Joy

Joy is rarely listed among the virtues of professionalism.

✨ Brightest Stars in Dark Times ✨

This was supposed to be my official institute photo.

Composed. Professional. Neutral.

But somehow, the photographer made me laugh.

Not a polite smile.Not the controlled version.

A full, unfiltered laugh.

And in that moment, I realized something.In professional spaces, we are often slightly apologetic for joy.

We lower the volume.

We smooth the edges.

We try not to be “too much.”

But sometimes joy is a quiet form of protest.

To laugh without shrinking.

To take up space without apology.

To remain fully alive even within institutional frames.

That, too, is care.

Care for ourselves.

Care for the rooms we enter.

Care for the possibility that leadership can be human.

Sometimes the most radical thing is not to harden.

It is to remain joyful.

#Care #Joy #Protest #Leadership #BrightestStars

Photo taken during an institute portrait session at my former employer, the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).