As Sonny and Cher famously sang in a song, “The beat goes on…” I am a firm believer in this axiom. Think about it. Life goes on, the beat goes on, and each of us can choose to keep the beat or, literally, march to a different drummer. There is only so much each of us can do to be different, to make our own way, and to fight for our individuality. For the most part, life, and the beat, will go on with or without us; we have to learn with which things we are in sync and which things we will try to change. There are times to go along with what everyone else wants to do and there are other times when taking a stand and doing something against the societal norms must be done, regardless of the personal costs involved. Most of the time, however, the world around us will take little notice of whether we keep the beat, thus, the beat goes on. Overall, in the context of work, personal issues, and life in general, the beat will go on and it is important for all of us to decide our role in establishing the overall patterns and rhythms that comprise the world in which we live. With further credit to Sonny and Cher’s song, “la de da de de, la de da de da.” And the beat goes on.
The beat is clearly different for each of us. I observe people whose beat is veryyyy slow. Then there are some whose beats are like Neil Peart’s – rapid fire. My energy level is in between so I try to keep it steady. In a business like ours, with spouses as co-workers/owners, being in sync with the beat is also a challenge. With our different roles sometimes the role defines the tempo, so we may be performing at different tempos even when playing in the same concert. For employees, it is important to observe the tempo of the boss(es) and co-workers and to try to adapt. Those who are down tempo need to pick it up to keep the beat with everyone else. The failure to do so is easy to observe. Lastly, just as the show must go on, so must the beat. When problems or challenges arise, it is critical to try not to lose the beat, get off target or lose focus. For us, a mock jury project is a show; when something inevitably goes wrong, big or small, keeping everything else going as smoothly as possible is crucial to getting the job done for the client, and preferably with little weeping, wailing, or gnashing of teeth.
Comments are closed.