Aside from business, one of the things I love most is music. I REALLY love music!

I have an alter-ego as a drummer, and a great beat or funky rhythm can hook me like a fish. I wanted to be a drummer ever since I was a kid.

I remember being in awe as a first grade student sitting on the floor in the school gymnasium, listening to a junior high school band play a concert and being mesmerized by the drums. As an adult listening to the same group now, I would not be likely to have the same appreciation for a bunch of eighth-graders butchering their way through a song, but as a kid it was a discovery!

From that day on I would create drum sets at home out of chairs and books, complete with pot lids for cymbals and chop sticks or pencils as drum sticks. Pretty crummy to listen to, but a passion was burning inside me.

Due to circumstances, I didn’t get an opportunity to pursue my percussive dreams until the age of about fourteen, but years later I am still playing. Though it is not as often as I would like, I still feel the wonder when I sit behind a drum kit and ‘lock it in’ with a band.

Your business is just like a band or an orchestra. Every one plays differently, but there are similar goals and principles at work whether Bob Dylan is whining out ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ or the Boston Symphony Orchestra is performing a piece by Vivaldi with precision.

There is a system of underlying principles at work to make the music enjoyable to listen to. Without them there would be chaos! A beat to keep the entire group playing at the right time. A melody to establish continuity and recognizability. Harmony to create interest and make the music pleasing to the ear.

Different instruments and different styles add to the experience, and every musician has a different interpretation. It is what makes music colorful!

Again, the same principles apply to business. Your company could be the equivalent of anything from reggae to bhangra to classical. Each one is different, but each must incorporate principles of harmony, consistency and coordination.

Creating systems within a business is the best way to ensure these results. When you hire a new person into the company, you do the equivalent of handing them their sheets of music. Once learned, they may not even have to look at the music very often, but employee contentment rises when people know what is required of them. When one knows what is expected it is much easier to create, set and reach goals.

They become in tune with the company culture and in step with the beat that has been set by the owner or president of the company. But if you as the company leader don’t know where you are going, how do you expect your employees to help you get there?