Nicole Scherzinger: It’s The Battle Of The Sexes In Leadership – When A Powerful Woman Is Outshined By A Powerful Man

With the recent death of Liam Payne, former member of One Direction, we keep mentioning his name in some of our latest posts. And we can’t continue mentioning him and not talk about Nicole Scherzinger. For those of you that don’t know, or those of you that need a reminder or two, Scherzinger was a member of the girl group, The pussycat Dolls. Some might say, including me, that it was a solo act by Scherzinger as she was the only one singing in most of the songs. Some of their hits include ‘Don’t Cha’, featuring Busta Rhymes, ‘Don’t Need A Man’, and ‘I Hate This Part’.

While The Pussycat Dolls was on hiatus between 2010 and 2019, Scherzinger was busy working as a solo artist; an actual solo artist. She released two studio albums – ‘Killer Love’ in 2011 and ‘Big Fat Lie’ in 2014. She competed on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ in 2010, and won alongside Derek Hough. She starred in both ‘Maona’ movies, with the latest one being released earlier this year. She also starred in theatre products of ‘Rent’ in 2015, ‘Cats’ between 2014 and 2015, and is currently starring in ‘Sunset Boulevard’. And finally, she was a judge on ‘The Sing-Off’ between 2009 and 2010, ‘The X Factor US’ in 2011, ‘The X Factor UK’ between 2012 and 2013 and then between 2016 and 2017, ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ in 2019, as well as ‘The Masked Singer’ between 2019 and 2023.

Scherzinger has been a very busy woman, with and without The Pussycat Dolls. When she made her ‘Sunset Boulevard’ debut just days ago, she received a 6 minute standing ovation and nothing but rave reviews for her performance. Dave Quinn of People Magazine wrote in part, ‘It’s an incredible moment to witness, and one that fans of the former Pussycat Doll frontwoman feel is long-overdue. After years of cutting her teeth in the music industry and failing to connect as a solo artist in the states, Scherzinger is finally getting the flowers she deserves as she makes her Broadway debut. She even lingers on the word “home” in the lyric “I’ve come home at last” from “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” as if to remind everyone that the stage is where she belongs. But Scherzinger will surely be getting way more than flowers for playing faded silent movie star Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard – styled as Sunset Blvd. this time around. Already the recipient of the Olivier Award after the musical’s run in London’s West End, the ‘X-Factor’ and ‘Masked Singer’ judge should be making space on her shelf for a Tony Award, with many considering her the frontrunner for the coveted prize. Not only is Scherzinger’s powerful voice in top form, but she’s given layers to the character that audiences have never seen before (and that’s not counting the new trendy dance moves from choreographer Fabian Aloise). Scherzinger’s Desmond is charismatic, funny, sensual, intelligent, dramatic, conniving and monstrous — all at the same time. She flirts her way into the hearts of everyone around her and will leave you rooting for her, even when her behavior grows ugly and outrageous.’

It was a breath of fresh air reading this review, at least from where I’m standing. Scherzinger didn’t always get adoration and, most importantly, the recognition that she deserved. Most notably, she didn’t get the recognition she deserved for being the one who formed One Direction back in 2010. Before she was a full-time judge on ‘The X Factor UK’, Scherzinger appeared on the reality competition as a guest judge the year that One Direction was formed. For more than a decade, we all assumed that Simon Cowell was the one who formed the group. He didn’t dispute it. He happily took the credit for One Direction’s formation. Liam Payne once said in an interview that he was told that Cowell formed One Direction specifically for him. Payne initially auditioned for ‘The X Factor’ in 2008 when he was just 14 years old, but was booted off, probably because he was too young. Nevertheless, the judges all encouraged him to come back when he turned 16, and that he did.

In 2022, never-before-scenes of One Direction’s formation and time on the show were released to the public. One of those scenes included Scherzinger, Cowell, as well as fellow judge at the time, Louis Walsh, gathered around their table with photos of the contestants narrowing down who will move forward in the competition as they were forming the new group that would later be One Direction. We see in the video that Scherzinger herself was the one who insisted on the members that we now know were Liam, Harry, Louis, Niall and Zayn. Cowell and Walsh were hesitant to agree with her, but she wouldn’t take ‘No’ for an answer, and so, they obliged. In the video, she was particularly fighting for Payne to be part of the group as, in her own words, he could be the leader. The band went on to place third in the competition, and went on to release 5 studio albums before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016. They were, and still are, such a big entity that they were compared to The Beatles. Scherzinger says in the video, ‘You know what? They’re just too talented to get rid of. They’ve got just the right look and the right charisma on stage. I think they’ll be really great in a boy band together. They’re like little stars, so you can’t get rid of little stars — you put them all together.’

When Scherzinger appeared on ‘The Sherrie Shepard Show’ in 2022, the daytime host said, ‘I always thought it was Simon Cowell who birthded One Direction, until I saw unreleased footage.’ To which Scherzinger replied, ‘Mmhhmm. It’s kind of crazy, Sherri. Honestly, I never thought this footage would see the light of day. I thought Simon burned it. It’s really cool that it came out, because what people are actually seeing is me actually putting them together, the way my mind was working. I just came out of a girl group. I know how successful and powerful it can be to be a group. We’ve gotta join forces.’ She didn’t get credited for the formation of the best-selling boyband of the 2010’s. Nevertheless, Scherzinger had nothing but kind words to say, and said she was proud to play a small, or a big, part in the formation of the group. She then joked she was still waiting for her commission. Shepard added, ‘No, you played a big part! Simon Cowell, you oughtta be ashamed of yourself!Every time I see Simon, I’m gonna be side-eyeing him.’

When Scherzinger appeared on the ‘How To Fail With Elizabeth Day’ podcast, she opened up more about her being a part of the formation of One Direction. She said, ‘I think it’s going to sound really bad. Like when you have it, something within you, and I believe we’re all chosen for various reasons, right? Everyone is chosen, has a great purpose for various reasons, but when you have that something, you can then recognize it within someone else. You see it. I don’t know how I fell into that job. I fell into it accidentally, because, bless, dear Cheryl Cole got ill and they needed me to fill in. And I was doing boot camp and I was like, ‘listen, I just came from the Pussycat Dolls. These guys, we have too many boys in this category that are too good, but it’s a shame to let go of these guys. They’re going to be stronger together as a group, Simon. We’ve got to create a group. At that time, there wasn’t any groups like that. There were more man band groups, like Take That and Westlife and Backstreet Boys. And we didn’t have any younger groups. So, I don’t know. I’m a visionary. This is why Simon keeps me in his back pocket. I’m just joking (she said with a laugh).’

I have so many issues and concerns with this. More so, I have more questions than issues and concerns regarding this matter. The first question is why wasn’t Scherzinger in the first place? The second question is why did it take 12 whole years for her to be credited for being the mastermind in creating One Direction? And finally, why did Simon Cowell take the credit for creating One Direction the entire time when he knew full well that he didn’t? Not only was Scherzinger part of The Pussycat Dolls, but she was also a member of Eden’s crush, a 2000’s girl group that was formed on ‘Popstars’. If anything, she was more qualified to choose members of any band, whether it was One Direction or other, than Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh combined. One Direction fans certainly had a lot to say about the matter after seeing the video. One person wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, ‘The fact that Simon Cowell has taken all the credit for creating One Direction when this WHOLE time it’s been girlboss Nicole Scherzinger that did it??? Every day I hate him a little bit more.’ Another wrote, ‘Just watch the never before seen footage and I cant believe that Simon almost made Liam transferred to another band but Nicole was like no no no he will shine in One Direction. The way one little decision could have changed so much.’

Since One Direction went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, all 5 members went on to have solo careers of their own. Nevertheless, their respective successes always come back to their time in the band. Earlier this year, Simon Cowell appeared on the ‘Diary Of A CEO‘ podcast, where he was interviewed by Steven Bartlett. While being interviewed by Bartlett, Cowell spoke of his biggest regret while managing the band. He said, ‘The one thing I regret is I should have owned the name. They own the name. I could have made an animation or something. That was me being very naive. Next time I need to own the name.’ In the same interview, Cowell said he was making plans to create another boy-band like One Direction, with the aim of making them just as successful as One Direction were, and still are to this day. Since Liam Payne’s death on October 16th, numerous One Direction songs have skyrocketed in the charts again, as well as Payne’s songs that he recorded as a solo artist. He found more success in his death than he ever did in his life. On October 17th, just a day after Payne’s death, One Direction reached their biggest success yet – 57.5 million streams, making them the 2nd most streamed artist on Spotify globally.

There are many things wrong with Cowell’s testament on the management of One Direction, and we’ll certainly talk about it more thoughtfully and thoroughly in the next blog post. It’s no question that Cowell is a good businessman. He lives and breathes money and monetization. He also managed Little Mix following their time on ‘The X Factor UK’ in 2011. They won the competition that year, and found massive success thereafter as well. They left Cowell’s management company years before they split themselves in 2022, so it’s very telling that he doesn’t actually care about the people who are making him money. In the same interview with Bartlett, Cowell revealed what he told the members of One Direction of handling their newfound fame. He said, ‘I told them to never complain about paparazzi because they are going to take your pictures, don’t complain about invasion of privacy because people will always want to have a picture with you, don’t complain about the long hours. I told them if any of the above is going to be a problem then do something else because all this will happen. I told them about the gruelling schedule – it comes with the territory. It just comes with it, you will lose a lot of privacy. If you want to be an accountant you won’t have any of these issues but it won’t be as fun.’

Cowell also said, ‘It was obvious as soon as they went on the show that they would be really really successful. They were the perfect group. They made a lot of money.’ Yes, they made a lot of money. That they did. But Simon Cowell can’t seriously still say, even after the video of Scherzinger being the mastermind behind creating One Direction was released two years ago, that it was obvious for him that they would be successful as soon as all 5 of them went on the show, when he had to be convinced by Scherzinger that Liam Payne would be the perfect fit for the group. If it wasn’t for her, the group wouldn’t have been the same, and it might not have been as successful as they were. And when it comes to Cowell regretting not owning the name, he might’ve forgotten that he never owned the name in the first place because the 5 members were the ones that came up with the name themselves. It’s just astounding to me what this hypothetical male toxicity is capable of. In my eyes, it’s inhumane to do the things he did; to say the things he did.

I previously wrote about emotional intelligence on a blog post where Brie Tiesi of ‘Selling Sunset’ was the subject matter. In it, I mentioned how, during an interview with Trevor Noah, Simon Simek spoke of emotional intelligence, and how he mentioned that, in his opinion, women make better leaders than men because women have a better understanding of emotional intelligence, relationships and friendships. I think it all comes down to this very fact: Simon Cowell knows exactly how to monetize his clients, but his downfall is that he’s not a good leader. He lacks emotion. He lacks empathy. He lacks compassion. That’s why his clients don’t want to continue working with him long-term. He lacks that emotional intelligence that women, Scherzinger included, are proven to have. I think if she were to manage the careers of One Direction and Little Mix, both bands would’ve been much better off. Maybe Zayn and Jesy Nelson would’ve have left their respective bands as early as they did. They had their share of success, but it almost cost them their lives, and Simon Cowell is to blame for it. The thing about it is that Cowell will most certainly continue doing what he’d always done. He’d rather make money and risk lives than show any type of care for his clients.

On October 25, it was revealed by Andrew Lloyed Webber that Scherzinger spoke with Payne the day he died. They recently worked on together on the upcoming Netflix reality competition, ‘Building The Band’. That same day, Scherzinger also posted a tribute to Payne on Instagram, along with a picture of herself, Payne and Kelly Rowland, who will also star in the reality series. She wrote, ‘Dear Liam, I will forever cherish and treasure the time we shared together, from fifteen years ago when One Direction was born, right up until just a few weeks ago. It was such a blessing to get to work with you recently. We shared the same love and passion for music and I will forever remember the meaningful and joyful conversations we had. It’s been so hard to process that you’re no longer here, but I am grateful to have known your kind heart, sweet soul and character. You brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the lives of those that truly knew you. I will ‘miss you’ my friend and carry you in my heart. My thoughts and prayers are with your family. 🙏🏽♥️.’

And Cowell posted a tribute of his own following Payne’s death. He wrote on Instagram, ‘You never really know how you feel about someone until a moment like this happens. Liam, I am devastated. Heartbroken. And I feel empty. And I want you to know how much love and respect I have for you. Every tear I have shed is a memory of you. This is so difficult to put into words right now. I went outside today, and I thought about so many times we had together. I wanted to let you know what I would always say to the thousands of people who would always ask me. What is Liam like? And I would tell them you were kind, funny, sweet, thoughtful, talented, humble, focused. And how much you loved music. And how much love you genuinely had for the fans. You came to see me last year. Not for a meeting. Just to sit and talk. And we reminisced about all of the fun times we had together. And how proud you were to be a Dad. After you left, I was reminded that you were still the sweet, kind boy I met all those years ago. I have met your son, Bear. He has your smile and that twinkle in his eyes you have. And he will be so proud of everything you achieved. And how you achieved it.’

And maybe he’s right. Maybe people do realize their shortcomings only after someone dies. The interview appearance on the ‘Diary Of A CEO’ podcast was done before Liam Payne’s death. So maybe Cowell’s ways of running a business will, in fact, change. Payne appeared on the very same podcast in 2021, and he talked heavily about what being a member of One Direction did to his mental health and his overall being. We’ll talk about it more in the next post, but let’s just say it had a lot, if not everything, to do with how Simon Cowell was running his empire with them as his clients. With that said, since Payne’s death, the treatment of young artists in the entertain industry has been examined. Katie Waissel, who competed against One Direction on ‘The X Factor’ in 2010, called Payne’s death a painful reminder of the systemic neglect that persists in the music industry, where the focus remains on profits rather than looking after the people who work within it. She said, ‘The negligence of duty of care has once again led to a heart-wrenching loss.’

I can’t put the full blame on Simon Cowell, though. People like Billie Ellish, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber spoke of the difficulties they faced of being in the public eye. Ellish said she lost out on the fun of her teen years due to work. Bieber openly spoke about the loneliness and isolation faced when being in the public eye. And Lady Gaga once said, ‘As soon as I go out into the world, I belong, in a way, to everyone else. It’s legal to follow me, it’s legal to stalk me at the beach.’ Bieber’s management was Scooter Braun, which is another person who was so careless about their clients and well-being. He’s since retired. But more about him later. We’re talking about dominant male bosses in the entertainment industry, and you might say that it’s not something that could remotely be compare to real life experiences, and you’re absolutely right.

I recently saw a Quora thread asking whether participants whether they’d rather work with female or male bosses. To my surprise, all women in the thread answered that they’d much rather work with male bosses. On one hand, it astounded me, but on the other hand, I was really surprised. I had both female bosses and one male boss. In fact, I myself had a better experience working for a male boss than a female boss. My best experience working for someone was when I had a male boss. And as a freelance writer, I’ve had much better experiences with male clients than female clients. I’ve also heard from friends of male bosses who are a nightmare to work for; male bosses that have such high employee turnaround that it could compare to how much they changed their underwear. Clearly not every man is like Simon Cowell, and not every woman is like Nicole Scherzinger, and then there are rare cases of men being exactly like Simon cowell, as well as women being like Nicole Scherzinger in the real world too. So that made me question, if it’s not necessarily the battle of the sexes when it comes to being a good boss, then what is it really about? What really makes a good boss? To be a good boss, one must be a good leader. So what does it take to be a good leader? I came up with a list…

• Be an empath – Employees like to feel that they’re understood. They want to feel like their boss is looking at them right in the eye and feels some sort of emotion. As a leader, one wants to be in tune with the emotions of those that work for you.
• Be a follower – They say they being a good leader means being a good follower. Your employees want to feel like they’re being heard. Listen to their ideas. Make them feel they’re being heard. Make them feel like they belong. Make them feel like they’re a part of your company’s success.
• Be a team-player – Being a good boss isn’t just about telling your employees what to do. It’s about telling them what to do, and doing it with them. That’s not to say that a boss should do the employees’ jobs for them. But rather, make them feel like they’re working WITH you; not FOR you. Make them feel like they’re a part of the team and that they’re a part of your success. You can do so by doing such things as taking them out to lunch.
• Be a mentor – The best thing my male boss ever did was be my mentor. He kickstarted my career as a writer, and he was the one who made me believe I was actually good at it. I was initially hired to work as a recruiter. More specifically, to find suitable candidates for job openings the company was responsible for. But after seeing the blog I had at the time, he hired me to write articles for him on behalf of the company. For that, I’m forever grateful, because no one believed in me as much as he did. He encouraged growth in me more than anyone in my career.
• Be a communicator – A great leader needs to live and breathe communication. Communication is more important than anything else one does in business, no matter what the business actually is. The ratio is 90% communication, 10% everything else. And it’s not just verbal communication, but written communication as well. With that said, make sure you never lose sight of communication in your business at all costs; with employees, vendors, investors, and so on. Everything else that you might need to do can wait, but communication can’t.