OK, it’s TMI (too much information) time. I’ve been a drummer since age six when for my birthday my mother gave me the option of a bike or a drum set. I chose the drums and drove her (and the neighbors, and the neighbors’ neighbors) crazy with the noise for more than a decade. I played in concert band, jazz band, orchestra and snare in the marching band. I was what you could call a “band geek,” and I didn’t care. I loved every minute of it. While some may not realize it, being in the band is akin to a team sport. Everyone has a roll to play and if one person misses a beat, drops a note or (in marching band) heaven forbid, takes a wrong turn, everything is thrown off-kilter. On the flip side, when everything goes right, when everyone is in tune and timing is perfect, something magical happens.
Finding that kind of magic in our adult professional lives, albeit rare, can and does exist. When everything comes together in that almost ethereal way, there is magic in business. These kind of days might not happen as often as they should, but when they do they should be relished. After all, since the recession we’ve certainly been seeing fewer of them.
As the headlines have indicated, times have been tough for many companies. Many wrong steps have been taken and the notes have been wildly out of tune. Those magical, synchronized days have seemed nonexistent. However, just when it may have felt like it was time to toss the old band uniform in the trash and that all that practice was in vain, something unexpected happens: there is a shift in momentum.
Today, all indicators suggest that if you are still standing after the last few years, you are a survivor. Many of the country’s top printing and promotional product companies are reporting between 25 percent and 85 percent increases in estimated earnings for 2011 over 2010. Those numbers suggest to me that after the fall, those companies stood up, brushed off the dust and kept on playing their tunes. With that kind of resilience and tenacity, magic is bound to happen.
