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 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.

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. Gisela envisions new applications for technology, and then makes sure they become reality. Some of her projects include: NaturalHealthcare.ca, CanadaEventsCalendar.ca, and BusinessPartnerships.ca. Gisela wrote this article to combat that common exclamation: "YOU were a cheerleader? But you seem so smart!"

---

25 Reasons You Might Need to Wear a Welding Helmet

A welding helmet is a safety device worn for protection... Read More

Cant Get There From Here

... Read More

Its All About Seeing the Signs

Ace of Base hasn't seen the sign for quite some... Read More

Nine Movies That Make You Want To Yell, Stop Saying That

Movie moments are nice things to share with the people... Read More

Your Stars Part 3

LibraHit TV show 'The X Factor' is back on our... Read More

Mexican Spaminator

When we decided to move to Mexico, one of the... Read More

Got Originality?

There are many ways to be original these days. But... Read More

The Spare Parts Gremlins

Don't you just love getting a little something extra? Sure... Read More

Used Condom Found In Restaurant Salad Bar; Waiter Embarrassed To Tears

Evidence of after-hours activity turned up at a Big Boy... Read More

Wanted: Treadmill for an Elephant

Maggie, the 22 year-old African elephant, has been a resident... Read More

Restaurant Manager Gives Out Sexual Favors As Performance Bonus, Raise

While many restaurant workers worry and sweat in anticipation of... Read More

Do Americans Really Understand Irony?

Let me start by saying that 'I am an American'... Read More

Norm Goldman Interviews Comedienne Fran Capo,the Guinness Book Worlds Record for the Fastest Talking

Today, Norm Goldman, Editor of Sketchandtravel & Bookpleasures is delighted... Read More

A Lawyers Favorite Lawyer Jokes

Lawyer JokesQ: How does a pregnant woman know she is... Read More

Bad Days and Bad Timing

Have you ever noticed how family members always misbehave at... Read More

Important Safety Tip$

I was given a list of Do's and Don'ts of... Read More

Tales of a Spectator Spectator

Watching the fans at a minor-league baseball game is just... Read More

When Humans and Dogs Collide: Negotiations for Todays Changing Times

This morning I decided to find myself. I originally looked... Read More

Saving SpongeBob Using High Tech

Put Active RFID Satellite Tags in SpongeBobsSpongeBob has been in... Read More

Health Club Regulars ?- Some of the People Youre Likely To Meet at the Gym

One of the great benefits of belonging to a health... Read More

Silver Linings Are Everywhere

Viagra. That one word packs a lot of punch. Let's... Read More

Starbucks Going into Hilton

Well, I hope you did not read that headline wrong,... Read More

American Independence ? The True Story

It was late in 1775, and King George III was... Read More

Finding Lost Children

A couple of days ago I had to go to... Read More

The Restaurant Chronicles, Part 1

Have you ever heard that saying, "The show must go... Read More

Military Wives

I... Read More

When It Rains, It Pours: Creating a Plan

It's time for me to announce that I have a... Read More

And the World Goes Round

If you are a citizen of UK or Australia, you... Read More

Lactose Intolerant? It could be a good thing

Lactose Intolerant Individuals may prove a bonus in Space Missions.... Read More

Very Precise Fortune Cookies

I cracked open the fortune cookie and read the little... Read More

How to Build a Cobblestone House

He huffed and he puffed and he blew the house... Read More

Valet Parking: Theft with Consent

This column is long overdue. To put it in library... Read More

Bed Bugs Bite

I just turned on the news a minute ago and... Read More