I write about the gap between who we are at work and who we are when we put down the professional mask. Every week, I share one personal story from my life and a podcast conversation with someone who dared to write their own script, choosing authenticity over performance. The podcast is called Unprofessionalism. Each episode comes with a 1-page summary, in case you'd rather read than listen.
Finding True Fit || 🎤 Ep 23 on The Third Space where Belonging Comes First with Donatella Caggiano
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Hi Reader, This weekend I went through my wardrobe and threw out all skirts and dresses I'd kept for years. Since I left my day-job. I told myself to better keep them in case I still needed them - for client meetings, in-person events, important professional occasions. I kept them because they were expensive brands, great quality, still fitting. Fitting. My body yes but not my soul. A week earlier, I was in a bridal store, looking at myself in a dress, and the person I saw wasn't me anymore. I looked pretty (cannot deny it) but my body screamed NO! And still, the decision to wear pants for my own wedding wasn't simple. I heard from many women that their wedding was the first and last time they wore a dress. The wedding dress expectation runs so deep that even there — in one of the most personal choices we'll ever make — the professional script follows us. Once I asked a tailor to make my wedding pants, I knew that I graduated, that I passed old-me and would from now on feel free to show up to client meetings and in-person professional events as me. New me, wearing what feels right. 🎤 Waiting for you on the Unprofessionalism podcast:Donatella Caggiano was living in a Best Western while her flooded apartment got fixed when she watched a SWAT team raid a neighbouring house to catch a fugitive. She caught herself rooting for the person running and then realised she was the person running. Donatella accepted the hint her body and the universe were giving then drove to her office that morning and quit. The job she walked away from was a corporate role she had stayed in through a merger and acquisition that kept her and her team in the dark, and left everyone working in an unfinished office surrounded by moving boxes for months. The message was clear long before the layoffs: stop investing. Stop expecting. Just wait. The hotel window was Donatella's accidental third space — the room outside both home and work where she could finally see herself. She now designs that room intentionally, for teams. She helps organisations have conversations the office wasn't built for, to rebuild belonging in places where gratitude is demanded and silence is rewarded. We talked about why grief gets skipped when organisations change, what happens to a team when a leader hands back agency instead of holding the line, and what four haircuts taught her about leading through change. 🎧 Click here to listen to the interview📥 Download my 1-page summaryUP_023_Summary.pdfThat's it from my side. I hope to see you next week! Myriam
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What does it cost to be yourself — at work?
I write about the gap between who we are at work and who we are when we put down the professional mask. Every week, I share one personal story from my life and a podcast conversation with someone who dared to write their own script, choosing authenticity over performance. The podcast is called Unprofessionalism. Each episode comes with a 1-page summary, in case you'd rather read than listen.
Hi Reader, The first thing I ask my podcast guests is to tell me a story about a time when they've been unprofessional. One story that was part of my keynote last week was when I was hosting an online workshop for a luxury German automotive company. I was still young but had embraced the concept of "connection before content" and so I opened the session with my now famous Turn to Your Neighbour moment. Not even one minute into the 1-1 breakout, I get a personal message from my client:...
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...
Hi Reader, Twenty episodes into "Unprofessionalism" and I still cannot even grasp the edges of the topic! It's privilege, it's self-expression, self-permission, ownership, corporate rebellion. There is no real subject matter expertise to explore on Unprofessionalism. The guest and their personal story are the focus, although each one brings expertise that we explore through the lens of unprofessionalism. As the podcast host, I am continuously making decisions whether to dive deeper into the...