Workplace Insights by Adrie van der Luijt
Careers aren’t really ladders, they’re more like messy scribbles with occasional moments of clarity. I’ve spent decades watching talented people waste years chasing what they thought they should want rather than what actually suited them.
The posts in this section reflect what I wish someone had told me thirty years ago: that the most successful careers are built on knowing your strengths, acknowledging your limitations and having the courage to navigate workplace politics without becoming what you despise.
Whether you’re just starting out or questioning decades of choices, you’ll find honest reflections on creating a career that works for you rather than burning yourself out for an organisation that sees you as replaceable.
Explore the ethical complexities of AI grief support tools from a trauma-informed design perspective. Learn why technology might bridge gaps in care while recognising the irreplaceable value of human connection in healing from loss.
How trauma-aware content strategy and trauma-informed content design frameworks help users overwhelmed by everyday stress. Not just crisis content—this is clarity with care.
The traditional professional development model relied on a progression that now risks disappearing. Without deliberate intervention, we face not just economic disruption for current mid-tier professionals, but potentially an expertise crisis in the coming decades.
The expertise vacuum created by AI poses risks that go far beyond job losses. It threatens to undermine the very foundations of reasoned decision-making within organisations and society more broadly.
Virtual assistants are not some separate breed of admin professionals. They are executive assistants, office managers and skilled administrators who happen to be running their own businesses.
International Management Assistants’ founder Sonia Vanular wanted trainers and speakers to really challenge Executive Assistants to evolve their role, not just have them nodding along.
True content strategy works at a higher level from that of most self-proclaimed strategists who merely make existing content perform incrementally better.
A review of Rebekah Barry’s “Considerate Content” by a trauma-informed, vulnerability-aware veterian, exploring accessible digital design through the lens of trauma-informed content creation for vulnerable audiences.
Vulnerability and trauma-informed approaches, the full text of Senior Content Designer and Strategist Adrie van der Luijt’s talk for the Money Advice Trust’s Vulnerabity Academy to senior executives in the UK financial services sector on micro-trauma-informed content strategy and compliance.
Learn how to protect your career and mental health after a failed project. Discover practical strategies from a highly experienced professional who’s survived major project failures while maintaining professional reputation and wellbeing.
Learn how to protect your career and mental health after a failed project. Discover practical strategies from a highly experienced professional who’s survived major project failures while maintaining professional reputation and wellbeing.
Trauma-informed content can be produced with the help of AI tools without risking secondary trauma to the content designer or content strategist.
Trauma-informed content can be produced with the help of AI tools without risking secondary trauma to the content designer or content strategist.
AI detectors are increasingly used by employers to filter out candidates who have used AI tools to write their CV or cover letter. Here’s what Management Assistants involved in recruitment processes need to know about them.
Discover how workplace culture differences manifest in everything from lunch arrangements to birthday traditions. A Dutch-English ‘cultural translator’ shares practical insights for navigating international business environments and decoding unwritten workplace rules before accepting your next role.
Discover how career improvisation transforms professional limitations into opportunities. Learn practical strategies for navigating non-linear career paths and finding value in unexpected transitions.