When I was a kid, I played the accordion. Yep, took lessons and played it for four years during grammar school. I wasn't much on practicing it, though. I'd rather watch Lawrence Welk play his accordion than practice mine.

I played it up till the Beach Boys issued Pet Sounds and the Beatles put out the Revolver album. I feared becoming a 12 year old Frankie Yankovich in an era of pop music supremacy. Just couldn't do the accordion any longer. But it is a brilliant instrument in many ways and taught me a lot about music. Those of you who have known me since that time now have another piece of the puzzle....

God, sometimes I wish I still had my accordion. I could have brought it to work and put it to good use during one of those corporate 'off-sites' that I attended in the past.

You know what an off-site is, don't you? That's where corporate types go to a hotel meeting room or a resort and plan business strategy in an environment that supposedly fosters uninterrupted creativity and honesty. I've attended a number of them over the past twenty years and I've seen more damage done at off-sites than good.

One problem is that the off-site can become a haven where incompetents can surround themselves with the the yes-men of their organization. I mean, if you're going to spend three 'work' days away at a resort, the last person you want to invite along is the person who disagrees with you, despite that person's talent.

Most off-sites become social events allowing the attendees a get-away from their own accordion playing for a day, or two, or a week. They don't like practicing as much as I didn't.

I realize that good leaders have dynamic off-sites, which facilitate the solving of business problems. The way to determine a productive off-site from a non-productive one is to look at the attendee list. Twenty monkeys at an off-site have little chance at coming up with any worthwhile ideas, let alone play In-a-gadda-da-vida on the accordion.

Learn more about this author, Mark Tribbia.
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