In my 15-year career in tech + freelancing, here are some truths:
1) You are just a resource, replaceable anytime, always be prepared with options! Especially for freelancing, never settle for a single project, always keep 1+n and never depend on one income stream — diversify (consulting, teaching, side projects).
2) Office/Company/Clients/Colleagues!= Family (don't confuse, they don't)
3) Learn to say “No” — overcommitting kills both productivity and peace of mind.
4) Upskilling is your insurance. The tech you know today can be irrelevant tomorrow.
5) Don’t chase titles; chase impact and freedom — those last longer.
6) Networking beats résumés. Opportunities come from people, not portals.
7) Emotional intelligence > Technical brilliance when it comes to leadership.
8) Work-life balance isn’t a luxury; it’s what keeps you in the game long-term.
9) Document everything — it protects you, helps others, and earns respect.
10) The real growth happens when you start mentoring others.
I learned the painful way; you don't have to!
Lorde leaving Universal after a deal she signed at 12 has sparked a lot of conversation.
She's made it clear there's no bad blood, and she framed it pretty simply: a child agreed to terms before she really understood what she was giving away.
But that dynamic isn’t limited to 12-year-olds.
It still plays out across the industry. Artists sign agreements they don’t fully understand, complex royalty structures, rights that shift hands, clauses that only reveal themselves years later. The system has historically relied on that imbalance.
What’s changing is visibility. Information is easier to access, and some artists are asking better questions.... or choosing not to sign at all.
But it’s not a clean shift. For every artist taking control, many are still trading long-term rights for short-term advances. The model hasn’t gone away. It’s just adapted.
Dance music saw an early version of this. Artists built audiences independently, so ownership wasn’t theoretical; it directly shaped outcomes. If you controlled your masters or publishing, you controlled the upside across streaming, touring, and increasingly, sync and brand deals.
That’s what's different. When you control the rights, you have options. When you don’t, the value still gets created; it just flows elsewhere.
Artists are getting smarter. And while more established artists have greater choices, I think decisions like these show people on the up that alternative paths are out there.
The ultimate power move in music isn't a chart-topping hit—it's re-recording your entire catalog.
When Taylor Swift's masters were sold against her wishes, she didn't just complain—she headed back to the studio. "When something says (Taylor's Version)," she explained, "that means I own it." Four albums in, her strategy has paid off spectacularly.
Music copyright is multi-layered: composition rights (melody/lyrics), master recording rights (the actual audio), and performance rights (for public playback). Artists often control some but not all—which is why re-recording creates new masters they can fully own.
Crucially, Swift retained her publishing rights for her early albums, making the re-recording strategy feasible in the first place.
Swift isn't the first to play this card. JoJo re-recorded her early albums after a label dispute left them unavailable on streaming services. Def Leppard created "forgeries" of their hits to gain leverage in digital royalty negotiations. Frank Sinatra founded his own record label and re-recorded his classics for creative freedom.
The financial impact is staggering—Swift's re-recordings consistently outperform the originals. Red (Taylor's Version) broke Spotify's record for most-streamed album in a day by a female artist, effectively devaluing the original masters. This strategy has contributed significantly to Swift becoming a billionaire in 2023—largely through music revenue, a rare achievement in the industry.
Meanwhile, music catalogs have become hot investment properties, with over $5 billion spent on acquisitions in 2021 alone. Investors view music rights as stable assets that generate reliable returns.
The industry has noticed. Labels are now extending re-recording restriction periods from 5-7 years to 10-30 years in new contracts.
Musicians should consider strategic pushback: leveraging existing fanbase data in negotiations, pushing for shorter contract terms, and seeking reversion clauses that return masters after a certain period. If full ownership isn't possible, joint ownership structures with labels offer an alternative—even partial control provides a seat at the table for future decisions.
As Brendan Brown of Wheatus, who re-recorded "Teenage Dirtbag," bluntly advised: "Never give away your publishing or your masters... there's no excuse not to hoard your s*** and keep it under your bed."
If you could see any artist reclaim their back catalog through re-recordings, who would it be and which album deserves the "(Artist's Version)" treatment first?
#IPidity#copyright#WorldIPday#MastersOfTheirDomain
P.S. Interested in how IP supports investment in the music industry? Tune in to WIPO's IP Finance Dialogue on May 13. We'll be discussing ongoing research we're conducting on this topic. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eD9cXSak
How do you build a career out of freelancing and actually make it sustainable?
Here’s what’s helped me stay engaged, avoid burnout, and make freelancing a stable, financially rewarding path.
1. Diversify your income.
Never rely on one client, one industry, or one type of work for your entire income. Spread the risk. When one sector slows down, others keep you steady. This effort has kept my business thriving through economic shifts and client churn over the last twelve years.
2. Pivot when the market shifts.
Freelancing is about adaptability. You’ll need to evolve as client preferences change, technology advances, and industry trends shift. Making small and big pivots as a freelancer (in any career) is necessary for long-term viability.
3. Invest in continuous learning.
Your expertise skills are your business, so you have to make the time to sharpen them. Take courses, learn complementary disciplines, and explore tools that extend your value. The freelancers who learn fast stay relevant.
4. Protect your enjoyment.
Not every project has to be lucrative. Some should simply be interesting. Creative satisfaction fuels consistency. Without joy, freelancing becomes just like a salaried full-time role and burnout will find you fast if all your work is mundane.
5. Design for flexibility, not just $$$.
Money matters, but so does how you earn it. Freelancing ideally gives you the freedom to shape your schedule, your clients, and your priorities. Continue to design your practice around your own fulfillment, not just income.
Freelancing can be a stable, fulfilling career if you treat it like one. It's an active practice and not the type of job you can leave on autopilot.
I wrote more on these tactics for building a lasting career as a freelancer in the latest edition of the Career Freelancer newsletter this week, check it out below.
#freelance#selfemployed#solopreneur#freelancetips
As a junior lawyer, I had to piece together information on how to get promoted. In case it helps somebody going through the process for the first time, here’s what I’ve learned going through 4 rounds of promotion cycles (most successful, some not):
1️⃣ Most people start the promotion process too late. The best time is 6-12 months before the application date. This gives you enough time to gather evidence of your achievements, work on any shortcomings in your promotion application and align with your manager / stakeholders before budgets and resourcing are locked in.
2️⃣ Promotion policies can contain 10+ criteria to meet, but trying to address them all in an application with a word limit will dilute your message. Instead, choose 3-5 criteria that you can craft a strong narrative around.
3️⃣ It's hard to remember and quantify your accomplishments if you aren't tracking them throughout the year. Setting up an ongoing tracker early is helpful (I use Microsoft Planner), especially around those 3-5 criteria you've chosen.
4️⃣ It’s okay to try for a promotion before you feel completely ready. Even if your first attempt is unsuccessful, you'll learn things from the experience that will make it harder for them to say no the second time (like I did). Better to apply a year early than a year late.
5️⃣ Understand that there are things outside of your control in determining whether your promotion will be successful or not (e.g. budget and resourcing constraints, stakeholders who aren’t fond of you for non-work reasons, economic conditions etc). The goal is to focus on the things that are within your control and maximise your chances as much as possible.
Here’s what the timeline / process can look like using these principles:
🔹 1 year out- Learn about your organisation’s promotion process (deadlines, forms to submit, promotion criteria, stakeholders in the approval process)
🔹 6-12 months out - Have a discussion with your manager to let them know that you intend to apply for the promotion, identify any areas you may need to improve on, and agree on goals to achieve that would maximise your chance of success in the application.
🔹 6 - 12 months out - Choose a few promotion criteria to focus on and set up a system to track and quantify your contributions towards those criteria in your current work.
🔹 1 month out - Write up a draft promotion application (ask your colleagues if they can share theirs)
🔹 2-4 weeks out - Remind your manager and ask if they could review and provide feedback on your draft application.
🔹 Submission before the deadline.
🔹 If unsuccessful, follow up for feedback and agree on a plan for improving your application for next time.
Anything else you’d add?
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Next week, I’ll be sending out a step-by-step guide on how to apply for a promotion with practical examples to the 7,782 people on my mailing list.
If you're interested, I hope you'll subscribe via my website or the link in my profile and give it a read.
10 things I have learned about promoting your employees 🤓
You promote your employees to reward outstanding performance, help them develop professionally, and motivate them.
However ❗ If done incorrectly, promotions can be a sure-fire way to achieve the opposite and significantly demotivate your employees.
>>>
Here’s what I have learned when scaling WorkMotion from 0 to 300+ employees:
1. Formal process 🏛: Promotions should follow a process that is so formal that it makes you feel like a German government office. At WorkMotion, you can only be promoted as part of our strict 6-month review cycle. No exceptions - ever.
2. No manager bias 👨💼: Who gets to decide on a promotion? The manager? No. Managers suggest, but they don’t decide because they might be biased. At WorkMotion, all promotions are evaluated by an objective Promotion Committee that decides in the best interest of the company.
3. Full team support 🌐: You need to hear them all. Our Promotion Committee evaluates employees based on thorough 360-degree feedback from team members, collaborators, direct reports, and managers. Every promotion should have the support of the full team.
4. Performance is not enough 🥇: Employees should not be promoted solely based on their performance. You want to promote role models that embody your company’s values.
5. No surprises 🎁: Promotions should not be a surprise gift from above. It’s a two-way street and you need to make sure the employee actually wants to be promoted (and take on more responsibilities). It’s critical to pre-discuss promotions with the affected employee.
6. Clear expectations 📈: As a manager, you always need to be clear on what you expect from your employees to qualify for a promotion. And this also needs to be clear to them. How else would they be able to step up and develop further?
7. Proactive proposal 📢: Many managers wait for their employees to ask for a promotion. While instead, managers need to be proactive about suggesting a promotion and regularly discuss where the employee stands vs. expectations.
8. What now? 📝: Promotions are not just a change of title and more salary. There must be a clear career path for employees telling them what their new role is about and what the expectations for their new role are.
9. Celebrate! 🎉: Once final, all promotions must be publicly celebrated, e.g. in an all-hands meeting. If the points above are followed, you will see enthusiastic celebrations and lots of praise. This can be worth more than a salary increase to some.
10. Transparency is key 🔎: The full process (and timeline) should be documented and accessible to everyone at your company. You want your promotion process to be defensible, visible, and formal, not elusive, biased, and secret.
Would love to hear about your experiences with being promoted or promoting others.
Since my last post, I’ve received multiple messages from people in my network eager to dive into the freelancing world. I can't help but notice the appeal it holds for many. The idea of working remotely, setting your own hours, and being your own boss? Sounds like the dream, right?
Spoiler alert: freelancing isn't as glamorous as it seems.
Now, I'm not here to rain on anyone's parade, but I do think it's essential to peel back the curtain and reveal what freelancing is really like.
📅 The much-coveted 'Flexibility': While it's true you get to choose your working hours, this flexibility often turns into a double-edged sword. Clients may hail from different time zones, requiring you to adapt to odd working hours. And weekends? Those can easily become workdays when a project deadline looms or a client requests last-minute changes. The inconsistency in workload also makes it hard to 'switch off,' leading to burnout if you're not careful.
🎩 Chief Everything Officer (CEO): If you're freelancing, you're not just the talent; you are the sales team, marketer, accountant, customer service rep, IT helpdesk and everything in between. You're basically running a one-person business, and that involves a lot more than just being good at your craft. You don't just get to do the 'fun' part of your job; you're responsible for everything - whether it’s invoicing, chasing payments, or juggling client demands.
💵 Show me the Money: Unlike a steady paycheck, freelancing income is anything but predictable. One month you’d be swamped with projects, raking in more than you ever did in your 9-to-5. And the next, you’d be hitting refresh on your inbox hoping for a new client inquiry. In addition to this, non-payment or delayed payments are not unheard of. In fact, a survey by Freelancers Union revealed that 58% of freelancers have faced non-payment at some point in their careers.
And oh, did someone mention benefits? Or rather, the lack thereof? Unlike a regular job, where you have health insurance not just for yourself but your dependents as well, paid leaves, and a plethora of other benefits, freelancers arrange all of this themselves.
💡 Is Freelancing for You? Despite these challenges, freelancing can be incredibly rewarding for those who are up for it. The freedom, the autonomy, and the sheer joy of doing something you're passionate about can be unbeatable. So, before you take the plunge, you should know that freelancing is a career choice that deserves just as much consideration, preparation, and seriousness as any other.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this. If you are a freelancer or have freelanced, how has your experience been? And if you’re considering freelancing, what questions do you have?
#careerchoices#freelancer#workanniversary
Organisation structures don’t serve us well.
They give us reporting lines and hierarchies, but they often fail to capture the fluid nature of collaboration and how work gets done.
The fact is, organisations are ecosystems, not boxes on a page. When we design an organisation, we can’t separate structure from how we operate or how the ecosystem interacts. We need to think beyond the traditional model and look at the connections, interdependencies, and cultural dynamics that shape the organisation.
Reorganisations are often driven by specific goals like optimising reporting lines, reducing costs, or increasing efficiency. But these efforts rarely address deeper issues like how we serve customers, how information moves, how people collaborate, and what the culture values. Without these considerations, restructuring becomes a surface fix rather than a meaningful transformation.
And often an organisation restructure fails to optimise the business. It misses the opportunity to design an organisation that is adaptable and aligned with how people work.
Frequently an organisation will be designed around the wants of a specific individual or set of individuals rather than around the customer needs and business optimisation. Typically these reorgs are short-term and not scalable so require another change when someone leaves.
Before any reorganisation, it’s essential to look at the whole ecosystem: how do we create value for customers, how does work flow, how do people interact, where are the bottlenecks, and what are the unspoken norms that influence behaviour? Only by understanding this can we create a structure that enhances, rather than disrupts, how work happens.
So, before you consider a reorganisation:
- Have you mapped out how work happens in your organisation?
- Do you understand the cultural dynamics that shape collaboration and decision-making?
- Have you got clear outcomes in mind that you want to achieve?
- Are you designing with growth, flexibility and adaptability in mind?
How do you approach organisation design in your company or with your clients?
#organization#OD#operatingmodel#businessgrowth
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Following up on my recent post about centralizing vs. decentralizing AI governance, I came across a Gartner report that sheds light on how organizations are actually structuring themselves for success, which matches my experience when working with top teams on strategy and AI.
The Gartner study focuses on AI leaders whose organizations have already deployed at least one AI use case in production (n=251 for the structure data), so we're looking at insights from teams already in the game.
Here are a few of my key takeaways from the research:
1. Your Challenges Evolve With Your Maturity
The report clearly shows that low- and high-maturity organizations are solving completely different problems (Figure 2):
- Low-maturity orgs are stuck at the starting line. Their top challenges are finding the right use cases (20%), governing generative AI use (12%), and funding initiatives (10%).
- High-maturity orgs have different worries. Their problems are about scale and risk: security threats (19%) and data availability (11%).
This shift from "What should we do?" to "How do we scale this securely and effectively?" is a critical milestone.
2. "Fit-for-Purpose" Beats "One-Size-Fits-All"
This is the most compelling data, tying back to our governance discussion. The report analyzed which organizational structures (Centralized, Hybrid, Decentralized) had a significant positive or negative impact on the capabilities of high-maturity organizations (Figure 3).
- Pure Decentralization showed a significant negative impact on critical areas like AI development teams, AI data, and AI ideation/prioritization.
- Centralized models showed a strong positive impact for AI data, AI development teams, and AI application development. This makes sense for pooling scarce talent and ensuring standards.
- Hybrid models were the winning strategy for areas like AI portfolio management, AI funding, and AI vendor management, balancing central oversight with business-unit autonomy.
The key finding? High-maturity organizations don't default to one model. They design "fit-for-purpose" structures, centralizing what's high-risk or scarce (like data and core development) while using hybrid models for strategy and funding.
How is your organization balancing the need for centralized standards with decentralized innovation?
#AI#AIGovernance#DigitalTransformation#Leadership#GenAI#Gartner#DataStrategy#AIStrategy#OrgDesign
The 5-Step Plan to Get Promoted from Analyst to Associate
Few years ago, I was where many of you are today—an Analyst, grinding through endless models and decks, wondering how to stand out in a room full of high achievers.
The 5 step plan that helped me get a promotion to an Associate Role
1. Think Beyond Your Desk
Most Analysts stick to their tasks. I didn’t.
I made it a point to understand the full deal lifecycle—from origination to execution. I asked questions about why decisions were made and how my work fit into the bigger picture.
Associates and VPs noticed.
2. Master the "Preemptive Fix"
I learned to predict problems before they arose.
If a slide might raise questions in a meeting, I included a backup. If a model assumption seemed off, I flagged it early.
This wasn’t just about competence—it was about making my seniors’ lives easier.
3. Build Relationships with the Right People
Promotion decisions aren’t just about your immediate boss. I cultivated relationships with professionals across teams—Associates, VPs, and even MDs.
When the time came, I had advocates in every room where my name was discussed.
4. Own Your Work, Big or Small
One of my MDs once told me, "The fastest way to promotion is making me forget you’re an Analyst."
I owned my work like I was already an Associate—pushing beyond the minimum and presenting it as if it was client-ready.
5. Manage Stress with Composure
IB is high pressure, but I made sure I never let stress show during crunch time. Calm Analysts inspire confidence.
If you seem composed, seniors trust you with bigger responsibilities.
Getting promoted is about more than technical skills. It’s about evolving into someone people rely on.