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...
8 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, I sent a former client my new pitch deck and asked for his candid feedback. He replied fast. And candid he was! A long list of bullets that took me weeks to digest. He asked me if I collaborated with AI on it. Ouch. And pointed out that my uniqueness in the way I operate and facilitate didn't come through. In its current format, I would blend into the background of other leadership training providers was his conclusion. I first brushed it off, thinking that leadership training in...
15 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, And suddenly it clicked into place. It took me almost half a year, more than thirty conversations, to finally land on an important nuance regarding unprofessionalism: It's more than courage, humanity, and authenticity. What really matters is the professional risk. An action only counts as unprofessional if it would trigger a "But you cannot do that!" from those around us. When I quit my day job to move to Amsterdam and redesign my life, that was courageous. It wasn't...
22 days ago • 2 min read
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....
29 days ago • 2 min read
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:...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
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...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
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...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, I spent my weekend with a group of strangers to whom I told the most personal story - one that not even my closest friends would be aware of. The shaking of my hands stopped as soon as I started. I didn't need notes because this was my story. While I am used to speaking to groups of strangers, I usually stand there with a specific role: the facilitator. This time, nobody knew about what I was doing from nine to five. All they knew about me was this one story. And wow, that felt...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Last weekend, I went back to my hometown for the 25th anniversary of high school graduation. I prepared by reading old letters I found in a dusty box, handwritten by friends in 1995. I was terrified. Thrown back to an old version of myself: Puberty-me, who was definitely not too cool for school, who wanted to impress others by smoking too young and drinking too much. Nothing to be proud of, really. But when we finally met and hugged and chatted and laughed, I noticed that the...
2 months ago • 2 min read