Post-it Notes – The Mistake That Stuck
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Post-it Notes – The Mistake That Stuck
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About this listen
This episode tells the remarkable story of how one of the world’s most recognizable office tools was born — not from success, but from failure. In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver at 3M set out to invent a super-strong adhesive. Instead, he accidentally created a weak glue that could stick lightly and be reused over and over again. For years, no one saw its purpose — until Art Fry, another 3M scientist and church choir singer, realized it could solve his simple problem of bookmarks slipping from his hymnal.
Fry’s idea gave Silver’s “failed” invention a new life. Together, they developed what would become the Post-it Note — a small square of paper with a lightly sticky back. After an initial market failure, free samples introduced consumers to its usefulness, and soon, Post-it Notes spread across the world, revolutionizing the way people organized, communicated, and brainstormed.
Beyond its cheerful yellow color and practicality, the Post-it Note became a symbol of creativity and persistence, showing that innovation often begins where failure ends. It reminds us that even the most ordinary ideas — a scrap of paper and a weak glue — can stick around long enough to change the world.