Hi Reader, Let me start with an update: After six months, I have disentangled the two podcasts again. Workshops Work and Unprofessionalism now have both their own home and feed: Unprofessionalism Podcast Workshops Work Podcast Here is the long story of why and why now. A while back, "The final episode of workshops work with Myriam Hadnes" pulled a few hundred downloads per week. That's unusually many for an episode that's months old and where I hadn't said anything particularly brilliant to...
8 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
Hi Reader, What's making it hard for you? You can replace "it" by any action item you're procrastinating. My current most procrastinated item is business development. The deck is almost ready, ready enough to be sent and still I am not doing it. A colleague asked me the obvious question last week: Why not? Funny enough, it suddenly felt uncomfortably obvious. And for once it wasn't any of the reasons I'd run to a therapist or coach for: No childhood wound or mommy issues, no fear of rejection...
15 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
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...
22 days agoΒ β’Β 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...
29 days agoΒ β’Β 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...
about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 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....
about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 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 2 months agoΒ β’Β 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 2 months agoΒ β’Β 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...
2 months agoΒ β’Β 2 min read