There are two kinds of businesses: ones that last and ones that fall off when the market shifts. We live in a flashy and fast-paced world—and it’s easy to get caught up in the flavor of the month. But true innovation and growth are achieved by the companies that boast staying power.
During the last 30 years, we’ve seen globalization, an unprecedented acceleration around technology and both good and hard economic times. The way we interact with the world has completely been reshaped and transformed, and we’ve had to pull together to withstand events like the 2008 recession and the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
Through all this, Cydcor an outsourced sales company, has continued to grow both its business and reputation for results, working with Fortune 500 firms and emerging brands alike. Having gone through the fires of changing landscapes, shifting markets and economic uncertainty to maintain a meaningful and sustainable business, Cydcor believes its first three decades of operations are just the beginning of something greater.
A big factor behind Cydcor’s longevity is its team-first approach—one that puts an emphasis on the company as a whole rather than leaning on the strength of an individual leader to keep them going. Exemplifying this philosophy, CEO Vera Quinn described herself as a “custodian” who is ready to pass the baton to the next person at the helm when it is in the company’s best interest to do so, as seen in International Business Times.
“We want to build for generations,” Quinn says. “And so we just have the baton for a little bit of time. We’re all part of a bigger effort. That’s what has propelled our business now and in the future—and it’s the type of mentality we continue to teach our people.”
We live in a time when personal brands for CEOs and founders are sometimes larger than the companies they actually run. The problem with this is that a single person can only go so far. To achieve longevity, Cydcor believes a company must have the systems and culture in place to allow new generations to pick up the effort and carry it into the future. It credits its team-first mindset for giving the company staying power beyond the efforts of an individual high performer.
Cydcor’s culture has certainly been put to the test through all the changes, challenges and even calamities of the last 30 years. The 2008 recession brought a dip in the company’s revenue, but its teams managed to pull through it, achieving company-record revenue growth in the early 2010s. The pandemic was difficult, as in-person interactions were critical to the efforts of the independent corporate businesses in Cydcor’s network. But it still found ways to support its independent partners working in the field—emerging in the post-pandemic world with a new vision and mission for what the future could hold.
There is no such thing as a recession-proof business, but with resilience, grit and a fierce loyalty to serving its clients, Cydcor has weathered the storm and has come out the other end stronger for it. Along the way, the company has garnered recognition from many of their clients as a top dealer, as well as being recognized 11 times thus far as one of the best places to work in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
But rather than looking back at what has happened, companies with staying power like Cydcor are always looking toward the future. When an organization—just like a person—rests on its laurels and pats itself on the back for a job well done, complacency can set in and the drive to achieve can diminish. Cydcor, seeing its 30-year milestone as just a stepping stone to something bigger, aims to impact its industry for a long time to come.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today if we thought there was a finish line,” Quinn says. “We just don’t see it that way. There’s no finish line. As the years go on, I would love to be able to be in the back of the room just to see how our company evolves.”
