Move over Snow Bird. In Williamson County, you’ve been displaced as our children’s favorite winter friend. But you do share a few attributes with the woman who has pushed you aside ever so nicely. If “birds of a feather stick together,” you two should be joined at the hip this time of year.

Who knew that in the few short years since WCS started using its automated phone system to alert families that school would be closed for inclement weather that Carol Birdsong would become a pop culture icon and weather goddess. Certainly not Carol, Williamson County Schools’ official spokesperson and an overachieving Brentwood mom.

Talk about social networking, the “Receiving a call from Carol Birdsong telling us we have a day off!” Facebook page now has close to 3000 friends and A Bird Song – A Tribute to Carol Birdsong, an original song, is a hit on YouTube (click here to hear it!). You can even buy your choice of T-shirts that proclaim, “I (Heart) Carol Birdsong” or “I do not (Heart) Carol Birdsong.” I think I know who would order the first, and the second.

The Carol Birdsong phenomenon was even highlighted on the local Fox News affiliate last week.

We’re working on an in-depth profile of the woman behind the voice. Wonder if Snow Bird would care to comment?

Five enemies you can conquer 
If you like to gossip, don’t apply for a job with Dave Ramsey’s Brentwood-based The Lampo Group, which is the parent company overseeing his Financial Peace empire. Gossip is one of Ramsey’s five “enemies of unity.”

Everyone who works for Dave in Financial Peace Plaza on Mallory Lane knows the enemies well. Last week, the Leadership Brentwood Class of 2011 heard them first-hand from the man himself. But you don’t have to be in LBW or a member of Dave’s team to benefit from avoiding them. In fact, I think it would behoove a lot of corporate, government non-profit, religious and other leaders to be on the lookout for these enemies to their organizations as well.

So, if gossip is Enemy No. 1, what are the others?

First up, Dave said, is poor communication. No surprise but why, then, is this such a problem in work forces today?

Second on the list: Lack of shared purpose. If the team doesn’t have it, “there’s no way to pull the deal off,” Dave shared.

Unresolved disagreements came next. And it’s management’s job to resolve them, he said.

The most intriguing enemy – and the one that hurts so many companies and organizations – came last: When leadership sanctions incompetence. Anyone who listens to Dave’s syndicated radio show knows the guru of living within one's means can be blunt. And on this enemy of the workplace, he stated, “You can’t attract and keep talent if the rest of the gang is turkeys.”

Think about it. If you’re like me, I bet you recognize a few past employers -- or maybe a present one – that has opened the door and welcomed this enemy in.

Back to gossip, Dave says he has “zero tolerance for it.” He called it a “filthy, evil spirit and it’s in almost every organization.” And don’t get him started on people who gossip about the person who writes their paycheck.

At his company, gossip is a firing offense, he said. “You don’t have to fire but about three and the word gets around,” he said.

I honestly don’t think I could get a job with Dave’s company, though I truly believe in what he preaches – about getting and staying out of debt and about the five enemies. Unfortunately believing and following are two different things.

But I will tell you this: I have been thinking long and hard about the five enemies over the past few days. And as we grow our company, I want to do my best to keep all five of them at bay.

I also spent the better part of four hours Saturday going over the family’s finances.

Now, where DID I put my copy of Financial Peace, my envelopes and  those cassettes …