15%-culture of empowerment

100 years ago Dick Drew became a #3Mer. Commercially one of his biggest success was the invention of the Scotch(R) masking tape. In 2007 he was inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame as one of only six 3Mers (Richard Gurley Drew | The National Inventors Hall of Fame). As a #scientist and #inventor at 3M I am even more thankful for his long lasting effect on our 3M culture. Dick Drews willingness to stay engaged in his idea even though his boss William McKnight disagreed and told him to focus on his other tasks inspired William McKnight later to what became the famous McKnight principles: "Delegate responsibility and encourage men and women to exercise their initiative." This culture of empowerment is to this day known at 3M as the #15%-culture.

Are the McKnight principles and 15%-culture just management theory or even outdated? No! They are still very much part of my daily life as a #3Mer. The 15%-culture empowers me in so many ways and has helped me to shape my career at 3M.

1. It helped me to learn: I joined 3M as part of an acquisition about 8 years ago. In the early phase of the transition 15%-culture was one of the first things we learned about. It empowered me to reach out and learn about all the other technologies 3M has to offer.
2. Building a network: Doing this I started building a network across the company getting to know many great colleagues on all continents and with various job functions. One strength of this culture is that it is very inclusive. There were never any barriers and especially for people new at 3M this can make a huge difference to become part of our big technical and non-technical community.
3. Helping others and get help: A new idea often gets to the point where it is almost good, but lacking the last piece of the puzzle. I experienced it myself and talking to my colleagues they also see the help of their colleagues outside their normal peer-group as maybe the strongest element of the 15%-culture. It makes it easy to help or ask for help, since everyone is allowed to help out during their 15%-time. Many 3M products became better due to this and therefore were able to better cater one of our customer needs.
4. Being Agile: Since you don't have to ask for permission to try something out 15%-culture is a very agile approach to innovation. Agile of course also means we kill a lot of ideas early or let them sit on the bench until the right time comes. Overall it empowers me to be ready providing a solution when the time was right. Not because I just came up with the idea, but because I had the chance to try it out beforehand and was just waiting for the seed I planted to grow.
5. Laying the seed: 15%-culture has been the seed to many of my inventions. Either by learning about other technologies at 3M, connection with my peers or combining concepts myself and finally embracing this idea and promoting it in the early stages to convince others. Talking to colleagues it also has been the seed to many of the most successful products at 3M.

Thank you, Dick Drew! The foundations you laid 100 years ago still very much have an effect on my #lifeat3M. The 15%-culture of empowerment helped me to grow as an innovator and most of all it makes every day a fun journey to further explore the unknown without fear of failure.