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54 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2025 T H E C H E M I CA L C O N N ECT I O N Experience and Wisdom Gained by Doing Business by D on B all, C hemcut A well-managed company learns to adjust its strategies and processes based on what it learns during challenging times. The experience gained from making (or losing) a difficult sale is invaluable in adapting new sales and manufacturing processes necessary to make that sale the next time, no matter how painful those new processes might be. As the great American philosopher Mark Twain once said (paraphrased): "Experience is a wonder- ful teacher, but sometimes comes at great pain. A man who carries a cat by the tail gains all sorts of experience that is denied the rest of us. But if a man wants to carry a cat by the tail, I say, 'Let'im'. Tisn't always easy to be eccentric, you know." The ability to make changes from lessons learned is the sign of a good company, even if it involves taking some risks and enduring some pain. Here are a few examples from the early his- tory of my company. Engineers Learning to Do Business In the mid-1950s (even before my time), our founder worked for an engineering company that became involved in a project requiring those new- fangled printed circuit boards. He built a vertical spray etcher to make the necessary boards and thought there was some business potential for spray etching circuit boards and building equip- ment to do this. The engineering company was not interested in pursuing this, but permitted him to use what he had learned while working on their project to set up his own company.