Finding Your Voice: Anthems for Workplace Transformation (A 5-Song Roadmap to Heart-Centered Leadership)
Music serves as both a mirror for society and our emotions, while also acting as a catalyst for change. It captures cultural, social, and personal struggles, and can inspire listeners to consider their role in shaping the world: encouraging empathy, courage, and collective action.
The following five songs take us on a journey from 2019 back to 1983, illustrating how music across generations continues to inspire courage, connection, and transformation for us all — in life, in communities, and in workplaces.
Surfaces - Sunday Best (2019)
Sunday Best by Surfaces (2019) captures a compelling vision for workplace transformation - both the destination and the foundation required to get there. The videoclip opens in a drab, disengaged office environment, marked by low energy, disconnection and a management style that demands enthusiasm without providing the conditions that make it possible. Artists Colin Padalecki and Forrest Frank enter this space and openly critique the work (and even the coffee) acting as catalysts for change.
What follows is a striking transformation into a vibrant, joyful workplace where people collaborate, dance, and genuinely smile together. This shift illustrates what becomes possible when empathy, resilience, and connection are prioritised.
The lyrics reinforce these themes, expressing both empathy and resilience in the face of struggles. Colin and Forrest remind us that everyone faces challenges - we all struggle, and we all fall down - and it’s this shared human experience that fosters connection. Their core message is forward-looking: what matters most is getting back up again. This resilience is paired with a sense of hope, captured in the line, “But you just gotta know it’ll all be fine,” encouraging faith and trust amid uncertainty, even when outcomes are not yet visible.
Crucially, the main chorus — “Hey, feeling good, like I should” — affirms that workplace happiness should not be an exception or a bonus. It is a fundamental right.
Sara Bareilles - Brave (2013)
While resilience and connection are essential for a positive workplace, creating psychologically safe environments also depends on individuals feeling able to speak up and embrace their authentic selves. Sara Bareilles’ Brave is an anthem about finding the courage to express ideas, opinions, and feelings - even when doing so feels risky.
Its lyrics encourage us to overcome our fear and hesitation, emphasising that speaking up is possible even when doubt or uncertainty tries to hold us back. Bareilles explores the cost of staying silent, showing how keeping thoughts and feelings inside can allow false beliefs and self-doubt to take hold — “sometimes a shadow wins.” She then contrasts it with the power of speaking up, suggesting that voicing our thoughts can free us from that heavy burden and reaffirm our sense of self.
Its message of courage and authenticity resonates beyond personal life, reminding us that speaking up and being true to ourselves is essential in any context.
Katy Perry - Firework (2010)
While Brave celebrates speaking up and embracing authenticity, Katy Perry’s Firework shifts the focus to recognising and owning our unique potential. This song reminds us that we each carry a unique spark within us, and embracing it requires the courage to step into our own light.
“You just gotta ignite the light / And let it shine / Just own the night / Like the Fourth of July…”
Real Life - Send Me an Angel (1983)
After embracing authenticity (Brave) and owning your potential (Firework), growth sometimes requires guidance and support. While the song includes references to romantic love, Real Life’s Send Me an Angel also speaks to the vulnerability of needing guidance and support when you’re overwhelmed. In a workplace context, it speaks to something equally important: the need for guidance, mentorship, and support rather than trying to navigate growth alone. We need leaders who genuinely care, colleagues who lift us up, and a culture where asking for help is actively encouraged.
The video depicts a yeti-like creature pursuing a woman holding a dove, symbolising obstacles that threaten workplace harmony and balance, reminding us that guidance and mentorship are essential to navigate challenges effectively.
By the end of the video, the woman is rescued by a young Robin Hood–like figure, representing our inner child — the part of ourselves that brings playfulness, joy, and creativity, helping us navigate tough challenges with resilience and inner strength.
John Farnham - You’re the Voice (1986)
To close this musical roadmap, John Farnham’s You’re the Voice is a powerful, heartfelt anthem that culminates the journey from personal growth to workplace and societal impact. Released in 1986, it became one of the biggest hits in Australian music history and is often regarded as an unofficial national anthem, marking a massive comeback for John Farnham after a period of uncertainty in his career.
The video commences with a news broadcast — ‘Good evening, here is the news’ — before cutting to images of planes, bombs, and global conflict. These images feel strikingly contemporary, reflecting a world shaped by ongoing violence, uncertainty, and unrest, reminding us that 40 years on from its release, the world is still grappling with many of the same tensions.
As Farnham delivers the opening line — “We have the chance to turn the pages over” — the visual subtext, in the form of newspaper clippings, explicitly reference the global tensions of the time, including terrorist attacks and government anti‑terrorism measures, such as those implemented in France under Jacques Chirac.
The terrorist attacks referenced unfolded in France in 1985–86 against a backdrop of political cohabitation between Socialist President François Mitterrand and Conservative Prime Minister Chirac. While the attacks were carried out by external groups, divisions and tensions within the government made it harder for the President and Prime Minister to coordinate an effective response, intensifying public fear and uncertainty.
In contrast to this, Farnham’s anthem suggests that in times of societal turmoil, real change comes when people find their voice, embrace collective action, and unite in solidarity around a shared purpose.
Following this, Farnham sings, “We’re all someone’s daughter, we’re all someone’s son,” emphasising our shared humanity. This message is also reinforced visually: a mother and father are shown arguing while pointing at their daughter, who appears to be the scapegoat for their conflict.
Farnham then removes her from the scene, symbolically intervening to break the cycle of blame and division. The sequence illustrates that global and societal tensions often have roots in everyday, personal conflicts, and reinforces the idea that real change — whether at home or in the wider world — depends on collective action and empathy, showing how, as a community, we can break the cycles of harm that affect others.
This visual of the scapegoated child is the ultimate metaphor for systemic breakdown. When leadership at the top is fractured — whether it’s the 'cohabitation' of a government or the conflict of parents — it is ultimately the individuals within that system who pay the price.