Swift Leadership: Leadership Lessons from Taylor Swift
By: Sarah Collins, Collins Career Coaching
Some love her (hi, Swifties).
Some like her music.
Some do not like her.
But all know her.
Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift is a household name these days. She started making country music at 13 years old and has been through tremendous ups and downs in her career. She’s making headlines for her new relationship, touring the globe on her record-breaking Era’s tour, AND was named Time Magazine’s person of the Year… all at the same time. The Federal Reserve even credited Taylor with boosting the country's economy on her tour this year
Now listen, I am a self-proclaimed Swiftie, but I know some of you may not be. And that’s cool. I am not here to sell you on the merits of Taylor Swift herself. I am also a leadership coach who specializes in helping leaders get the best out of themselves and their people for improved business outcomes. When I look at Taylor Swift, I don’t just see a music industry titan, but a businesswoman who has built herself an empire based on loyal and dedicated fans. I see someone who has taken the time to get to know herself — who has done the work to grow and evolve over time — who is open and authentic about who she is and what she wants out of this life. What I see in Taylor Swift are lessons so similar to what I coach with leaders, managers, and individual contributors every day. That is exactly what I am going to share with you now. What lessons can we learn from Taylor Swift the businesswoman?
Lesson 1: Recognition and Appreciation for Employee Engagement
Swift famously gave all of her truck drivers for the Eras Tour large financial bonuses (we’re talking like $100,000) and hand-written thank you letters expressing her gratitude for their excellent work.
While most of our businesses are not raking in billions of dollars that allow us to throw around $100,000 bonuses, we do have the ability to recognize and appreciate our employees in other ways. In fact, employees who receive great recognition are 20 times as likely to be engaged as employees who receive poor recognition.
Many people think recognition and appreciation are only deserved when someone goes above and beyond. In reality, good enough should be good enough. In a study conducted by Gallup and Workhuman, 72% of employees who have great recognition experiences say that performance on "little things" is commonly recognized at their organization. This does not mean you need to praise someone for mediocre work or celebrate someone for simply showing up, but that we should be noticing and communicating what we do see right with people. How do you do this? One way is to notice who a person is (not just what they do) and find a way to share that with them.
It could look like this:
“Kelli, I love how you always show up to the meetings with a smile on your face, it really helps set the tone for our conversations.”
“Brad, I appreciate how committed you are to our team.”
“Gina, you simply radiate kindness and are always the first to check in on our team when someone is sick.”
The other thing about recognition and appreciation is knowing how people like to receive their positive feedback. I often recommend leaders simply ask people how they like to receive this information. According to Gallup and Workhuman only 10% of employees are even asked how they like to be recognized and appreciated. Email, in person and text are all great ways to deliver the news. It can also help to send your people a quick survey and let them pick. Something like this in a Google Form can be easy enough:
What rewards or recognition matter most to you in your work? (Please check all that apply)*
• Money (salary increases)
• Money (bonuses)
• Gifts (gift cards, small gifts)
• Food (lunches, snacks, dinners)
• Time off
• Verbal recognition in front of colleagues
• Verbal recognition one-on-one
• Written recognition sent to all colleagues
• Written recognition sent one-on-one
• Winning awards
• Experiences (trips)
• Investment in professional development (courses, trainings, conferences, networking groups...)
• Other:
Remember, most people will probably say they like to receive money as recognition (who doesn’t), but statistics show that money is not necessarily a “fix”. Many people crave small things like a hand-written note (Taylor knows), a cup of their favorite coffee, or a quick verbal acknowledgement.
Lesson 2: Be Authentic - Treat Your People Like People
Merriam-Webster’s word of the year in 2023 is “authentic” and we know our girl Taylor has been serving us authenticity since she started writing lyrics. That’s the thing that has hooked so many Swifties over the years, Taylor is completely relatable because she has the ability to show us exactly what she has experienced through her storytelling lyrics. This is why Swifties and fans around the world pour into her new albums and vault tracks as soon as they drop: they are seeking out the truth to what happened in her life. If you’re like me, it feels good to know a famous pop star has also struggled with love, work, balance, time and emotions.
Swifties will never forget the day the Red Taylor’s Version album dropped. We were blessed with the 10-minute version of “All Too Well”, a song that thoroughly documents the brief, albeit incredibly important/painful relationship between Taylor and Jake Gyllenhaal. One cannot listen to this song without feeling the authentic agony that Swift experienced as she navigated that relationship.
With artificial intelligence on the rise, leaders also need to demonstrate authenticity in their work. I am constantly reminding teams that people are humans first and colleagues second. This means leaders need to connect with their people on a human level. In fact, Gallup data shows that managers should have one meaningful conversation with their employees once a week. This doesn’t need to be an hour-long discussion about their work priorities (although that is helpful too), but simply a 15-30 minute touch base on something that is truly important to the employee.
This could look like this:
“Hey Matt, how did you feel after yesterday’s board meeting?”
“John, you seem super excited about the upcoming sales pitch, I’d love to hear more about it.”
Or even something more personal like, “Greg, how is your basement remodel going?”
80% of employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged in their jobs.
Lesson 3: The Power of Hybrid Engagement in the Digital Age
Most of us interact with Taylor Swift in a digital way. She streams her music online, she pumps out music videos and she even recently released her Eras Tour film in theaters, but Taylor has also opened up her life to us in-person, especially lately. The Eras Tour is a stadium tour which means any given stop hosts an average of 72,000 fans in the stands. Plus, with her budding relationship with Travis Kelce, she’s been attending NFL games cheering for her guy at Chiefs games. If you’ve been lucky enough to snag a ticket to the Eras Tour, then you know there is something powerful and electric about the in-person experience of not only seeing Taylor perform live, but the vibe of being in a stadium full of other Swifties singing and dancing for 3.5 hours. For myself and many other fans, the live experience is almost hard to put into words because it feels like a magical, communal experience where we all journey through Taylor’s musical career and, in many cases, monumental moments of our own lives. Even the Eras Tour Movie, while digital, brought fans to theaters across the world together creating infectious energy and building a sense of unity and emotional connections both to the music and the others in the theaters.
I think this combination of the digital and in-person engagement with fans this past year is one of the contributing factors to Taylor’s recent title of Time Magazine’s Person of the Year award.
The data for leaders and organizations alike shows us that hybrid work is also the key for employee engagement in the work arena. Prior to the pandemic, most professionals worked in the office. During the pandemic many office professionals started working remotely. This year we have been debating which is better: work from the office or work from home?
Currently, the Gallup data is showing us that hybrid work (for those who can work remotely) is the optimal situation for employees. We are seeing stats that show hybrid work improves work-life balance, helps employees be more efficient and productive with their time, and leads to less burn out. Ideally, your people should be working from home 2-3 days a week (most people favor Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for their in office days).
How do you make it work the best for your team? It’s important to let each team dictate their hybrid schedule (within limits). Each team will function differently and have different requirements, so empowering them to create their hybrid schedule has been shown to be most effective.
Everything I said above is something most of you have probably heard or already figured out. However, here is a gap I see employers and leaders have in regard to hybrid: the time spent in the office MUST be intentional for it to benefit anyone.
What does this mean?
It means each team probably needs a team reset where they can decide not only their hybrid schedule, but they can decide how to collaborate when they are in person because going to an empty office is not going to increase collaboration or productivity, just like going to an empty stadium tour wouldn’t create a magical feeling of unity. When people can go to the office on the same days and plan intentional time to work together and collaborate (like going to a stadium tour with 72,000 other fans) then the magic happens. Work from home is great for independent work that needs to be accomplished, but work from the office is great for brainstorming, connecting, collaborating and culture building for an organization. If you want loyal employees, then you need them to come to the office and be connected to other employees. It’s hard to truly connect with a colleague when you only see each other for Zoom meetings, it’s much easier when you have the actual water cooler to stand around.
Lesson 4: Taking Action on Feedback for Growth
Part of Taylor’s undeniable popularity is that she is actually listening to her fans and taking action on what she hears. Taylor has been re-recording all of her albums (click here to learn why). In an interview with Seth Meyers, she said, “This time around, I get to do things that I know [the fans] wish I would’ve done the first time. I’m always listening to their opinions and their theories. They will let me know which songs should’ve been singles; they let me know which songs didn’t get videos that should’ve gotten videos.” ‘
In 2019, Taylor released the album Lover which included the song “Cruel Summer”, which was never released as a single. When Taylor was on tour this year, “Cruel Summer” started growing in popularity and it became a single because of the fans – four years after its original release.
I am sure as a leader you are well-versed in giving feedback and, if you’re a more advanced leader, you might even be good at asking for feedback (who doesn't love a good 360 evaluation?). Are you actually acting on the feedback you receive? I talk to my clients about having a growth mindset. In fact, I have this story I share with them…
When my twin daughters were three, they came home from preschool one day and both grabbed a kiwi and just started eating them — like they ate the skin and all. I immediately put a stop to this by grabbing the kiwis and peeling them. See, I know a bit about kiwis because I always ate them with my Grandma Thelma. My grandma had one of those little peri-knives with the white handle (why can we all envision this so well?) and she would delicately peel the skin off of a kiwi before slicing it up and serving it to me. I would emulate her; except I was pretty terrible at the peeling and would be left with a pretty small portion of kiwi meat in the end. As I got older, I realized if the kiwi was ripe enough you could actually cut it in half and scoop out the kiwi meat (kind of like an avocado). So anyway, I’ve thought a lot about eating kiwis.
The next day, my daughters came home again and insisted that their teacher, Miss Tiffany, told them they could eat the kiwi skin. In an effort to prove them wrong, I perform a simple Google search. To my surprise, these three year olds are right. According to Google, kiwi skin is totally edible and actually contains high antioxidants like vitamin C that can boost heart health and combat inflammation.
To me this kiwi story perfectly exemplifies why having a growth mindset is so important. According to Carol Dweck, author of the book Mindset, “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.”
Most of the leaders I work with will tell me they do have a growth mindset, but once I share my kiwi story, they tend to open up that maybe they too have had moments where they thought they already knew the answer, what was best, or the way something should be.
So how do we embrace a growth mindset and actually act on the feedback we receive?
Ask the right questions. Taylor Swift is a celebrity, so she doesn’t have to ask fans for feedback because the culture of the internet allows everyone to feel entitled to express their opinions, but Corporate America isn’t this way. In order to get good feedback, leaders need to ask for it.
Asking, “What feedback do you have for me?” will probably turn up zero helpful results because it’s uncomfortable for everyone. While there is no one perfect question, you want to find a question that works for you and the person you are asking. Kim Scott, the author of Radical Candor, asks her employees, “What could I do or stop doing that would make it easier to work with me?” This question works for most people, but her co-founder Jason actually told her he hates that question and needs something more specific.
Acknowledge the discomfort. Acting like giving and receiving feedback is a walk in the park is simply foolish because it really makes everyone feel a little uneasy. Verbally acknowledge to your employees that it might be a little uncomfortable, but you are really seeking to grow and so they are really giving you a gift when they offer you feedback.
Take a beat then make a plan and share it. Right after hearing the feedback, take a minute (or an hour, a day, or a week) to let it sink in. Your natural reaction might be to defend yourself or your actions, this is normal, but not helpful (and will not encourage folks to give you honest feedback in the future). Express your gratitude for the feedback and sit with it.
When you’re ready, you need to actually make a plan and communicate it. It should be specific and small, this way you can actually accomplish it. If the feedback was that you don’t communicate enough with the team, you might say, “I will plan on sending an email to everyone on Monday morning outlining the priorities of the week.” Then you need to actually follow through.
If it’s feedback regarding something you really can’t change, communicate this too. It’s better to say you heard someone, but just can’t make it happen right now then to say nothing and let them think you ignored their suggestion.
Lesson 5: Support Over Competition - Collaborative Leadership
Beyonce and Taylor Swift are two of the biggest celebrities of our time and they are currently both on record-breaking world tours. Back in 2009 they even were pitted against each other at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) when Kayne West interrupted Taylor’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video to say it should have been Beyonce’s.
While these two women have a lot of reasons to compete against each other, they actually are huge supporters of one another. This year they both released movies in theaters of their tours and attended each other’s premieres.
Really since 2009, these two major music moguls have been supporting each other. In 2021, Beyonce sent Taylor flowers and a kind, hand-written note after the Grammys (which Taylor posted online in support of Beyonce).
For leaders, it’s easy to get that competitive edge when thinking about your competition, but I encourage you to consider the benefits of developing allies over rivals. I currently lead mastermind groups for local business owners. These leaders meet twice a month and go beyond simply networking. The group starts each meeting with a round robin discussion outlining what major priorities and to-dos they’ve accomplished since our last meeting. We also end the group by setting priorities. The best part of the meeting happens in the middle where each leader has the opportunity to participate in a hot seat. During hot seats, the leader gets to bring an idea, challenge, opportunity or question to the group. The group then puts all ideas on the table (masterminding) that might help the leader in the hot seat. Utilizing this process leaders are able to learn, grow, establish trust, and even collaborate with other local business owners. As the saying goes, rising tides raise all ships. By supporting others in our field, we can bring out the best in each of us.
Taylor Swift's journey from a teenage country sensation to a global pop icon offers invaluable leadership lessons that extend beyond the realms of the music industry. As a leadership coach and self-proclaimed Swiftie, I think the parallels between Taylor's approach to her career and effective leadership strategies are unmistakable. Plus, it’s simply just fun to think about our own professional development in terms of Taylor Swift.
If you are curious about exploring more of these leadership concepts, I encourage you to connect with me via LinkedIn or Instagram. You can also check out my website here. I offer a variety of coaching and leadership/team development options for professionals who are interested in exploring how to be their best selves and how to get the best out of their people. My most popular program is my High Performing Team program which utilizes Gallup CliftonStrengths and other proven habits to improve performance and collaboration, reduce unproductive conflict, boost engagement and support personal and professional growth for each of your team members. I also often build custom leadership development programs for organizations and teams who are looking for a unique and fun approach to their continued professional growth. Plus, I can provide interesting, educational, and fun content if you are looking for someone to facilitate a workshop or keynote for an annual meeting or upcoming conference.
