In fact, that is the trait you should look for in your employees – people who are not afraid to make mistakes – if you want your company to go far in innovation, said Nicholson, who retired in 2001 as 3M’s vice president of international technical operations. The brightest example of 3M’s innovation is the surprising success of its Post-it Note, the ubiquitous yellow sticky pad of paper. Derided in 3M’s laboratories as an adhesive that could barely stick, the Post-it Note turned out to be one of the company's most popular products, helping to cement its position as an innovative company.

 

Nicholson, who graduated from Britain’s Imperial College in 1963 with a doctorate in chemistry, was instrumental in the development and success of 3M's Post-it line of products. The “Father of Post-it Note Program”, as he is sometimes described, spoke at Singapore Management University’s Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Distinguished Speaker Series.

 

What does ‘innovation’ mean to 3M? According to Nicholson, it is about creating something that is new and of value to the world. If the company wants to grow, it needs to innovate and make improvements continuously. Innovation keeps products competitive and helps the company to survive. “If you don’t continue to reinvent your products, your company will die,” he said bluntly.

 

People may think of 3M only for its grocery store offerings, like Scotch tape and Post-its, but the company's tradition of innovation goes back 108 years to when the then-Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (that’s the origin of the three ‘M’s) came up with products like sandpaper and masking tape.

 

Today, 3M is a multinational corporation with operations in more than 60 countries, employing more than 76,000 people, and a portfolio of over 55,000 products, divided into six divisions. In 2007 alone, it was awarded 571 US patents.

 

The company's culture of innovation did not happen overnight. Being innovative cannot be manufactured, Nicholson said. However, companies can certainly set conditions that encourage and cultivate innovation amongst employees. Long before Google introduced its policy of giving employees 20 percent of their time to work on pet projects of their choice, 3M, from an earlier era, had its 15 percent guideline. This was time for employees to experiment, network and collaborate.

 

“We basically tell our technical people to spend 15 percent of their time working on whatever they want,” said Nicholson. And the best part is: there is no need for management approval or supervision.

 

An important message that is repeated constantly to 3M employees is, ‘If you have a good idea, do it. If you fail, nobody will beat you up for it; no one will be going around, measuring the success of your ideas’ For companies that are not prepared to fail, Nicholson suggests that they forget about innovation. His reason: “Innovation is a risky business and you are going to fail sometimes.”

 

Aside from the 15 percent of time dedicated to innovation, what spurs employees to pioneer new products is the company’s culture. There is an expectation within 3M to churn new products. Because of the constant expectation to experiment, employees keep rolling out new ideas, and this inspires others to do the same.