Most people are familiar with the function of a drummer in a band, keeping the beat for a song and providing the tempo for the overall music involved. However, the average person doesn't always pick up that the drummer, while not necessarily getting the accolades of being the frontman, does operate as a band conductor.
While some forms of music, such as classical, don't need a drummer, most modern music requires it. Where, in older days, the piano was the main beat provider and tempo manager, the drummer today is the glue that keeps a band's music together. In that regard, the drummer and the manager of the music being produced are essential. Every other band musician and even the singer depends on the drummer to give them a placement of where things are in the song being played. Unsurprisingly, the drummer is a band's day-to-day production manager when playing with one.
Doug Pitassi knows both sides of the fence, having been a drummer by hobby and a manager and company leader by profession. And he's quite familiar with the fact that while a CEO can push a vision of where a company should be, they also need to be the daily manager who makes the practical productivity occur with staff and tools combined to deliver goods or services being marketed. Douglas Pitassi, the executive leader of Pacific Office Automation, isn't that different from a band drummer; both have to keep the song going, keep people on tempo, and get projects from beginning to conclusion with a level of quality that satisfies audiences and customers.
It's not a reach of the imagination that Doug Pitassi would probably recommend being a band drummer for a few years to get a good handle on the psychology of being a people manager. And while Drumming 101 probably won't be a class at the Chicago School of Business anytime soon, it sure does help. No matter how stressful, keeping the beat has to go on and happen. That's what separates reliable managers from fly-by-night ones.