Unprofessionalism 011 - Claim It Before You're Ready with Leanne Hughes
Mar 24, 2026
Leanne Hughes, facilitator, podcaster and author of Work Fame, shares her mantra of claiming projects before they exist. She describes inventing a show on a Post-it, selling out a conference by testing demand, and why tight deadlines spark action. Short experiments, risk-sharing for events, and the role of AI in creative work also come up.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Name It First Then Validate It
- Leanne tests ideas by naming them and seeking quick validation rather than investing heavily up front.
- She cold-contacted publishers with a two-minute Loom and got a Wiley deal for Work Fame from that minimal commitment.
Commit Fast And Trust Your Resourcefulness
- When an idea excites you, commit quickly and trust your resourcefulness instead of waiting for perfect readiness.
- Leanne prefers tight deadlines and improv-style action to keep momentum and force scrappy, workable outputs.
Use Tight Deadlines To Keep Momentum
- Use tight, immediate deadlines to force a scrappy first draft instead of polishing indefinitely.
- At Sean D'Souza's workshop Leanne had to send material overnight which kept momentum and produced usable feedback fast.