What’s The OffBeat about?

The way we work is broken*. 

Burnout is the norm. The gender wage gap persists. Personal politics run roughshod over empathy. Childcare infrastructure is in crisis. Meetings are a waste of time, emails and Slack notifications flood in 24/7, and taking actual time off is a taboo.

It’s exhausting.

But once in a while, there’s a spark—a great sync, a good deck, a colleague who really sees you. What those moments share is often the same thing: exceptional leadership.

Leadership—real, reflective, human-centered leadership—takes as much energy as delivering the work itself. Maybe more. Because when you lead people, you shape how they experience work. And that shapes their lives.

So how do you take care of your team and your family? How can you “have it all” when the old frameworks no longer fit?

Over the last two decades, building and leading marketing teams (and raising two kids while doing it), I’ve had to confront these questions. And I’ve found unlikely clarity through music.

I’ve played jazz drums since elementary school and, over the course of my professional self-discovery journey in my 20s and 30s, I uncovered a wealth of interoperability between music and corporate leadership.

For example, my leadership approach is now to lead from behind, like how the job of the drummer is to keep the beat for the band from the physical back of the space. I provide clear and consistent vision, guardrails, and expectations, then let people crush it out in front.

Using music as a metaphor to change my perspective on building and leading my team and myself has helped me figure out how to juggle a high-powered role and a family, and how to improve my leadership skills.

It’s also helped me see work as a source of creativity, connection, and character-building again.

Work should stretch us in meaningful ways. Not through chronic stress, but through growth. Through leadership that expands our capacity to think, to connect, and to care.

The tides are shifting: toward values-driven leadership, toward rethinking what work is for.

And whether you manage people or show up as an independent leader in your role, it’s on us to mend what’s broken. We can do it by embracing the offbeat: pushing back, staying open, and finding new rhythm.

*I focus on corporate, knowledge-work settings because that’s what I know best. But the need for more human-centered work is universal.

OK, what’s the TLDR on what The OffBeat is about?

The OffBeat connects concepts from music to modern leadership challenges, helping you make work a source of creativity, connection, and character-building again. It gives you stories, tools, and ideas to help you actually “have it all,” whatever that means for you.

How often do you publish? 

Every Sunday morning.

• The first and third edition of the month is a roundup of links, recs, and reflections called the Lead Sheet. Like a lead sheet in music (just the essentials: melody, harmony, lyrics), it always has something to read, something to think about, and something else—all within the themes of leadership cues from music, cultural curiosity, and personal/professional balance.

• The second and fourth edition of the month is a think piece structured like a jam session in jazz (naming the tune—a punchy idea; soloing—exploring different takes on a central theme; outro—a thought-provoking closer).

Each send is easy-on-the-inbox (short, digestible, low cognitive load) because WE’RE ALL SO TIRED.

Is The OffBeat relevant to me?

Do these questions ever cross your mind?

• How do I manage people effectively when I’m burnt out and experiencing a reckoning around ambition?

• How do I juggle a high-powered role + caretaking responsibilities?

• How can I "have it all" post-Girlboss-era? How do I even define “all”?

• How do I develop my own signature leadership approach?

• How do I learn about leadership without getting bored?

• How do I obtain fresh, original leadership insights without having to go to a conference or attend a seminar?

• How do I improve my leadership skills quickly, with minimal resource outlay?

• How can I be a respected, inclusive leader in the workplace while maintaining a healthy personal/professional balance and supporting that same ethos for my team?

If any of those questions resonate, The OffBeat’s relevant for you.

Who’s Allison Stadd?

I’m a Philly-based (NYC expat) brand marketer and former jazz drummer. I’m currently the CMO of Ollie, the science-first dog wellness company known for its personalized, human-grade fresh food.

I have almost two decades of experience in high-stakes, fast-paced marketing leadership roles at consumer-obsessed brands, including Shake Shack, Sweetgreen, BarkBox, Stella Artois, and Target (Shipt). I’ve built, restructured, and tuned teams as small as 5 and as large as 50.

I cut my teeth in the 2000s on unpaid internships; shitty, untrained bosses; and the concept of "paying your dues.” I slowly burned out, then recovered from burnout, then slowly re-crispened, back and forth for, like, a decade.

I’ve finally found my way to a personal/professional balance but part of that is ensuring that I can find meaning in my work and that my work is true to my values.

I’m also a mom of two little kids (and an awesome wheelchair dog named Franklin).

And I’m honored to have been a member of the inaugural U.S. class of 30 of The Marketing Academy, a 9-month fellowship targeting the fastest rising stars in U.S. marketing, and I was selected as one of Ad Age’s “40 Under 40” and Brand Innovators’ “40 Under 40” in 2019.

I bring all of that to bear here in The OffBeat: low-cognitive-load, music-inspired ideas for jazzing up workplace leadership without sacrificing personal/professional balance.

The way we work is broken, but the way we lead doesn’t have to be.

allisonstadd.com | @AllisonStadd | bookshop.org

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