Cheer-Leadership or 'All I need to know about business I learned from Cheerleading'

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.

The person at the top of the pyramid is the one who is willing to take the risks, usually in the form of a backflip or a layout. It helps to be light, nimble, and flexible. Since you are the person with the farthest to fall, you have to be able to rely on the stability of the team suporting you.

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.

You can't simply manipulate and coerce your way to the top of the pyramid. Well, you can, but then when it comes time to perform a trust fall, you may have a slight problem.

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.

This is a marketing lesson if ever there was one. So you've landed the big client. Maybe you've landed several. Don't stop marketing your company and looking for new clients just because you are currently busy. Projects end, businesses change, decision-makers come and go - make sure you've got new clients lined up. It's the only way to keep your company growing, your cash flowing, and V-I-C-T- oh nevermind.

4. Having the lead at halftime doesn't mean you can slack for the last half of the game.

So you were first to market with your product, or maybe you built a better mousetrap.

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.)

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."

Actually, when mom said it, I think there was a bus involved somehow, but close enough.

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 its 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.

Whatever the cause, get your house in order before throwing the doors open. Sooner or later, someone is going to ask the right 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.

Keough Joins Vozzcom as Director of Human Resources (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla.----Vozzcom, the leading provider of broadband fulfillment services, announced today that Timothy Keough, PHR has been appointed Director of Human Resources. Keough holds a Professional in Human Resources certification from the Human Resource Certification Institute .

Joe W. Laymon Named Corporate Vice President of Human Resources (Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance)
SAN RAMON, Calif.----Chevron Corporation today named Joe W. Laymon corporate vice president of Human Resources, effective immediately. Laymon joins Chevron from the Ford Motor Company, where he was group vice president of Corporate Human Resources and Labor Affairs.

Nineteen researchers selected as 2008 Leopold Leadership Fellows (Stanford Report)
Nineteen environmental researchers from across North America have been awarded Leopold Leadership Fellowships for 2008.

Central Exchange's women's Leadership conference April 22 (The Kansas City Star)
The Central Exchange's sixth annual Women's Lyceum leadership conference will be April 22 under the theme of "Organic Leadership: Grow Your Natural Abilities."

Olmstead students attend Leadership conference (News Democrat & Leader)
On February 25th and 26th, representatives from Olmstead Middle School attended the "Great Kids Summit" Leadership conference in Lexington, Kentucky. This seminar featured Stedman Graham as the keynote speaker, with other prominent national leaders holding workshops during the two-day event.

NECAC sponsoring classes on Leadership for 3 counties (The Hannibal Courier-Post)
[ The not-for-profit North East Community Action Corporation (NECAC) is hosting the Step Up to Leadership training course for residents of three counties. Classes will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Thursday from April 3 to May 29 at the Shirley Bomar Community Building, 253 Munger Lane in Hannibal. Graduation will be on May 29.

© 2005 Gisela McKay

Gisela McKay is Chief Technology Officer of pixcode Inc. - www.pixcode.com

Gisela envisions new applications for technology, and then makes sure they become reality. It seems to surprise people to discover it, but yes, she really was a cheerleader.