June 27, 2024

The Beatles Made a Mistake - Mike Cohn

6 minutes

It should be a comfort to each of us to know that we’ll probably never make a mistake as big as the one The Beatles made during this week in 1966.
Following the critical and sales success of the prior year’s “Rubber Soul” album, the Beatles released a new album, “Yesterday and Today,” in June 1966. The album was released in the US and Canada and contained songs that had been withheld from North American versions of other Beatles albums.
Musically, it’s a solid album featuring “Drive My Car,” “Nowhere Man,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Day Tripper,” and of course “Yesterday.”
Where The Beatles went wrong was in the choice of the album art. The cover photo shows all four Beatles wearing white butcher’s frocks with decapitated baby dolls and pieces of raw meat in their laps.
The photo is in incredibly bad taste even to the less sensitive standards of 1966.
I’m sharing this because on this day in 1966, The Beatles admitted their mistake and replaced the cover.
I think The Beatles’ experience with this botched album cover decision holds four lessons.
First, it’s important to acknowledge that when a team is moving quickly, team members will make some mistakes. “Yesterday and Today” was The Beatles’ twelfth album released in North America in four years.
Second, when you make a mistake, be willing to admit it. The Beatles did not blame their label for picking the cover. In fact, band members insisted on the cover over the label’s objection.
The Beatles said the cover was meant to be a protest against the savagery of the Vietnam War. I’ve always been skeptical of that as it seemed like an after-the-fact justification, but I appreciate that they owned the mistake.
Third, correct mistakes as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. The Beatles corrected their mistake by recalling all the albums and pasting a new cover on top of the original.
A few savvy DJs and record store owners did not return all the albums. This created a lucrative collector’s market in copies of “Yesterday and Today” with the original cover. I’ve seen some sell for nearly $40,000.
Finally, after correcting the mistake, put the memory aside and move on. After the cover debacle of “Yesterday and Today,” The Beatles went on to make some of their greatest albums including “Revolver,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the white album, and “Abbey Road.”
Mistakes happen. I make them. You make them. Your team makes them. Even The Beatles made mistakes.
Let’s acknowledge that mistakes will happen when moving quickly. Then, when we do make a mistake, let’s own it, correct it, and move beyond it.
It’s quite possible, as it was for The Beatles, that your best work may follow your biggest mistake,