In 1968, Spencer Silvera chemist at 3M's Central Research Labs,received a precise task: develop an adhesive strong enough to hold together an aircraft's structural components. An ambitious goal, for a product intended for the aerospace industry.
The results were far from what was expected. Instead of an extremely powerful glue, Silver obtained a very weak adhesive, so weak that, as he himself admitted, it was less effective than the glue used by schoolchildren. It stuck to surfaces, but came off with disarming ease, leaving no trace behind.
Patenting a failure: the decision that changed everything
This is where the crucial moment of the story unfolds. Silver could have filed the experiment away among failed projects and moved on. Instead, he made a different choice: he recognized that this glue had an unusual and entirely unique property, it stuck, unstuck and stuck again without damaging surfaces and without losing its grip over time. He did not yet know what it would be used for, but he knew it was worth keeping.
Silver patented the adhesive in 1972 and began actively pitching it to colleagues at 3M, earning himself the internal nickname"Mr. Persistent".For years, no one found an answer. The original goal, the super glue for aircraft, was definitively lost. But Silver decided to bet on something different: finding the right question for a glue the world did not yet know it wanted.
Arthur Fry and the hymn sheets in church: the right question arrived six years later
In 1974 Arthur Frya colleague of Silver's and a choir member at a Presbyterian church in North St. Paul, Minnesota, attended an internal presentation where Silver illustrated his glue's properties. Fry had a practical, everyday problem: the slips of paper he used to mark pages in his hymn book kept falling out during services.
That is where Fry formulated the right question.If applied to small pieces of paper, that very weak glue could create bookmarks that stuck to pages without damaging them and came off just as easily. He tried it. It worked.
Fry brought the idea to 3M executives, who were sceptical. Convinced that no one would ever pay for a sticky slip of paper, they slowed the project down. Fry did not give up: he worked on the product in his spare time, installed a machine in his own apartment and began distributing prototypes around the office. Colleagues immediately used them in an unexpected way, not as bookmarks, but to write themselves messages and attach notes to documents. The product's potential turned out to be far greater than anyone had imagined.
1980: the Post it conquers the world
3M tested the product in four American cities under the namePress 'n Peel".Results were mixed. The company changed strategy and distributed free samples directly to consumers: 90% of those who tried them said they would buy them. On 6 April 1980 , Post it notes officially launched across the United States. Success was immediate.
Even the iconic yellow colour came about by chance: while producing the first prototypes, the only paper available in the lab next door was scrap yellow paper. That choice, made out of necessity, became the product's most recognizable visual element and was never abandoned.
Today the post-it is sold in more than 150 countries with more than 1,000 variants available.A glue created to hold together an aircraft found its reason for existing in something entirely different: holding together our notes, our reminders and our ideas.
Do not throw away mistakes: the creativity lesson the Post it left us
The Post it was not born from a stroke of genius. It was born from the decision not to throw away a mistake.Silver failed at his original goal but recognized the value of what he had produced, patented it and kept proposing it until someone found the right question. Fry did not invent anything new: he connected a real problem to a solution that had already existed,unused, for six years.
Opportunities do not always present themselves as such. Sometimes they look like a failure no one has the courage to keep. Read the story of the Post-it..
At MultiOlistica, we work every day on this same principle: combining the analytical dimension of business with the creative oneto turn problems into opportunities. We explain this in our article Le Ampolle Multiolistiche, where we describe how business and creativity are not separate worlds, but two forces that, together, generate results neither could achieve alone. Exactly like Silver and Fry.
If you want to train this same approach within your company, discover our course Houston, We’ve Solved the Problem!©, the Problem Solving and Decision Making format that teaches how to use lateral thinking to find solutions to the unexpected. Or explore all our training paths to find the programme best suited to your company.
