CEO Retrospective

Last Wednesday I experienced a milestone in my career at Chem Flowtronics; 35 years selling & manufacturing CFT products. Given today’s high turnover employment rates I thought 35 years with the same firm was very unusual but after some quick research by attending Professor Google’s class, I learned something interesting.

According to Forbes article in Jan. 2016,

“It may surprise you, but according to research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees today stay longer with a company than they did 25 years ago. In 1983, the average employee tenure was around 3.5 years. Fifteen years later, in 1998, people stayed on the job an average of 3.6 years before leaving. In 2014, the average employee stayed 4.6 years. This rise, by the way, includes passing through four recessions from 1983 – 2014.”

Here a brief career retrospective:

• After working in sales and marketing in the Ultra Zenon and Mercury exposure systems in Newark, NJ for several years, I re-joined the family business in 1981. My first assignment was to build up the Chem Flow Corp manufacturing group which specialized in manufacturing of products to support Chemical process system throughout the USA.
• I remember suffering many sleepless nights, debating a 30% price increase since the product line had not had a increase in over 10 years. After a quick 5 years, new products, new distributors, and increase manufacturing techniques, I moved on to become CEO of the parent corporation, overseeing 3 locations and 100 + employees.
• Looking back, I am sure they all felt the same apprehension as I did with a 30 year old taking the reins of a firm dating back to 1947.
• I am amazed how fast the time has gone, it seems time compresses as we get older and a minute begins to feel like a second.
• My one question; As human beings, can we handle the speed of the brave new internet world of commerce, social media, decisions, with the world at our finger tips with one swipe. The optimist in me feels The Best is Yet to Come!