Five Career Lessons I Learned From Madonna
The Queen of Pop is back with her 15th album in 4 decades... and here's what we can learn from her.
All hail. The Mother is back in town.
Madonna’s latest studio album is out, and the excitement feels entirely deserved. Let’s be honest… there is only one Madonna. No other artist or entertainer of the 20th or 21st century has built such a body of work: timeless pop, film, children’s books, art, spirituality, philanthropy, activism. A face recognised worldwide. A personality that has evolved relentlessly in the public eye, always under scrutiny, never diminished by it. Whether you’re a fan or not, this woman is a phenomenon. She has earned our respect and then some.
Here’s what she’s taught me about careers.
1. Do What You Love // Express Yourself
My work is all about helping people uncover their soul niche — what they were made for, what lights them up, what aligns with who they actually are. So many of us never discover it, or never allow ourselves to express it. Madonna has embodied it since day one.
With a passion for dance, performance and all things artsy, extraordinary self-discipline and drive, and some formative mentoring early on, she took her skill, her curiosity and her enthusiasm and just kept growing, be it as an artist, an activist, an entertainer and a woman.
What she teaches us: be brave enough to follow your energy, your delight, your obsession. That’s not indulgence. That’s the work.
2. Do It Right // Justify My Love
Nothing Madonna produces is ever, ever shoddy. You might not like it. You might not buy it. But you cannot dispute the work ethic or the quality behind everything she does.
She is exceptional at finding and bringing on talent to realise her vision. Most of her collaborators are long-term and speak warmly of working with her. She is a self-confessed workaholic, and while she has absolutely earned the right to slow down, she continues to deliver work designed with care, attention, and an uncompromising commitment to excellence.
I relate to this deeply. And I know how often women get punished for exactly this kind of drive. You’re called a bitch. A slave driver. Hard to work with. Aggressive. Demanding.
Maybe.
Or maybe you just deeply respect yourself and your audience, and occasionally you get stressed or snitty in the pursuit of keeping that promise.
That’s not a character flaw. That’s caring about excellence.
Do it right. Do it properly. Do it to the very best of your ability.
3. Your Work Evolves With You // Live to Tell
I don’t think Madonna has any peers when it comes to creative evolution. Some call it reinvention, but I see it differently. This is simply a self. It’s evolving, expressed and witnessed both publicly and privately over decades.
The sass and drive of her twenties. The precision and playfulness of her thirties.
Spirituality and motherhood are shaping her forties. Quiet, determined humanitarian work in her fifties. And now, in her sixties: joie de vivre, gratitude, beauty, curiosity and a hard-won gentleness towards herself and others.
Her work is informed by her ferocious and insatiable curiosity and lust for life. By spirituality, literature, politics, movement, art, music, history, parenting, poetry, advocacy, loss, love, family, travel, and the people she meets.
She is always gathering inspiration. She is always generous in sharing her insights and experiences that have shaped her; however vulnerable, she takes us with her.
Always threading new ideas, new stories, new perspectives into her art.
What we learn: every experience, every book, every conversation has value. All of it can be fuel. All of it shapes who you are and how you show up.
4. Experimentation and Learning Are Non-Negotiable // Human Nature
Even with all the talent, resources and experience in the world, there are still going to be misfires. Swept Away. The Sex book backlash. Pulling the American Life video. The heartbreaks. The hip replacements, the dodgy knees, the horrible horse-riding accident, the occasional filler moment that maybe went a touch too far. Even Her Majesty occasionally comes a cropper.
That’s life. The key is to keep going, fail fast and learn from it. To do all of this in the public eye, with the vitriol, the misogyny, the armchair critics, the lazy press, is nothing short of warrior-level brave.
We can all practice having a beginner’s mind. Trying things. Knowing that not everything will land the way we hoped. And knowing that every single attempt has value, not just the ones that make you millions.
5. You need never retire from being you // I Feel So Free
A true vocation, to me, is the fully realised expression of who you are. And over and over, Madonna has told us that one of her most powerful acts of rebellion is to simply keep showing up.
Why should she retire? Why would an artist stop creating? Why wouldn’t she continue to play with form and ideas, champion emerging artists, stand up for marginalised communities, put her money where her mouth is? This woman is tenacious, resilient, focused, persistent, a flat-out force of nature.
She isn’t going to stop being herself. Ever. And why on earth should she?
If anyone has earned the right to tell us she feels free and welcome on the dance floor as she approaches her seventh decade, it’s Madge. Beautiful, life-giving, joy-enhancing, provocative Madonna.
Thank you for being.
Thank you for being you.
Your one-of-a kindness gives us all permission to embrace our own. Thank you.
PS: If any of this resonates, if you’re thinking about your own career, your work, your influences, your soul niche, I’d love to hear from you. Hit me up.
PPS Madonna, if you ever want to download your historic career and life insights to someone who will help you curate them with the respect they deserve … you know where to find me.