Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams Beer, on why “people trump strategy & people trump financial resources”

…I guess the first one was, you know, that it’s all about people. You know, people trump strategy, people trump financial resources. Everything, you know, wins with people. So, you just have to start with people, and I was lucky my first employee became my partner. She was an amazing human being, and like I said, we didn’t hire a resume, we’d hire experienced and passionate people. The woman that I started Sam Adams with worked with me at Boston Consulting Group, but she was a secretary and you know, what we don’t think about — and there’s a lot of truth to it — we think America is a meritocracy, but really in a lot of ways it’s is a caste system, not based on birth but based on education. And so I was at Boston consulting group, you know, great institution, wonderful, amazing people…

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