Unprofessionalism

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If professionalism is restrictive by design, asking us to shrink, perform, and drain our precious energy on keeping up appearances – unprofessionalism is the undoing of the rules. It's the freedom to be our full, unequivocal selves.
And who better to teach us about the business of belonging than Jon Berghoff? He's the founder of Xchange and one of the most sought-after facilitators in the world. 
He also does his best work barefoot.
Jon's early years were marked by doubt and displacement. Instead of performing his way into acceptance, he learned how to regulate his own nervous system so he could hold space for others to feel safe. Now guided by that learning, Jon helps people speak their truth and connect to something greater than themselves. In this conversation, he shares the risks he's taken, the stories he's collected, and what happens when you stop performing and start belonging.
Find out about:
Jon’s experience of being unprofessional – and his learnings from leaning into risks
Why feeling safe to be yourself starts with creating the right conditions to regulate your nervous system
How facilitators can expand their capacity for self-regulation, in order to expand the room's collective capacity
How to spot when professional performance is draining your energy – and more importantly, how to challenge it
Links:
LinkedIn
Website
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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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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
Links:
Website
LinkedIn
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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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What comes to mind when you think about being “professional”? Fast, certain, composed, always ready with an answer. But those reflexes weren’t born in today’s world. They were forged in factories and on battlefields, where control, compliance, and speed kept systems running.
In this episode, liminal coach, AI-enthusiast, and possibilitarian Mike Parker invites us to trace that origin story and ask whether those habits still help. We hold the past up to the present: modern work that depends on curiosity, synthesis, care, and the courage to say “I don’t know.”
Together we explore what shifts when we stop chasing certainty and start practising wisdom—protecting real thinking, letting not-knowing lead to better decisions, and using AI to widen possibilities without outsourcing judgment. More than a history lesson, this is an invitation to trade fear-polish for trust, presence, and purpose so people can create better, together.
Find out about:
How industrial-age rules still shape “professional” behavior—and what to keep, update, or retire
Why depth beats speed: the role of calm, daydreaming, and the default-mode network in insight
Creating rooms where questions lead, learning is visible, and inclusion isn’t performative
Using AI as an expander for divergent options while keeping humans at the center
Connect with Mike:
Website
LinkedIn
Substack
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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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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 - bestselling author of The 10 Permissions - 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
Links:
LinkedIn
The 10 Permissions Website
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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/

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Welcome to Unprofessionalism! My shiny new podcast, a provocation in the making, and the place to challenge everything we’ve been taught about being professional.
Together, we’ll be peeling back the limitations of professionalism, on a mission to restore our humanness and bring joy, defiantly, back to work. You’ll hear stories from scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, and true masters of their craft as we question the very construct of professionalism, its silent expectations, how we can break free, and seek to be unprofessionals in all that we do!
But first, join me from the very beginning. In episode 000, we’ll journey from the birth of professionalism to its existence in the age of AI, and why the only sustainable thing left for us to be is our real, brilliant, unfiltered selves.
Find out about:
The history of professionalism, its construct, and why it has become such a paradox
The wonderful guests I’ll be interviewing in the coming weeks, and the topics we’ll be exploring
The Unprofessionalism book I am writing alongside the podcast, and the research that has led me here
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If you miss the "workshops work" podcast, join us on Substack, where Myriam builds a Podcast Club with monthly gatherings around old episodes: https://myriamhadnes.substack.com/