Hi Reader,

When you step into a new shop, how do they win your trust? Last week I had an unprofessional experience in a bookstore that turned me into their biggest fan!

A political statement in a bookstore window stopped me cold last week. Bold enough to cost them customers.

I walked in.

Inside, every book I pulled out was either already on my shelf or went straight to my wish list. The owner had curated a store that felt like it was built for me specifically. I did something I almost never do: I asked for a recommendation and shared my genuine excitement for their book selection.

His first suggestion was a book I'd already read. His second went straight in my basket. Then he asked where I was from. And while I expected the usual small talk, he wrote out a full list of places we should visit. And, offered to drive us if we wanted to go before his opening hours.

None of this was his job. All of it made me trust him completely.

My partner and I changed our afternoon plans and spent the best day we'd had all week following his recommendations.

🎤 Waiting for you on the Unprofessionalism podcast:

To be unprofessional isn’t always a choice, let alone a liberating one. Because when the system was never built with you in mind, speaking up and challenging the status quo comes with great risk and privilege – and it’s something Black women had to learn very early on.

The brilliant Dr. Tieren Scott joins me this week for a raw and honest conversation about what it means to be Black in the world of work. She generously shares her experience of professional masking, the exhaustion of code-switching to appease others, and what it feels like to mold yourself within a misaligned system, while carry the weight of your community on your shoulders.

This conversation is a vital reminder that some professional masks weigh heavier than others, and why choosing authenticity over palatability is a radical act of unprofessionalism.

Find out about:

• Tieren’s professional experience as a Black woman in America
• The daily self-censorship and masking that Black women face in professional settings
• The biases and microaggressions that show up in places of work for Black people
• The importance of uplifting minority groups, by putting them in the room – and promoting them when they’re not there
• Why white colleagues need to get curious and ask more questions, to be better allies at work

🎧 Click here to listen to the interview

📥 Download my 1-page summary

​UP_003_Summary.pdf​

🎧 The workshops work Podcast Club

If you are missing the workshops work podcast, join my free Podcast Club to meet fellow listeners and facilitators to discuss a new topic each month. All you got to do is to join me on Substack: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/​

This week: Tomorrow: January 28th, we will gather around the theme of Polarisation in Facilitation.

​Click here to sign up.

That’s it from my side! I hope you enjoy the content and find inspiration in the stories and the podcast. I wish you the courage to be your full self—trusting others will trust you for it. I hope to see you next week!

Myriam