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Alive… who sings it back to renew you?

You have built that weekend for other people....

Yellow Ledbetter… can you execute your way back Alive?

Have you been executed?6 months. That is exactly...

I am mine… do you wonder who chose you Alive?

There is a version of that question sitting in...

Just breathe… and observe what is still Alive

“Hey, thanks for making time to meet me...

Given to fly… which partner keeps you Alive?

What partner keeps you Alive?Both of our...

Nothing as it seems… can you manage Alive?

managing to stay Alive…“Semiconductor...

Unfinished enough to engage Alive?

How do you engage to stay Alive?Alive has a...

About Leading with Music

Brought to you by empoweringLEADERS; authored by Mark K. House.

While there are many blog sites on both Leadership and Music, our site aims to deepen the understanding of bothand do it in the length of a song.

  • Select a post (like the one above),
  • Hit play on YouTube, Apple Music, or Spotify for the music selection
  • Read a short article about Leadership 

In less than 5 minutes, get an artist to explore further with a bite-sized leadership point as you dive into your day. Buttons below take you to the previous or more recent post to keep reading. Join us on LinkedIn to leave a comment, and subscribe below for Daily or Weekly email updates. Share your own findings about #leadingWithMusic on LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Each week we select a Band of the week to emphasize a Leadership theme. Daily we emphasize one of the empower leadership competencies (to the left here). For example, Monday will always be about engage, and Sunday will always be about renew. All include real-world best practices learned from many years of global leadership and many mistakes that you can avoid.

You can Browse or Search for music or topics of interest to you. We are always looking for new Leadership Topics or Bands to cover and welcome your contributions to those lists.  Workshops using the power of music either virtually or in person are also available.

About the Author, Mark House

Mark has been immersed in music and singing since his youth, including singing in a Boys Choir at the 1968 Methodist Church Global meeting. He also watched as his Dad returned from meetings at IBM with his “songbook”, charged up by singing at offsite meetings regularly.  He helped lead music for his high school and college Youth Groups, and was part of a Bluegrass Gospel group as the bass player for over 15 years. As he noticed the absence of music and creativity in the workplace, he wrote “musical skits” in his corporate roles at IBM, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and VeriSign.

As he transitioned from corporate roles, he co-led singing for every session of his coaching cohort at Georgetown University.  It was there he saw the power of music to get strangers and teammates to bond quickly.  Backed up by the science in Daniel Levitin’s great book This is Your Brain on Music, he began a 15-year focus on bringing music back into the workplace.

This led to offering multiple Music Makes Me workshops at Georgetown and other commercial and government organizations. He is now structuring offsite and meetings around music, and as an anthym certified consultant, can work with virtual teams around the globe. More details are here. He is recognized for his ability to find a song or build a playlist for just about any occasion and looks forward to your tune.

Our Most Recent Articles

A packed arena crowd at a Pearl Jam concert
Aug 30 2026

Alive… who sings it back to renew you?

You have built that weekend for other people. The offsite, the team dinner, the session where everybody finally says the true thing. You planned it, you ran it, you...
A cardboard box marked Return to Facilities with a name written on the side
Aug 29 2026

Yellow Ledbetter… can you execute your way back Alive?

Have you been executed?6 months. That is exactly how long I lasted as the VP of Global Engineering at a mid-sized imaging company. I was the 6th head of engineering...
Eddie Vedder singing into a microphone on stage
Aug 28 2026

I am mine… do you wonder who chose you Alive?

There is a version of that question sitting in your calendar. The note from HR lands, the one that says 10 years, and you read it twice. What you feel is not pride and...
A hand writing in an open notebook
Aug 27 2026

Just breathe… and observe what is still Alive

“Hey, thanks for making time to meet me this morning! How have you been?”He was a larger-than-life man, bounding across the coffee shop to join me. We had...
A conference speakerphone on a desk
Aug 26 2026

Given to fly… which partner keeps you Alive?

What partner keeps you Alive?Both of our predecessors quit. Mine, in Product Management, and his, the VP of Engineering, left within a few months of each other, leaving...
The crew of Space Shuttle flight 41-G on the flight deck in 1984
Aug 25 2026

Nothing as it seems… can you manage Alive?

managing to stay Alive…“Semiconductor memory will never fly in space.” The PhD in our division said it in a meeting, flat, the way people say things they...
A cassette tape, the kind Stone Gossard mailed out looking for a voice
Aug 24 2026

Unfinished enough to engage Alive?

How do you engage to stay Alive?Alive has a special meaning when you are the short kid… and the school Bully has you cornered in the locker room… the door behind...
Space Shuttle flight deck display system
Aug 14 2026

wondering Belonging … what actually lasts (Time)

… another late Thursday night in the lab. 8 weeks into debugging the new Space Shuttle display system we were designing… 6 weeks late. As before, I had a great partner...
Aug 12 2026

Belong as a real partner?

Belong as a real partner? Be a 15-year-old boy, in a suit at Kroger’s, buying Tampons on a Friday afternoon. Embarrassed… but there I was. I found my first real partner...
Aug 10 2026

How will you engage Belonging?

… as I looked in the right-side mirror to change lanes, it was vibrating… then it cracked… then blew off! Just like that, I could not see anything down the right side...