It's been a long time since I was in high school. I've tried to remember whether it was the same then as it is now, whether the 12th graders I just finished teaching Junior Achievement to understand how timeless some institutions are and how much others change.
A lot of the same stereotypes still apply - there were jocks and nerds and shy types, Goth girls and artists, kids trying to get attention and acting like they didn't want it at the same time. Junior Achievement's goal is to raise a financially literate generation. My goal as a volunteer is for these kids to understand what actually happens in business.
We talked about networking and hard skills and cult personalities. We talked about different ways to win. I asked them about the connections they have now, and two girls who were sitting next to each other and played on the same soccer team acted like it was odd to think they might have a connection post-high school. Too many of the students I've had over the years think the opposite, that their connections will last a lifetime. There must be balance.
Which brings us to cheerleaders. I never thought much about them when I was in high school, I was friendly with the ones in my classes and never gave much thought to knowing whether captains of industry need to be able to do roundoffs. They were better athletes than people gave them credit for, and the ones who wiped the floor with me in organic chemistry shattered any myth circulating about their stupidity. My high school yearbooks have been gathering dust in my parents' basement ever since they rolled off the presses, and I think sometimes about all the late nights and long hours I spent selling ads, planning pages and thinking about that book. The cheerleaders were in there, and so was the math club and the Latin society and the soccer team. It was our story - together.
Cheerleaders are still important. I told my Junior Achievement kids a story about a coworker of mine who should have been a competitor. We have the same job, we're on the same team. He's won awards I haven't and even though by other measures I think I may be better, he's more promotable. He came to me confidentially and asked for my help to get a promotion. Not just a promotion to a job that already existed, but a job he wanted me to help create. So I did. We met for coffee a few hours before work. I poked every hole I could in his business plan and gave him my best idea to fix them. We talked strategy. Every opportunity to buy in was good for me.
The best cheerleaders are people who want their people to win. The cheerleaders didn't want to be on the field, just like I didn't want this particular job. But I wonder if it would have made a difference - I wanted this guy to win because that's what he wanted for himself.
Winners in business (and in life) are the people who have enough vision to go around. They have vision for themselves and vision for their friends. They dream big and offer everything they have to give without reservation. Some people are lucky to learn that in a lifetime. The ones who learn how to cheer in high school will find themselves surrounded by winners for the rest of their lives - people who buy into them back. No amount of money can buy sincere vision. And that's a piece of advice that should never gather dust.
