Hi Reader, "Wife?" In my first client call after getting married, I referred to "my wife". Until then, I had always said "my partner". I used to tell myself that was the word for professional settings. Neutral. Safe. No risk of weird looks or noticeable pauses. Now I notice that wasn't quite true. With some clients I did say "her". With others I didn't. I read the room each time and chose the option that didn't risk judgement, or a change in how they saw me. So when I said "my wife", I...
15 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, I was ill last week. Three days, stuck to my bed, not even considering a run. This almost never happens. I don't get ill. Until I do. When I finally went out for a walk, somewhere between my front door and the next corner, it hit me like a stick on the head: what if I slowed down the podcast? Before any sensible objection could arrive, I felt excited. Liberated, to be honest. In seven years of podcasting it had never once occurred to me that I could just decide to slow it down. To...
29 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, A screen full of black rectangles with names in the middle. That's who I was speaking to last week: a training on how to handle challenging conversations... Not really a topic we can learn while we're only half there. And I said so, out loud, at the start. I pulled out all the tricks and it still took 45 minutes before a brave participant said what most of the room had been thinking: "I really appreciate you and the content, but most of us didn't choose to be here. It's a mandatory...
about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
Hi Reader, One of the biggest challenges I'm facing right now is hearing clients wonder whether to replace live workshops with AI-powered, self-guided learning β which is basically upgraded e-learning. My first instinct was to become even better, more polished, more structured, more ... professional. But then it hit me. The response to that threat must lie at the opposite end of the spectrum, by which I don't mean lower quality but more humanity. This might result in more messiness and I...
about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, When I fell in love with a woman four years ago, I decided it wouldn't change anything about who I was. I had been with men all my life, and now I was with a woman. End of story. Nobody's business who I sleep with. That's the story I told myself until this year when my good friend Laura spoke about cultural aspects of queerness: how being queer shapes far more of us than our sexuality, and how many gay people go through very similar journeys without noticing. As a side-story, I...
about 2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, I am German, living in Amsterdam, and after almost a decade my Dutch is β as we say in German β too small to live and too big to die. To change that, I'm officially out of office this week to immerse myself in a full-week intensive Dutch class. And to make it compleet, my partner and I agreed to only speak Dutch at home during this week, hopefully building the routine of speaking Dutch with each other from now on. While stuttering like a ten-year-old, I realise how much we attach...
about 2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, Let me start with an update: After six months, I have disentangled the two podcasts again. Workshops Work and Unprofessionalism now have both their own home and feed: Unprofessionalism Podcast Workshops Work Podcast Here is the long story of why and why now. A while back, "The final episode of workshops work with Myriam Hadnes" pulled a few hundred downloads per week. That's unusually many for an episode that's months old and where I hadn't said anything particularly brilliant to...
2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, What's making it hard for you? You can replace "it" by any action item you're procrastinating. My current most procrastinated item is business development. The deck is almost ready, ready enough to be sent and still I am not doing it. A colleague asked me the obvious question last week: Why not? Funny enough, it suddenly felt uncomfortably obvious. And for once it wasn't any of the reasons I'd run to a therapist or coach for: No childhood wound or mommy issues, no fear of rejection...
2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, I'm just coming back from a 20 km run, as part of my marathon training. Funny enough, every week, when I leave the house for a long run, I have a moment of doubt and excitement, wondering whether my body will support me in this endeavour. And when I'm back, I feel amazing and remember that I'm training for this. Each week, the mileage increases by one kilometer. Each week, I believe I couldn't do more until the next week, when I do it and cannot believe the extra kilometer the week...
3 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read