What Taylor Swift Can Teach Us About Strategy, Success, and Being a Woman with Ambition

When I start feeling a little on edge, that’s usually a pretty good indicator that I need to write something off my chest. I often joke that my fingers do the writing, because I have no clue what’s going to come out until after I read it on the page.

So let’s see what happens, shall we?

Discovering A Book on Taylor Swift’s Business Acumen at the Library

I went to the library the other day to pick up Outer Order Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin as part of my prep to interview her on the Paring Down podcast next week (!!). While I was there, I decided to browse the new release shelf, and stumbled across a book published by the Harvard Business Review Press about the business acumen of Taylor Swift, using research from innovation, creativity, psychology, and strategy to analyze her wildly successful career that seems to ceaselessly grow. The book is called There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift by Kevin Evers, senior editor at the Harvard Business Review.

I immediately pulled out my library card and brought it home with me.

Why Being a Taylor Swift Fan Is Controversial

Before I tell you why I grabbed it, though, let me say this: I think that part of my being on edge today is due to a bubbling frustration that admitting I’m a fan of Taylor Swift has the potential to be such a polarizing confession. I recently read that “Taylor Swift just tries to steal the money from parents of 13-year-olds by creating songs like Shake It Off, and then consciously altered her music to be inappropriate for her fanbase.”

There’s just so much incorrect information in this statement that, as a human who doesn’t speak on issues I don’t know much about, I’m annoyed it requires a defense in the first place. As far as my knowledge of Taylor Swift, I am not a crazed fan with an embarrassing parasocial bond. I’ve just been listening to her music since I was 18, and feel the urge to correct misinformation touted by people who spout opinions after exactly zero experience or research on a subject matter, especially when said opinion damages the overall progress of women in society.

Misunderstanding Taylor Swift: A Case Study in Gendered Criticism

In a posture that I hope projects I’m not crazy, promise!, this is what I would’ve liked to say to the person who wrote this, “Actually I’m a fan of Taylor at the age of 37 because she’s been making music for over 20 years. She made music for teenagers when she was a teenager, and now she makes music for adults as an adult. She doesn’t make adult music for teenagers. Her fans have aged with her.

Some of her older music still resonates with tweens because she’s a skilled songwriter, so even though they were released over a decade ago, they still connect with the younger generation. And they’re entirely appropriate. The problem is that these older songs continue to be used against her, too. She’s often brushed off as only writing about break ups from an unsophisticated teenage perspective, but not only does that standpoint expose a tremendous lack of knowledge about her discography (i.e. why are you only referencing songs she wrote in 2006?), it’s in direct contradiction to the same critics getting mad that her music is no longer appropriate for tweens.

Not to mention, maligning a woman for writing about relationships discredits and belittles women in general, because where is the same criticism for literally every male artist who also writes about love and loss across 100% of genres?”

Why Harvard and NYU Study Taylor Swift’s Business Genius

“Taylor is known in the industry and out of it as one of the most generous artists to ever exist, as someone who carries herself with kindness and humility, and continuously reinvents her sound to stay relevant, embodying the type of business and artistic prowess that should be celebrated (particularly by other women), not dismissed. It’s so impressive, in fact, that Harvard, NYU, and Stanford all have classes to learn from how she operates. And yet she still has to fight critics who treat her like she’s a vapid teenager and/or a calculating manipulator.

As a woman, even if I didn’t enjoy her music, I certainly wouldn’t want to be part of the chorus of voices who bring down a woman who brings so much joy, art, and intelligence to one of the largest industries in the world — especially without any real knowledge of her discography, personal values, or strategic vision.”

Alas, I didn’t respond because I don’t believe in arguing back and forth with people online.

What Taylor Swift Teaches Us About Female Ambition

Onto why I borrowed There’s Nothing Like This from the library. I, for one, want to learn the ins and outs of what makes people successful and influential, because I hope to be successful and influential, myself. This is why I greatly enjoyed Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (founder of Nike). Yes, I’m a Taylor Swift fan, but this book would’ve peaked my interest nonetheless, simply because her trailblazing career is impossible to ignore.

Is it weird to admit that I want to be successful and influential?

It sure feels like it.

For women, there’s this sense that vocalizing our ambition makes us sound like money hungry attention seekers. In fact, might I quote Taylor Swift from an interview with CBS?

“There's a different vocabulary for men and women in the music industry, right? A man does something, it's strategic. A woman does the same thing, it's calculated.”

I would say that is true across industries.

Strategic Career Building Without Shame or Apology

I want to implement strategic moves to create the career that I want. Not for money. Not for fame. But because I love what I do. I love writing. I love podcasting. I love spreading the message that our lives feel fuller and more meaningful when we let go of all the junk that doesn’t matter— literal and otherwise.

Why wouldn’t I want to be intentional and strategic about how I build my career?

So, yes, I plan on learning as much as I can about how to make it happen via books, observation, and feedback, and then working hard to get there.

Maybe someday I’ll look back at this post and think, “Good for you, Self! You did it!” And maybe someday I’ll look back at this post and think, “That was such a fun dream for that period in your life, but things worked out differently and that’s okay.”

I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that we all deserve to feel passionately about whatever God has put on our hearts. Or if you don’t believe in God, we deserve to feel passionately about whatever will make us excited about this one life we have to live.

We should all be enthusiastic about the musical artists we like without fear of judgment, animated about our dreams for the future without fear of misperception, and impassioned by the gifts that make us feel alive.

Join me, won’t you?