🥁 The OffBeat #70: Lead Sheet [f.k.a. Half Note] | Leadership Digest
Something to read, something to think about, something else
This is The OffBeat, from jazz drummer, two-decade marketing leader, and mom of two Allison Stadd: music-inspired answers for your leadership challenges, like channeling your inner Miles Davis to “over-listen.”
Lead Sheet (formerly known as Half Note) is The OffBeat’s every-other-week roundup of links, recs, and quotes. 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 and personal/professional balance.
Something to read:
**How to help the LA small business community**
**GoFundMes for Los Angeles area fire victims**
The five stages of company growth and the leadership personality needed
How to take a great portrait in 5 minutes or less
The power of “emotional proximity” at work
Are social media platforms the next dying malls?
Test your focus: can you spend 10 minutes with one painting?
Something to think about:
“I come back to John Tarrant’s observation that the average medieval person lived with no understanding of when the next plague, famine or war might come along to utterly upend their lives. If they’d waited until the future looked dependably bright before gathering for festivals, or creating art, or strolling under the stars with friends, they’d have been waiting forever. So they didn’t wait. You don’t need to wait, either.” — Oliver Burkeman
Something else:
The beginning of a new year is a great time to evaluate the rhythms of your work week. Some examples from leaders and creatives I admire:
Hollywood producer Brian Grazer schedules biweekly “curiosity conversations” with smart and interesting people across industries
A CEO I worked for stacked up his Fridays with external networking 1-1s
- takes a “bookends” approach to the day: “When I go to bed, I leave my phone plugged in on the kitchen counter, and I read a book in bed until I fall asleep. When I wake up, I don’t touch the phone again until I’ve made breakfast, finished my coffee, and filled 3 pages of my diary.”
Amanda Goetz plans “spin cycles” every day, month, and quarter: “A washing machine’s spin cycle is the time where all the heaviness from the water is removed so it can be lighter when it heads to the dryer. A spin cycle for your life is where you allow yourself to extract out all the heaviness after a push period.”
Daily spin cycle = A long walk outside from 3-5PM
Monthly spin cycle = One day with no meetings and time to decompress
Quarterly spin cycle = A four-day weekend to reset
Gretchen Rubin suggests an end-of-work-day ritual, like turning off and packing away your laptop, to signify your work day is done
These aren't just routines—they're rhythms. They provide the backbeat that keeps everything else in time.
Related OffBeat reading:
For double the reading recommendations, including the most anticipated books of 2025 and how to create a one-word theme for the year, plus—NEW for 2025!—some things to listen to / watch, keep reading.