Dear Reader, How are you, Reader, really? It’s such an innocent question and, at the same time, such a complex one. How often do we answer it with full honesty? Asked on a good day? Sure. It’s easy to say we’re doing great when we are.But on a bad day? Maybe not.And when the question comes from a manager who’s noticed our performance drop? Probably not at all. Most likely, their intention is good. Like the manager in one of my recent trainings on challenging conversations. Following...
10 days ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, I’ve developed a strange relationship with the news. It feels as if it took the place of the Social Media threads that I have avoided over the past years. I'm not doomscrolling Insta, not binge-watching Youtube, not even Netflix and now, find myself refreshing the news apps several times per day. I can’t look away from. Not because I enjoy it, but because I want to know what happens next — even when it leaves me more anxious than informed. It hit me just now: Isn't this the...
17 days ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, I just stepped out of a cold shower. Not the Wim Hof kind. Just the boiler-broke, no-choice kind. The thing is, I could’ve avoided it. I had a warm shower this morning at my girlfriend’s place, where I’m staying for now. But where I usually live and work, there’s no hot water. And today was packed with meetings. The only slot for a run was between back-to-back calls and my evening ceramics class. So it came down to this: run and face the cold shower, run and show up to class...
24 days ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, When was the last time someone told you what you did really well? Not a generic “great job,” but something specific, thoughtful, and sincere? If it’s been a while, you’re not alone. One of the most surprising insights I got in my feedback trainings is how hard it is for people to give positive feedback. When we talk about giving constructive or even critical feedback, people usually have plenty of examples, frameworks, and sometimes even confidence. But when the focus shifts to...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, It’s been a month since I started "writing in public" by which I mean: sharing raw ideas, brain farts, open-ended questions, and curiosities with my LinkedIn community. And while it felt uncomfortable and vulnerable at first, I can now see how this has been the best decision ever. Writing a book can feel lonely, but this journey has been anything but. Bi-weekly accountability calls with Gustavo Razzetti (we even publish them on YouTube), unexpected book recommendations from...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, Do you know that feeling when something that once fit you perfectly starts feeling… tight? A role, a way of working, a team dynamic - it served you well, until one day, it no longer does. That awkward in-between space? Uncomfortable. And still necessary. I’ve just been through my own version of that: launching a new website. As much as I loved the old design for which I received many compliments, it no longer reflected my work and who I was. Over the past months, I had to sit...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, I’m writing this from Melbourne airport, about to return home to Amsterdam after two months away. This was my third time escaping the Dutch winter - not just for the sunshine, but to slow down, gain clarity, and create the geographic distance needed to reflect on my daily routines. Last year, I failed miserably at slowing down. It became one of the hardest years I’ve had. This time, something shifted. I’m returning home as an updated version of myself - one I didn’t even realise...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Reader, Have you noticed how the moments that make you hesitate - where you feel that slight discomfort - are usually the ones that truly matter? It might happen before speaking up in a meeting, before sharing an idea that feels different, before initiating a conversation that might shift things or before posting on social media. It’s that moment of tension before we take a risk. Although I post a lot on LinkedIn and have almost removed all filters from this newsletter, some moments...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Reader, Is it unprofessional to let AI write our emails? Lately, I’ve been reading email replies that feel… slightly off. Not wrong, just different. As if they were written by someone who paid just a little bit too much attention to what I wrote. They respond to every single theme I mentioned as if the sender had all the time in the world to carefully address each point. And they use my exact words as if they were mirroring me instead of replying to me. That’s when I know: AI wrote this....
2 months ago • 3 min read