Walk the aisles of any liquor store in the U.S., and brands named after people call for your notice—Johnnie Walker, Jose Cuervo, Captain Morgan, and Jim Beam. Perhaps the most revered name among them is Jack Daniel. Established in 1875, Jack Daniel’s Whiskey comes from the oldest distillery in the United States under the same name. Brand longevity is a testament to leaders with vision and their quest for a long-living organization.

In his groundbreaking book The Living Company (Harvard Business Review Press, 2002), Royal Dutch/Shell executive Arie de Geus researched companies older than 100 years to learn the shared reasons for their longevity. “Companies die because their managers focus on the economic activity of producing goods and services, and they forget that their organization’s true nature is that of a community of humans,” wrote de Geus.

Jack Daniel built a community of dedicated humans.

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