Many of you probably already know the story of how Post-its came to be, but it’s such an archetypal example of the power of innovation and collaboration that I’m going to tell it again. 

It was 1968, and a 3M scientist named Spence Silver was experimenting to create stronger glues and adhesives. One day, he stumbled upon a particular concoction that formed a pressure sensitive, reusable adhesive just strong enough to stick to many surfaces, but still easily peeled off.

3M’s atmosphere at that time was an open-ended culture where scientists were able to explore and pursue new opportunities, so Spence took the next five years to promote his invention to colleagues within 3M through seminars and informal speaking. There wasn’t much success in finding a practical use for the adhesive until a 3M colleague, Art Fry, realized that it might be used to prevent his bookmark from falling out of his hymnbook. 

This was allowed to happen due to 3M’s permitted bootlegging (or “pet project”) policy, a policy which has seen wide success in other more recent companies (think Hewlett-Packard or Google’s 20% time).

Art Fry’s implementation led to the development of modern Post-it notes, which were launched in four cities. The initial sales were disappointing, but 3M didn’t give up and decided instead to widely distribute samples for free. Once they were in people’s hands, imaginations ran wild and the value was immediately seen. The vast majority (over 90%) of people who tried them said they would buy them, and the rest is history. 

Today, Post-its are a ubiquitous product and it was all due to 3M’s innovation-supporting policies and willingness to let talented scientists pursue their own interests.

What can we learn from this?