🥁 The OffBeat #86: Lead Sheet | Leadership Digest
Something to read, something to think about, something else
This is The OffBeat, where music meets leadership. I’m Allison Stadd—jazz drummer, marketing leader, and very tired/highly caffeinated mom of two—and each week I deliver a fresh take on work, creativity, and connection, like how to hire like Duke Ellington. It’s like HBR, but with better taste in music.
Lead Sheet 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, cultural curiosity, and personal/professional balance.
Opening Note | A track that captures the vibe of this edition of The OffBeat:
A perfect soundtrack for high-functioning chaos: modern motherhood, modern work, and the quiet art of not falling apart.
Things that aren’t doing the thing (Strangest Loop)
100 ways to live better (Putanominit)
It’s time to live a surplus life ()
Why joy should be your primary success metric (Aesthetics of Joy)
How the weather influences your music taste (The Weather Network)
Hobby mindset (Seth Godin)
“I’m not sure there’s anything to ‘get’ about music — it either hits your nervous system in the right way or it doesn’t. It’s like poetry — there’s nothing to ‘get’ about poetry. The words either do something to you or they don’t. There’s no secret meaning, really, to unlock it and snap it all into place. That’s just something we tell ourselves about poetry, that we have to have some sort of deep understanding to really ‘get’ it.” —
I’ve been on a big literary fiction kick, similar to the early days of COVID quarantine when I needed to escape everyday reality.
And one of the topics that keeps drawing my attention is the messy, manic nature of modern working motherhood.
If you can relate, or want to know what it’s like, here’s my motherlode of favorite books on the chaos and complexity of the Monday-through-Monday juggling act:
The Motherload, Sarah Hoover (this one’s a memoir)
This is a *NEW* Lead Sheet segment spotlighting other newsletters or podcasts that are tonally or thematically harmonious with The OffBeat. There’s so much great, under-the-radar independent content out there right now and I’m excited to surface my favorites here.
Ashley Rudolph is an executive coach and career strategist. She works with high-performing executives and leaders navigating career pivots, transitions, and the everyday challenges of leadership. Ashley writes The Operator’s Edge, a weekly Substack for ambitious professionals who want honest, practical insight into what it really takes to succeed at work.
For double the reading recommendations, including 7 phrases to use when giving feedback and an exploration of whether your workplace is a cult (😬), plus 5 fascinating things to listen to / watch, keep reading.