What Leaders Can Learn from Taylor Swift

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve almost certainly heard about the success of Taylor Swift’s Eras mega-tour. The tour is projected to surpass $1 billion in ticket sales — it’s poised to become the highest-grossing tour of all time.

In addition to being a superstar with a worldwide fanbase, Swift is also a shrewd businesswoman and leader. The artist made headlines this month with a generous business move that’s turning heads: She gave out $100,000 bonuses to her tour’s truck drivers, far surpassing the typical $5,000–$10,000.

It’s a gobsmacking amount, and it came to the tremendous surprise of the drivers as they opened their checks.?

But this move isn’t just benevolent — it’s also a savvy human resources move that will significantly affect Swift’s organization. (Remember, Swift may be an artist, but she’s also the head of a gigantic, song-churning machine.)

Leaders can learn a thing or two from Swift’s strategy. Here’s what I find most remarkable about her latest effort and what I hope will become a trend for years to come.

You can have a real impact on people’s lives.?

Swift’s bonus is life-changing money: $100,000 is a downpayment on a house — something entirely out of reach for many millennials. The sum is enough to wipe out medical debt for many Americans (about 1 in 8 Americans with medical debt owe $10,000 or more). American borrowers have — on average — $28,950 in student debt. And $100,000 is a significant nest egg that could keep people out of the precarious situation many Americans live under: 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. That kind of money can be utterly transformative when so many of us are one emergency away from poverty.

As leaders, we play an outsized role in our colleagues’ lives. We can offer benefits, resources, and salaries that can drastically improve their lives. Let this be a lesson always to prioritize the human element of our work and advocate for our colleagues as much as possible.

When in doubt: Reward good work.

The truck drivers from Swift’s tour reported overwhelming shock, joy, and gratitude. HR managers should take note: This is as good an argument as any for a robust rewards system — and one that comes with real, concrete incentives.?

It’s also worth noting that each driver received the same bonus — it wasn’t tied to individual performance. Think of this as how restaurant servers often pool tips: It’s a way to account for the teamwork that goes into running a successful service every night. This award of $100,000 to each driver speaks to the collective work and negates the need for intra-team competition.

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I am unequivocal about my desire to improve qualities of life with responsible and generous human resources practices. I’ve written at length about the difference between benefits and perks (a perk is a ping pong table, a benefit is ample paid time off), and I’ll passionately discuss ways to better care for my colleagues with anyone who will listen.

What I love about Swift's approach, in this case, is the unfettered generosity toward real change. It’s a good business move: Morale among critical workers like truck drivers is vital to ensuring organizational success. (Good luck achieving the Eras tour’s incredible visuals, crystal clear guitar licks, and Swift’s emotional vocals without all the gear drivers haul from city to city.) And it’s largesse aimed at a group that a lesser leader might ignore: We’ve all gotten so used to massive bonuses for C-suite employees that it’s almost unheard of to reward people lower on the org chart.

As leaders, it’s our job to see the whole picture: the whole organization, project, and even the community we are a part of. I hope that Swift’s move will reverberate throughout the business world and that all leaders will take a page out of her book.?

When it comes to rewarding our colleagues, I say: Go big. (Taylor agrees.) There’s nothing to be lost by making people be valued and appreciated — or even changing their lives.