Hi Reader, Last weekend, a former German president said something unusual on live television and when I read about it in the German News, I was thinking: Unprofessionalism at its best! Joachim Gauck, 84 years old, was asked about the current political situation and while everyone expected a yes-or-no answer in the logic of political debate, he said: "A crack runs through me." He described holding two perspectives, two truths that pull in opposite directions. His language was unusually...
13 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, Last week, my partner and I met up with a couple (two facilitators) we only knew from LinkedIn. I didn't expect much when getting ready for what could have been the usual Saturday afternoon coffee. And in that spirit the conversation started: speaking about work, travel. The usual professional script. But then, our new friends put a set of Lego Serious Play and a deck of connection questions on the table and asked if we'd be up for something different. Of course! And within the...
20 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, Last week I missed my own event by two hours. I wish I could blame the traffic or another force majeure. I cannot. I was sitting at home, finishing my meditation, about to journal when I saw an email from one of the 20 people who signed up for the event. They were waiting for the podcast club gathering I had organised, were excited about, and then... did't show up. Timezone confusion. A calendar entry set to the wrong city. A human, irreversible, very embarrassing mistake. I still...
27 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, I'm still hiding behind an old version of myself. Today, I interviewed someone I highly admire, we got deep very quickly, he shared personal stories that are deeply relevant to the podcast and the theme of Unprofessionalism that I am exploring. Each time I wanted to extrapolate to the higher picture, the meta-level, the analytics, I realised that I lost him. The sparkle disappeared from his eyes. The recording ended up being the shortest I've ever made and instead of being happy...
about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, Most people use AI to write faster, I ended up using it to slow down π
Recently, many emails sound similar β same structure, same words. I find myself skimming through sentences, filling in the gaps. Basically not reading properly. Luckily, for my book-writing process, I had started to work with AI in a peculiar way: asking it for its tough love when reviewing my content β instead of writing it for me. Applying this collaboration to emails, I learned that I was misreading them,...
about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, How much money and time do you waste on self-development that you never integrate? It's been a week since I returned from an intensive retreat - four days without phone or access to the external world. I joined with the intention to look inside for insights on how I can better align my intentions and vision to my daily reality. For the first time, I am investing time and money in the integration: I purchased a six-weeks online course and am spending an hour per day on just that....
about 2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Dear Reader, How can we turn our worst critic into our very best friend? I might have found a way! Last week, I hosted the first gathering of the workshops work Podcast Club. We had a full house, with the two featured guests from the episodes as well as other podcast guests and 'big names'. Some joined at 4 am. I was properly nervous! The conversations were splendid. People were present. Nearly everyone had actually listened to the episodes. They came ready to share, to learn from and with...
about 2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, When you step into a new shop, how do they win your trust? Last week I had an unprofessional experience in a bookstore that turned me into their biggest fan! A political statement in a bookstore window stopped me cold last week. Bold enough to cost them customers. I walked in. Inside, every book I pulled out was either already on my shelf or went straight to my wish list. The owner had curated a store that felt like it was built for me specifically. I did something I almost never...
2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, How are you doing on your new year's intentions? We're three weeks into the year and I am looking at my 10 commandments - my operating system for the year - and can't help noticing a pattern that keeps showing up at the intersection of three of them: I choose ease. I am obsessed with clarity. I put my shoes on (I don't wait for permission). I keep catching myself mid-sentence, correcting from "Shall we [...]?" to "Let's [...]." At first I was too slow. I'd hit send on "Shall we?"...
2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read