OK, up until this quarter, I figured 3M’s demise was basically already decided by the board. It felt like the company was just being prepped to be chopped up. Even if there was some openness to trying to make it a high-functioning, long-term business again—like it had been for big stretches of its 100+ year existence—it seemed doomed to fail. The culture’s been decimated, and the mechanisms for success have been stripped away. So, I thought the end was basically in sight, no matter what.
But after recent events—both internal and external—including this quarter’s performance and how things have been trending lately, I can almost see a faint glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, this company could actually stick around. And that the board might actually be trying to turn things around—or at least thinking, “We might as well try.”
I’m not saying I think any of this is likely. It’s just that I’m starting to wonder if I’m imagining this possibility. Thoughts?