Maharaj was reading about 3M. “Everyone says 3M is an innovation company. But that doesn’t explain why one company could succeed in healthcare, abrasives, electronics, safety equipment, stationery, and hundreds of other markets.
It looks like they spent more on R&D than everyone else.”
Tenali smiled. “Then every company with a big R&D budget should look like 3M.”
“Then it must be their patents,” Maharaj insisted.
Tenali picked up two completely different 3M products.
“Different products… but do you think they began with different ideas?”
Maharaj looked puzzled.
“They began with the same technologies.” Tenali said.
“Adhesives became Post-it Notes, medical tapes, industrial bonding and automotive solutions. Material science travelled across businesses instead of staying trapped in one.”
“So they weren’t multiplying products..?” Maharaj curiously asked.
“They were multiplying technologies,” Tenali replied. “And by giving employees freedom through the famous 15% Rule, every business unit became a laboratory while every breakthrough became a company-wide asset.”
Maharaj nodded. “So 3M never depended on one blockbuster product.”
Tenali answered, “Exactly, it built a system where one innovation could create a hundred businesses. That’s how great companies stop selling products… and start compounding capabilities.”