Hi Reader,

Three weeks ago I started preparing my first ever keynote on Unprofessionalism. By "preparing" I mean: almost no mental capacity for anything else. I have never worked harder on anything. The irony is not lost on me.

Over the three weeks, I had many plans. A theatre play, costumes for showing the masks of unprofessionalism, turn-to-your-neighbour conversations for reflection.

The closer the date approached, the more I found clarity that the tools and costumes I planned were more of a distraction than an addition. They all felt like the kind of scaffolding every facilitator in the room would have recognised, approved of, possibly used themselves.

So I dropped it all and walked in front of the audience just myself, without notes or slides. Just a microphone. The read out text I prepared would have taken 15 minutes. I faced a full hour. The only structure I kept was a single signal: snap your fingers if you want me to go deeper.

It felt risky because I knew that all I could offer the audience was my theory about unprofessionalism wrapped in three personal stories. If the argument didn't land, nothing would catch it – no conversation with their peers, no theatre act to fall back on.

It landed. And it taught me that staying lighthearted and approachable on stage is hard work. Hard work in terms of preparation and trusting that no safety net will be required, and still having the courage to jump.

I wouldn't have wanted any other audience for my first talk than the guests of the KOON Conference in Darmstadt. More about that another time.

🎤 Waiting for you on the Unprofessionalism podcast:

Rori DuBoff once took an unused office at Accenture, tore it down, and built a virtual reality studio from scratch with no formal approval and that's how she got the firm into the metaverse. She didn't wait for the green light. She brought in a few people who were equally excited, and delivered.

She's spent decades in digital innovation and marketing, watching organisations say they wanted disruption and then treat the people delivering it as the problem.

That’s made her conclude that 80% of innovation is change management. Rori explains how most of us obsess over the idea while it is actually the smallest part of the problem. The larger part is whether the people around you feel safe enough to hear it.

She acted before consensus throughout her whole career, took the heat for it, and now she is sharing the blueprint.

🎧 Click here to listen to the interview

📥 Download my 1-page summary

​UP_021_Summary.pdf​

That's it from my side. I hope to see you next week!

Myriam