The Employee Who Ran the Company Without Knowing It

True story, details changed: a 40-person manufacturer, family-owned, third generation. Great little business.

Turns out the entire quoting process — pricing logic, discount thresholds, which customers got priority lead times — lived in the head of one estimator. Sharp guy. Been there 14 years. Never wrote any of it down because, in his words, “I just know it.”

He wasn't trying to hoard power. He just never had a reason to document it — nobody