Time Off: Precious Moments

The Beat Goes On

When it comes to relocating to different parts of the world, consultants often demand some rich perks, but for John Knecht it only took two beats of a drum. Or at least that was the sound that inspired him this past January to take a month's respite from his current job as a senior consultant at the Chicago-based strategy boutique Doblin Inc., and travel to West Africa.
Only a year earlier, Knecht had journeyed to Guinea, where a master drummer taught him some of the melodic artistry of the local drummers. Theirs is a bountiful cadence using six beats instead of the straightforward four beats commonly employed by Western popular music.