What All Leaders Can Learn from Taylor Swift

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Whether you're a fan of Taylor Swift or not, no one can deny her success as both a music star and businesswoman. Her career has been a masterclass in everything from customer connection to innovation, decision-making to digital adaption, offering lessons for people in any industry. HBR senior editor Kevin Evers investigated Swift's rise and evolution for his new book, There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, and found interesting patterns. He explains how she's kept audiences loyal, why her Eras tour was so successful, and the vision and "productive paranoia" that have kept her on top. Evers also wrote the HBR article "The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift."

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Amy Bernstein, HBR's editor-in-chief.
0:04.0	And I'm Amy Gallo, a long-time contributing editor to HBR.
0:07.7	Along with Amy B, I host our Women at Work podcast, which now releases episodes every other Monday year-round.
0:14.2	That means more practical advice and more insights to make you feel seen and supported in your career.
0:20.7	Subscribe to Women at Work wherever you listen to podcasts.
0:37.4	Welcome to the HBRideast from Harvard Business Review.
0:40.3	I'm Alison Beard.
0:49.2	Anyone who's been following pop culture over the past decade knows the story of Taylor Swift.
0:55.3	An aspiring teen songwriter, moves to Nashville and becomes a country music ingenue, then a country star.
1:00.6	She crosses over into pop and becomes a star in that genre too, while also dabbling in indie rock.
1:06.5	She wins multiple Grammys, she breaks album sales and streaming records, and then she does a two-year stadium concert tour that is an absolute sensation,
1:16.0	the most popular and highest grossing of all time.
1:19.1	At age 35, she is now probably the most famous woman on the planet.
1:23.8	That kind of assent takes a whole lot of talent, no doubt,
1:26.9	but it also takes business savvy,
1:28.9	a clear vision, an innovative mindset, smart collaboration, and clever marketing.
1:34.6	HBR's own senior editor, Kevin Evers, has done a deep dive into what's made Taylor Swift so
1:39.8	successful, and he says there are lots of lessons for corporate leaders, and in fact, anyone
1:44.6	trying to get ahead in their career. He's the author of the new book, There's Nothing Like
1:48.9	This, the Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, and he's here today to talk about how to bring a little
1:54.6	of her magic to your own organization. Kevin, congrats on the book. I'm so excited to have you
1:59.7	here today. Thanks for having me.
	...

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