Pride in One's Work and Company

There is a very nice article in the Express-Times today (read it here) by JD Malone about David Bosich and Virgil Remaly, two guitar makers employed by Martin Guitar.

I think it is very easy having grown up here to take for granted the world renown of Martin Guitar. Most places aren't known world wide. Nazareth is and for more than one reason. There is Mario Andretti and there are Martin Guitars. You could also argue a few others like the Speedway, Cement, etc., but those are the two if you are traveling anywhere you are likely to find people who know them.

I was glad to have had the opportunity to work there in HS and college, making guitar strings, and getting the chance every once in a while to take walk through the plant to see actual guitar making and those guitars sent back for repairs, whose tag most likely was from an unknown owner, but could have been a world famous musician.

I liked a lot of things about the company. Beyond the skill and craft of the workers, I liked the fact that people had opportunities. You could start making or packaging strings and have a chance at a job making the guitars if you wanted. The Martin's have kept a sense of family, pride, and craftsmanship alive and in more recent years the efforts to tell the Martin story seems to have really paid off.

Anyone who attended the fundraiser for Chief Ruch's family could see first hand the generosity and goodness of many of the people who work at Martin Guitar, not to mention the talent of those employees who play.

In the article, Bosich, 53, noted he didn't apply for a job at Martin because of the guitars, it was his love of woodworking. Remaly, 65, noted the work environment as well as the woodworking.

How many people get the opportunity to do what they love everyday at work in a great environment? Alright, maybe it isn't great all the time, but I'd venture it is more often great than bad. Most companies don't provide that opportunity and most people don't get to enjoy going to work, making a tangible product, and seeing it used the world over to entertain millions and millions of people.