4 No-Skip Lessons from Taylor Swift’s New Heights Interview Every Leader Needs
If you’ve been anywhere near the internet this week, you probably didn’t miss the fact that Taylor Swift joined the New Heights podcast. Or that she’s dropping a new album.
(And if you have a Swiftie in your life, you definitely didn’t miss it.)
But what you might have missed?
The sneaky little leadership lessons buried in that interview. And no, this isn’t about how to write a breakup ballad or master a surprise album drop. This is about what Taylor’s story and words can teach women who want to make an impact, get promoted, and walk into the room with the kind of confidence that makes people pay attention.
Here are 4 of my favories…
1️⃣ Data matters… but so do feelings
When she fought to get her masters back, she didn’t do it for the “returns” or the “dividends”. It was “heart-first.” She cared about the ownership of her work on a personal level.
For leaders, numbers, KPIs, and metrics are important. But they’re not the whole picture. As a leader, if you ignore how your team feels about the work, you’re missing half the story. Science repeatedly shows us that our perceptions make our reality. So regardless of what those numbers say, you need to check in with your team and how they are feeling about their work.
2️⃣ “When you lose your sh*t, you lose your leadership”
Leadership isn’t the absence of emotion. Effective leaders use emotions strategically.
Great leaders are emotional chameleons. Not because they’re fake, but because they know how to read the room, regulate themselves, and channel exactly the right energy for the moment. That’s not inauthentic. That’s emotional mastery.
3️⃣ Name in the chat = Foot in the door
Taylor and Travis didn’t just happen. Before their first meet-up, people were dropping his name to her. Planting the seed. Making sure he wasn’t just “some guy from the Chiefs,” but someone already on her radar.
That’s networking in action. And no, it’s not sleazy. It’s strategic.
Same goes for your promotion to mid-level or senior-leadership. The more people talk about you in the right rooms, the easier it is to get in the door so you get your shot to wow them.
4️⃣ Anything you feed your brain, you’ll internalize
If you keep replaying every doubt, every criticism, every “maybe you’re not ready” in your head, you’re training your brain to believe it.
Flip the script.
Feed it the wins, the glowing feedback, the moments you crushed it. And before you think it. No, this isn’t toxic positivity. It’s rewiring your brain out of imposter syndrome and into a mindset that supports your growth. That’s a science-backed strategy in action.