Put It On Repeat
What I noticed at The One Club's Creative Leaders Retreat this year.
Photo credit: Rob Schwartz (Rob, can I use your photos on my Substack today?) ;)
I’ve always been someone who puts songs on repeat.
Not just once or twice, but over and over again until I know every word, every breath, every shift in key.
I was a singer and cheerleader growing up (I know) so repetition was part of the deal early on. There’s something about that practice that turns something good into something embodied.
And if I’m honest, I still do it. Repeat, not cheerleading.
Though, some might say Coaching and cheerleading are not all that diff… eh - never mind… that’s a conversation for another day.
Today I want to talk about how lately I’ve been listening to Robert Bradley’s Baby on repeat - over and over again. I can’t even.
It’s such a good song.
It reminds me of Lenny Kravitz’s It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over, another song I listened to on repeat for years. There is a point to this - and it connects to creative leadership, I promise.
Last month I was invited to attend and speak at The One Club’s Creative Leaders Retreat - the “unconference” where leaders from across the industry gather to share, reflect, and learn from one another in candid, small-group dialogue rather than podium presentations and a whole lotta hoopla.
If you want a great recap of the retreat itself, my Coaching for Creativity co-founder and partner Rob Schwartz wrote a beautiful one on his Substack. I won’t try to recreate it here - he captured the spirit of the gathering far better than I could.
What struck me most at this year’s retreat wasn’t the programming (which was truly memorable, thanks to talks delivered by industry leaders like Pum Lefebure, Aaron Starkman, Bianca Guimaraes, Judy John and others). What struck me was how many familiar faces I saw.
Leaders I had worked with one-on-one last year.
Workshop participants returning.
Clients who had done the work once and decided to repeat.
They didn’t just attend.
They returned.
And in a world obsessed with what’s new — the next idea, the shiny next new toy (hello, AI), the next trend — I’ve learned to pay attention to what repeats.
Because in this case, repeat means something different.
Repeat means depth.
Repeat means integration.
Repeat means something that lasted.
Over the last few years, as I have moved from a role inside agency leadership into building an executive coaching practice, I’ve learned something important:
People don’t return because you dazzled them.
They return because something settled.
Because your conversation meant something.
Because it held after the room was gone.
Just like the songs we put on repeat, the things that stay with us aren’t always the loudest.
They’re the ones that keep revealing something new each time we come back to them.
So I’ll leave you with this question: What in your life is worth repeating?
And what are you still chasing that might actually need depth instead of another shiny new toy?