It was particularly heart-warming to read about a company that has been around for 400 years in light of a conversation with someone I met recently who is close to retirement age and has been with the same company since he graduated college. There were several folks at the table who were completely astounded to hear that and commented how unique and expectational that was - what did it take to have such an outcome this day and age expect for it be total happenstance.
L's company kept his role in the original company despite that company being sold, acquired, merged and resold many times through his career - he remained the thing that never changed, the fixture that everyone else came to rely upon. Would that work for most people - maybe not we concluded. So no surprise, no one else had such a career trajectory and none of us knew of anyone else who did
Zildjian, the world's oldest cymbal manufacturer, has been crafting cymbals for over 400 years using a secret process1. Founded in 1623 in Constantinople (now Istanbul), the company now operates from Norwell, Massachusetts, producing at least a million cymbals annually. They have been doing one thing and doing is well enough to make it 400 years. Maybe there is a lesson there to learn on longevity of purpose.
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