Higher Power… renew the dream you filed as impossible?

"FINALLY, someone in the commercial sector can...

Coloratura… wonder what the people at the top see?

"Very few senior IBM leaders were technical."......

Moon Music… observe your team from as far away as the Moon?

"I was in Richardson Texas watching on a Black...

My Universe… partner with the people who know what you don’t?

"Without this, we would never have semiconductor...

Viva la Vida… manage the launch you cannot carry alone?

"It was one of the few missions that went off on...

Yellow… engage Space… in 256 colors?

"Space. The final frontier. These are the...

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 both – and 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

Nov 08 2026

Higher Power… renew the dream you filed as impossible?

"FINALLY, someone in the commercial sector can actually do this better..."... So when SpaceX started, I thought FINALLY, someone in the commercial sector can actually...
Nov 07 2026

Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall… execute the deadline around the date that matters?

"... in April of 87 as my wife was pregnant with Kyle... our third child 😉"... we won the Space Station Contract on December 1, 1987. I was on the team to help build...
Nov 06 2026

Coloratura… wonder what the people at the top see?

"Very few senior IBM leaders were technical."... With the exception of Jack Kuehler - who was the one of the top 3 leaders in the 80's. He was an engineer, and at the...
Nov 05 2026

Moon Music… observe your team from as far away as the Moon?

"I was in Richardson Texas watching on a Black and White TV."... Christmas Eve, 1968. Apollo 8 had gone into orbit around the Moon that day, and that evening the crew...
Nov 04 2026

My Universe… partner with the people who know what you don’t?

"Without this, we would never have semiconductor memory in Space."... It must have been 1983 or so... I was the prime researcher on an IRAD (Independent Research and...
Nov 03 2026

Viva la Vida… manage the launch you cannot carry alone?

"It was one of the few missions that went off on schedule."... It was October of 1984. I had helped lead a team to design an experiment that was flying in Space! I...
Nov 02 2026

Yellow… engage Space… in 256 colors?

"Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of Mark House through NASA, IBM... and people 😉"I was barely 22 when I worked on the Space Shuttle Display system. The...
Nov 01 2026

Freedom in Your Mind… renew your team by being unreachable?

Our offices in Crystal City were magnificent, with my boss having a great view of the city. It was a small team, so we would gather around his desk and he would engage...
Oct 31 2026

Smooth… execute the Change you keep asking others to make?

The whole concept of LeadingWithMusic is to talk about using the power of Music to Change the way we think and act as Leaders and people, taking you on a journey...
Oct 30 2026

Winning… wonder what you would build if you walked out tomorrow?

Today's story starts in a Maryland suburb with a kid graduating from high school and started at a local college. There he started working on building his first guitar...