Playing Grown-Ups: Childhood Scripts in the Corporate World

Panel discussion with:
Marc Graas., Medical Doctor specialising in Psychiatry and Neurology, practising in Luxembourg, keynote speaker
Lise Roda., Head of Human Resources at Bank Pictet & Cie (Europe) AG, Luxembourg Branch
Marcus B. Müller, PhD in Social Psychology, full-time Professor of Management at LUNEX University (Luxembourg) and international scholar at the Center for Self-Determination Theory (CSDT) in Florida
Stilbé Schroeder, Curator and Head of Department, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain

moderated by Begga Sigurdardottir, Member of the Board of Directors at Casino Luxembourg and Tax Partner at PwC Luxembourg

What if our childhood dreams, games, fears and early experiences of authority continued to shape the way we work. What if corporate organisations, HR policies, leadership models and ways of collaborating, creating and innovating were still — implicitly — influenced by childhood narratives?

Often seen as neutral and rational, corporate structures can be compared to fictional spaces ruled by role play and characters, masks, codes and shared stories — stages upon which each person may unknowingly replay a deeply personal narrative. Like childhood, the working world evolves between fixed frameworks and freedom of action, between compliance and transgression, thus reactivating dynamics rooted in our early life experiences.

How do our intimate stories influence our social and professional roles?

How do childhood narratives affect organisational cultures, HR policies and leadership styles?

This panel discussion offers a shift in perspective. The working world has to be viewed not solely as a space of production, but also as a space of symbolics, emotions and narratives. Drawing from psychology, anthropology and management science, we will explore how the personal shapes the collective, and how personal mythologies contribute to the making of professional structures.

The discussion will also draw on themes from Aline Bouvy’s exhibition Hot Flashes, currently on show at Casino Luxembourg. The multidisciplinary Belgian-Luxembourgish artist indeed uses the exhibition format as an experimental medium, as a playground for body and perception. Her work explores identity, the body, intimacy and taboos, particularly through the pivotal transition from childhood to adulthood — a moment of profound personal construction.

Photo: Aline Bouvy, LA FAME, 2025 (installation, mixed technique) © GRAYSC