Many years ago, around 1994, I was working as a product manager for the Italian distributor of several foreign brands in the field of lab equipment and analytical chemistry.

The company owner, after successfully growing the company and making it profitable, simply sat on his past success and ceased investing on personnel and technology. A colleague, who was an outstanding salesman resigned when refused a pay raise (or equivalent benefits) after nearly doubling sales in one year. Instead, this “entrepreneur” was constantly bragging about his new boat and improvements he was making to his seaside summer villa. He also bought a new luxury car and hired a very sexy “personal assistant”.

The product lines I was managing at the time were relatively new to the company and still needed lots of efforts to be effectively introduced in the market. I was doing it very passionately, and with minimum resources. Furthermore, I was also in charge of managing a product line from another company, in a joint venture agreement that was supposed to evolve in a merger among the two companies

Then something happened between the two companies at financial corporate level that lead to breaking the JV and any plans for a merge. Nothing I was involved with, nor even informed about. The company owner came to me telling that my position, without that other company’s product line, made no sense and I was free to go in a reasonable time. In a couple of months I found a new opportunity and left the company. The same day, I wrote a fax (emails were not a thing at the time) to the European Sales Manager of one of the (American) companies whose products I was responsible for Italy. I simply wanted to say goodbye, and thank him for the good cooperation that we established. I also mentioned how I loved their products.

Two weeks later l received a letter (handwritten snail mail!) from the American HQ of this company. In short, they said that they were very sorry about my departure and that they wanted to keep doing business in Italy through me. Could I please inform them if my new employer could be interested at representing them after the termination of the present distribution contract?

Six months later I was again managing their products, and sales grew very quickly. Actually, their products became over 40% of my sales, and by large the most profitable. For the next 6 years they filled my breadbasket.

What about the old company? A few months after my departure, another experienced product manager left. Two years later the company ceased operations. I met the old company’s owner years later at a trade exhibition. He had started a new company but his car was worth the half of the one he had back in 1995. And his secretary was… an elder lady!