Dear Reader,

What makes it difficult to call a mistake what it is?

This week, I posted a list of some of my biggest business and podcast mistakes on LinkedIn and it went mini-viral with 300+ reactions. The post ended with: 'Some mistakes led to surprising outcomes. All led to a waste of time and money.' The comments were thoughtful - and revealed something.

What caught my curiosity was the pushback on 'waste.' Many offered gentler words: investment, learning, growth.

I chose 'waste' deliberately. Because mistakes do waste time and money we will never get back.

When I paid designers (more than once) for courses and products I never tested, it was expensive procrastination, a hobby at most. Don't call it investment.

I believe that we can learn from wasteful mistakes. Waste and learning, both can be true.

But I find it striking that we cannot call mistakes and waste for what they are. When we try to be honest about failure, stating that it sucks shows more compassion than trying to find the silver-lining. This happens so often! When we share hardship, we get a compassionate "it will get better soon" instead of an honest "oh fck! How are you holding up?"

Is it LinkedIn culture demanding constant growth mindset? Or have we forgotten how to sit with regret? When we don't regret, we don't learn. And to regret, we need to acknowledge the loss, the waste, first.

🎤 Waiting for you on the Unprofessionalism podcast:

We grow up waiting for permission. But at what point do we stop waiting and start taking it for ourselves?

Mentor, facilitator and permission advocate Jillian Reilly took hers early on in her career, during a US-sponsored AIDS programme that she was leading in Zimbabwe. Shaking in her shoes, she chose to speak her truth and honour her integrity, even if it meant going against the grain of expectation.

For our first unscripted exploration of Unprofessionalism, Jillian joins me to deliver an important reminder: no one is coming to give us permission. We must resist the micro-moments of suppression, we must break the invisible rules of what we think is allowed, and we must take up the space we deserve.

Find out about:

• How to give ourselves permission to show up with truth and integrity
• The cultural components and privilege at play when giving ourselves permission
• Getting clear on our boundaries in professional settings for greater self-alignment
• Why leaders must make the invisible rulebook explicit, turning it into a conversation
• Why suppressing your needs will dull your agency, waste time, and make it harder to instigate change

🎧 Click here to listen to the interview

📥 Download my 1-page summary:

​UP_002_Summary.pdf​

🎧 Join the next podcast club gathering - ‼️ Updated Date!

Now that the workshops work podcast has retired, you may want to find peers with who to listen back and discuss some of the old episodes, to deepen our understanding and to link the content with our lived experience.

All you have to do to join the Podcast Club is to join me on Substack: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/​

‼️ On January 28th, we will gather around the theme of Polarisation in Facilitation.

​Click here to sign up for free.

That's it from my side. I hope you find permission in here to call your mistakes what they are. I wish you a moment of spaciousness to sit with what you've been trying to fix. Hope to see you next week!

Myriam