Cheer-Leadership or ‘All I Need to Know About Business I Learned from Cheerleading’
FYI! Whether held at a college campus or at corporations’ premises, most formal leadership development programs take place in traditional classroom settings. Leaders who prefer a more personal approach can hire a personal leadership coach or work with a mentor.
Thanks to teen movies, many people have this stereotypical idea of cheerleaders as being ditzy and mean. However, there are a great many life-lessons that can be learned during your time on the team that have surprising application in the business world. 1. Getting to the top of the pyramid means taking a few risks. Fortunately, in business no one actually tosses you ten feet into the air and expects you land on your feet. Well, almost never. 2. Step lightly on your way to the top. This corollary of point number one seems to have escaped quite a few people. Some seem to think that “underlings” are meant to be stepped on, climbed over, and not-so-subtly kicked on the way up. It’s one thing to accidentally land on someone’s foot, but some people leave a trail of crushed clavicles and contusions. These are the same people who discover that when they are in trouble, no one will return their calls. Make sure you know the difference between who is “underneath you” and who is “holding you up” - it’s a big one. 3. Keep cheering loudly, even you are winning. 4. Having the lead at halftime doesn’t mean you can slack for the last half of the game. Right now there is someone out there thinking about how they can capture your market share with a bigger, better, faster version. Besides, in business the game doesn’t actually end - you might be winning at a given moment, but you never can say you’ve “won.” (I know: that was a stretch for cheerleading. But cheerleaders need to stretch.) FYI! Internal Politics. Unless yours is a one person business and you deal only with customers and suppliers who are also one person operations - you’re bound to get involved in internal politics. There are lots of resources to help you - books, CDs, seminars and communication consultants to name a few. Don’t waste your time. Try common sense instead. Successfully handling internal politics is easy of keep your opinions to yourself, be seen as someone who will keep their secrets, and never critique or offer an opinion. If you’ve got to talk about all the intrigue at your company or that of your customers and or competitors - get a dog.
5. As mom used to say, “if you are going to do a backflip in a miniskirt, you’d better be wearing your best underneath.” Don’t call attention to practices that you don’t actually want scrutinized. Better still, don’t get involved in practices that can’t stand up to scrutiny. Sooner or later someone is going to examine what’s behind the hype. Sometimes it’s vapourware, and sometimes it’s fraud. Sometimes it’s just a matter of making an announcement of your latest greatest product so far in advance of it actually coming to market that the buzz comes and goes without paying off in terms of sales. FYI! Work hard to create a work environment in which people feel terrific about themselves and their duties. Only then will you be demonstrating truly effective leadership.
Whatever the cause, get your house in order before throwing the doors open. Sooner or later, someone is going to ask that question. For more details, see: Hollinger, Enron, or Worldcom. Of course, it’s best not to get mental images of Bernard Ebbers wearing a miniskirt. © 2005 Gisela McKay. Gisela McKay is Chief Technology Officer of pixcode Inc.  Realize Your Personal, Professional, and Business Potential With A Little Help From Your Friends. Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
|
|
| |
