Contents
Machiavelli advises adapting to the times. If you adjust your way of acting to the circumstances, you have fortune on your side. If you stay rigid, you fail as soon as the circumstances change. The story of the Post-it Note – a story of Fortuna and Virtù – shows how a failure becomes an opportunity when people are willing to let go of their original intention.
The wrong adhesive
Situation
In 1968, the chemist Spencer Silver works in the central research laboratory of the 3M corporation. He wants to develop a very strong adhesive. What he gets is the opposite: a low-tack adhesive made of tiny spheres that sticks only at the points of contact. It holds paper, but it can be peeled off again without tearing and used several times.
Link to the principle
Here, fortuna shows up as a failure. The result is not what Silver wanted. Many would have written off the experiment. Silver realizes that he has something unusual in his hands, even if he does not yet know what for.
Five years without a use
Situation
For years, Silver presents his adhesive to colleagues and at internal seminars. He thinks of a spray or of bulletin boards on which notes can be posted without pins. No marketable form emerges.
Link to the principle
Here, virtù means persistence. Silver does not give up on his discovery and keeps people talking about it. In doing so, he creates the conditions for someone else to pick it up later.
Bookmarks in the hymnal
Situation
His colleague Art Fry sings in the church choir. His paper bookmarks keep slipping out of the hymnal. In 1974, it occurs to him that Silver’s adhesive could do exactly what his bookmarks need: hold and come off again. Fry develops the idea further, supported by a rule at 3M that allows researchers to devote part of their working time to their own projects. The signature canary yellow comes about by chance, because there happened to be yellow scrap paper in the neighboring lab.
Link to the principle
Two chance events meet: an adhesive without a purpose and a problem without a solution. Their meeting is due to Fry’s alert eye and to a company that leaves room for such connections. Virtù can also be a quality of organizations.
A test market that fails
Situation
In 1977, 3M tests the product under the name “Press ’n Peel” in four cities. The results are disappointing. Customers don’t understand what they would need the notes for. In 1978, 3M tries a different approach: in Boise, Idaho, offices are supplied with free samples, and the product is now called “Post-it Note.” More than 90% of the recipients say they would buy it.
Link to the principle
This is where Machiavelli’s idea of adapting to circumstances comes into play. The product was good, but the way it was brought to market did not fit. 3M changed the route, not the product. If people first have to experience the benefit, you need a sample, not advertising.
The breakthrough
Situation
In 1980, 3M launches Post-it Notes across the United States, and in 1981 in Canada and Europe. Within a few years, offices can no longer imagine life without them, and they find their way into schools, laboratories and homes. Silver and Fry receive their company’s highest research awards.
Link to the principle
Twelve years lie between the accidental adhesive and success in the market. Fortuna provided the beginning. Everything else was virtù: persistence, an alert eye, room for one’s own projects and the willingness to look for a different route after a failure.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
- A failure can be an opportunity if you don’t write it off too quickly.
- Keep unused ideas in conversation. Someone else may find the purpose.
- Create room where chance events can meet.
- If something doesn’t catch on, change the route before you give up the product.
- Be prepared for a long road between chance and success.
Summary
In 1968, Spencer Silver was looking for a strong adhesive and found a weak one. For years, it remained without a purpose, until in 1974 Art Fry thought of his slipping bookmarks. After a failed test market, 3M found the right route with free samples, and starting in 1980, the Post-it Note became a worldwide success. The story shows fortuna and virtù working together: chance provided the adhesive, and persistence and adaptation turned it into a product.
Sources
- Niccolò Machiavelli: Il Principe. Rome: Antonio Blado 1532, Chapter 25.
