3Mers former and current are passionate around and stand behind the McKnight principles. Is there anything we can do to stop the maniacal management practices today? Any ideas out there?
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McKnight they will make mistakes like PFas and hearing claims we now have then again with the cover ups …. Doesn’t really work does it
Varys,
Don't forget Aldara (the wart cream). It actually had good sales but was one of those 3M products no one wanted to talk about with neighbors:>)
Sure, I can name several examples after 1980 (Post-It's launch date)
- Filtrete filters - Getting performance dang near HEPA into a relatively cheap-to-make furnace filter - created a whole new market above fiberglass cheap filters.
- Command adhesives - Became popular around 2000 or so.
- - Cubitron II abrasives - 2012 or so? - double the performance of anything that existed before it.
- Automotive paint protection film - Became popular in the 90's and had good enough margins to bring in several big-name competitors.
There are 4 big consumer-visible examples that combined are worth billions in sales.
McMike sounds like a burger...
Can anyone cite any blockbuster product ever since the Post It or DBEF films?
Nowadays it seem 3M want to compete on Me Too products. No wonder they stopped using the tag line "3M Innovation" a couple decades ago.
If they were to hire a new CEO from within and return to the McKnight principles while actually investing into R&D this company might actually have a chance. I don’t see it happening unfortunately and I think too much damage has been done but I would really love to see a return to what the company was built on!
No more McKnight principles
Replace with McMike principles
As a former employee, I’m still a brand advocate and buy 3M products whenever possible. But that’s as far as I wanna go, tbh.
Hey, wanna make an executive panic?
At your next town hall with SVP or above, make a comment about forming a union for white collar employees at 3M. The colors the HR minion's face changes to is worth it all.
I suggest: "Given all the layoffs and benefit cuts recently, what would you say to those employees that are discussing forming a white-collar union at 3M."
Share a Forbes' Link on The McKnight Principles.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2016/02/29/mcknights-management-methodology/?sh=4d55d342243a
As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women, to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to want to do their jobs in their own way.
Mistakes will be made. But if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in authority exactly how they must do their jobs.
Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made ki-ls initiative. And it's essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow.
Vote with your feet.
Speaking as someone hired in 2014/205, I’d love nothing more than to change the cycle and push for more McKnight principles.
First, I'm a huge fan of everything McKnight stood for. But we have a generational gap here.
Anyone who hired into 3M pre 2000 and is still here or recently retired knows about McKnight. He was a superhero. I have tremendous respect for what he did for 3M.
However, the post 2000 hires, though very smart and generally high quality people, got indoctrinated into a (sadly) different culture. Obsession with meeting WS mandated quarterly earnings estimates overtook the long term, deliberate thinking that made 3M the icon it was. We can all thank GE falloff mcnerney for bringing us to this sad ending.
Just sell and eat your loss on GESPP before it's too late