Close partnering is critical to winning ballroom competitions. A couple must be able to quickly and wordlessly execute midcourse corrections to avoid collisions when navigating a crowded dance floor filled with competitors.
As the woman in ballroom dancing, my job is to be alert and responsive in following the lead of my male partner. Although I’m not the leader in our dance partnership, I’m as responsible for our success as he is. As a female CEO used to leading in a business setting, it was difficult for me not to try to lead my partner on the dance floor. Allowing my partner to lead was critical, too, because ballroom judges will penalize a couple if there is a power struggle between leader and follower on the dance floor.
Since taking up ballroom dancing, I led my agency to win our biggest account by partnering with an outside marketing consultant. Moreover, I let him lead the account when we won it, which was something I had never done before with an outside consultant. One of my former partners astutely observed that had it not been for ballroom dancing, I could never have abdicated control in this way. He said the same thing when my partners and I decided to sell our New York-based PR and marketing agency, PT&Co., to a Richmond, Va., firm, Carter Ryley Thomas. In so doing, I stepped down as CEO and agreed to follow the able leadership of Mark Raper as the leader of our new combined entity.
Ballroom dancing taught me that being a strong and active collaborator and follower is not necessarily a bad thing. It could be a winning strategy! Our new agency, CRT/tanaka, is three times the size of my previous agency, offering clients enhanced capabilities and additional geographies in which we can support them.
Adam Taylor/ABC/AP/File
