Aspects of leading a team — of helping people do their best work — aren’t so different from being a composer or a bandleader.

Recently, my team was preparing demos for a few clients. Each of us was building our own version, and I thought: What if I could standardize the process? So I did what any good “composer” would — I wrote out the flow, architected every step, and documented the whole thing like sheet music for the group to follow.

But when we got together to present, I noticed something: the instructions weren’t landing the way I imagined. What felt clear to me wasn’t intuitive to others. The “music” didn’t quite play the same when different people picked up the score.

That’s when it hit me — I wasn’t just composing; I needed to conduct. A good bandleader doesn’t just hand out the sheet music and walk away. They listen, adapt, and draw out the strengths of each musician.

I realized that to truly help my team, I had to meet them where they were — to design not just a system, but a shared understanding. Sometimes that means recording a walkthrough video instead of writing another page of instructions. Sometimes it means adjusting the rhythm to fit how others naturally play.

Leading a team, like composing music, is both a science and an art. You can script the structure, but the magic comes from how the people inside it bring it to life.