the demo of the Failure Museum?
15:45 - what Samuel has learned about the fear of failure from his research
17:50 - taking meaningful risk
21:08 - do you ever have any challenges getting CEOs or executive leadership teams to implement your teachings about failure?
24:50 - Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos role model failure and taking risks in their company culture
26:45 - a lot of startups play it safe and follow the ’trends’
28:28 - AI chat bot at the Museum of Failure
34:24 - we need failure in order to innovate
37:25 - why going viral can backfire
39:30 - Samuel’s Irreverent Research Lab
44:00 - how failure is perceived in different cultures
51:15 - a doll that eats kids hair?!
Links:
Museum of Failure
For donations and suggestions for new exhibits please contact: info@museumoffailure.com
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