Ballroom Dancing and Leadership

Between 2000 and 2006, I have had the pleasure of learning the wonderful art of ballroom dancing. While the mere mention conjures up scenes of royalty waltzing to classical music (likely due to repeated exposure to Disney movies), make no mistake: ballroom dancing is a fully pledged sport, as well as being the perfect social and cardio activity. As an introvert I also owe much to dancing to helping me “break out of my shell and get out there”, improving my confidence and presentation skills in the process.

Over the years, I have had time to reflect on my experiences as a ballroom dancer, and to find connections to my experiences holding various commercial management roles. To my surprise, there is much in common. I have grouped them together below:

1. Leader/Follower: In ballroom dancing, there is the leader guiding the follower across the dance floor and leading them through all sorts of steps. Both have an equally crucial role. The leader needs to know when to execute what move, while avoiding the other couples on the same dance floor. That involves keeping an eye on them and anticipating their next move to avoid bumping into them. The follower has to follow every lead with nothing more than the slightest hint, no words are spoken all leads are through the body connection. They have to look and act as one. This is not easy, and it takes a dancing couple years to understand each other well enough to be able to dance as one. Now, replace “other couples” with “competition” and “dance floor” with “market”, and you get the formula for a successful organization in a company. Teams take years to learn how to work with one another in a seamless way, communicating effortlessly, driven by a leader who knows and trusts them, as they return the same trust. Both cannot function without the other.
2. Changing Market Conditions: In rehearsals, the couple work on perfecting their moves, often designing various choreographies together then practicing till the soles of their shoes have worn out. While competing, they are surrounded by other dancing couples, their competition. It is there where proper practice pays off. The idea couple is executing their moves while seamlessly avoiding other couples on the floor. To the audience, it looks like they have memorized their steps. In reality, the leader is adapting and changing moves all throughout the dance to avoid hitting another couple, all the while the follower is following equally seamlessly. The couples who have memorized their steps without room for adapting often pause, waiting for the competition to move out of the way before they resume their steps. Does all this sound familiar? How often do you sit with your team and plan not just your strategy, but the counter strategy to your competition?
3. Fitness: A healthy mind in a healthy body was clearly written by a dancer (yes I am being biased in this instance). No activity combines fun and fitness quite the same way as dancing. You are always surrounded by positive people, a nice change from the daily grind of the rat race. You are on your feet; you are listening to great music; you are socializing. What activity can match this? What better way to unwind from work and return the next day energized to tackled on the next challenges?

So in conclusion, take out and dust off your dance shoes, or better yet go buy new ones. Go dancing this weekend. And watch yourself become a better commercial manager.