I just heard that Zildian 86d Paul Francis.

jazzerooty

Junior Member
Zildjian has a new CEO dedicated to cutting costs. So they fire their top cymbal designer who resurrected Zildjian quality. I play a full set of Constantinoples designed by Paul, but with things as they are, I will not buy anymore Zildjian cymbals. The corporate miasa stinks. It's a kingdom of whores (male whores).
 
So, they did things wrong for 20 years and now that they've been moving in the right direction for a while they want to ruin everything again?
 
New CEO has been there since 2018 (?)


JOHN STEPHANS NAMED CEO OF AVEDIS ZILDJIAN​

BRIAN BERKDECEMBER 19, 2018


John Stephans was named CEO of the Avedis Zildjian Co. effective Jan. 2. Stephans will report directly to Craigie Zildjian, who will become executive chair, and maintain an active leadership role in the business.
“Since joining the company as president at the beginning of 2017, John has already had a major impact on the development and execution of the roadmap for growing the family of brands including Zildjian, Vic Firth and Balter Mallets,” said Craigie Zildjian.
 
"corporate miasa stinks It's a kingdom of whores (male whores)" Truer words have never been spoken & I can attest to it. So glad I'm done...
 
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New CEO has been there since 2018 (?)


A skilled management track record is a good thing, but you also have to understand the product and the industry. Managerial skills that apply to one industry don't always apply to another. For example, just being a "great manager" doesn't mean that person could manage a band and entourage on the road. There are too many job-specific aspects that are crucial to keeping things running in that situation... as there are in most positions.

The real question is, will Craigie stay focused on the company's products and future, or will she let Stephans run things using his expertise in other fields and without regard to the emotion, status, loyalty, uniqueness (and variations) in the product, and the brand's legacy? I don't know Craigie, but hopefully she won't let him take them in a bad direction.

BTW, in his statement, Stephans says: "I hope to continue to lead the company to many years of growth while maintaining our legacy of leadership in the musical instruments category." The fact that he didn't say musical instruments industry - which is how everyone in the industry refers to the industry - is interesting. And Craigie letting his statement go out like that is also interesting, since she's supposed to approve all press releases coming from her company.

Are little things like that important? Yes!!
 
Paul is a regular visitor in a weekly Zoom chat hosted by Michael Vosbein, and he has some great stories. Nothing bad about the company, and he hasn't discussed exactly how he left. But he's a smart, passionate guy. He'll land somewhere where he'll be appreciated.
 
I'm really surprised they let Sara go to...she was the absolutely best ambassador for the company on social media. She could have been a HUGE asset to them in the modern digital age.

That's very short sighted - but we'll never know the whole story.
 
Paul Francis was becoming a sort of de facto face of Zildjian before he left Zildjian . I am not saying this is why he was let go , but I have seen jealousy cause Managers/Executives to let staff go.
The Cymbal World is not very big and Paul has a very specialized skill from his time at Zildjian . Will he find a position with another Company ? Personally I would not be surprised if he doesn’t. There are not a lot of those type jobs and the competition has those jobs filled currently .
 
Paul Francis was becoming a sort of de facto face of Zildjian before he left Zildjian . I am not saying this is why he was let go , but I have seen jealousy cause Managers/Executives to let staff go.
I have less than no knowledge of the inner workings of Zildjian or any other cymbal company...but over the past five years, several times I did start to find it interesting that despite having so many Zildjians working at Zildjian, it was a non-Zildjian who was very much the face of the company.
 
Paul Francis was becoming a sort of de facto face of Zildjian before he left Zildjian . I am not saying this is why he was let go , but I have seen jealousy cause Managers/Executives to let staff go.

Narcissism. The downfall of many a company. It takes a long while though and they will never be held responsible.
 
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