I have just finished writing a new CV for a client. It wasn’t easy, but it gave me two satisfactions, one of which was quite unexpected.

First, let me explain why it wasn’t easy.

He was quite undecided which way to go with his career – creative or operational? He was well qualified to do both. But until he made that decision I couldn’t write his CV. After all, what would I be selling?

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I have just finished writing a new CV for a client. It wasn’t easy, but it gave me two satisfactions, one of which was quite unexpected.

First, let me explain why it wasn’t easy.

He was quite undecided which way to go with his career—creative or operational? …read more

Source: CV Masterclass

Online networking has enabled us to communicate with more people than previously, and brought us under the influence of more streams of thought. However, having been a boarder at school and university, I sense a similar kind of influence in the dialogues that take place, the influence of the noisy.

In the early days of my working life I encountered a rotation of colleagues who brought with them their varied life experiences, attitudes and beliefs. In the pub we would opine, debate, and even bore one another, adjusting the thrust of our arguments according to our needs to impress or keep the peace. In the process, I for one learned much, and it was relatively easy to fit in or not.

Since becoming a solo-preneur, I have not had the same opportunities to share experiences with as many people as before, or in the same way. I turned to networking to make up the difference.

Breakfast and lunch networks have not appealed, because I was not comfortable with weekly commitments to be with the same small bunch of people, only a minority of whom might be on my wavelength. Sharing those concerns with others at the meetings I have attended, I realised that I was not alone in my views, although others felt it would be politically incorrect to say such things.

I looked at online networking, not just the groups I had joined, but several other groups as well. The patterns were fairly consistent. In most groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, Sunzu and elsewhere there seemed to be two bands of members: those who joined but were not very active, probably because they were fully engaged in their own working environments, and those who needed the network for their interactions.

The latter group is much the smaller of the two, and contains a hard core of vociferous members who dominate the forums. An even smaller number of that group will be found active in more than one platform.

Let me stress, at this point, that my research has not been scientifically conducted, and this is a subjective impression. What I have found (felt?) is a tendency for a certain set of values, attitudes and practices to dominate, in much the same way as occurred in my days as a boarder, driven by the active few.

No surprises there, as group dynamics are pretty much the same anywhere. But it is worth being aware that the ideas, attitudes and influences in those network forums are largely those of the noisiest members. We could find ourselves influenced by a small number of people whose ‘norms’ may not be universal.

It may explain why some people prefer to stay out of forum discussions, and others avoid online networking altogether. So what’s the answer? Clearly no one can be prescriptive, and market forces will determine which networks succeed, but I like the idea of a collaborative network, where ideas and information are shared for mutual support, in a non-combative way.

That would be a good influence.

Filed under: public speaking

Online networking has enabled us to communicate with more people than previously, and brought us under the influence of more streams of thought. However, having been a boarder at school and university, I sense a similar kind of influence in the dialogues that take place, the influence of the …read more

Source: PKP Communicators WordPress.com

I was working on a major newspaper that was in a state of transition. Building up my team, I recruited a young man from Pakistan, in his early 20s. His background made him respectful towards the ‘old guard’, especially his elders, including one of the middle managers who were on the way out.

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I was working on a major newspaper that was in a state of transition. Building up my team, I recruited a young man from Pakistan, in his early 20s. His background made him respectful towards the “old guard”, especially his elders, including one of the middle managers who were …read more

Source: CV Masterclass

The mayor of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock, supported a Curry Evening in aid of the Jimmy Mizen Foundation. Jimmy Mizen was a teenager who was murdered in South London five years ago, and his parents, Barry and Margaret set up a charity dedicated to promoting peace and community spirit among young people.

Yak & Yeti, a Nepalese restaurant on Bromley Hill, decided to raise funds for the charity by hosting a Curry Evening, and donating all takings for the meal to the  Foundation.

As diners arrived, they were entertained (and amazed) by a young master magician, Steve Dela, whose close up magic had them gasping. He was followed by Southern Brand, a Barbershop Quartet from the Bromley Barbershop Harmony Club, which has made the Jimmy Mizen Foundation their nominated charity for the past two years.

It was a fine example of a local business joining hands with its customers and friends of friends to boost a local good cause.

The diners were lavish in their praise of the food, and applauded Krishna, the restaurant’s manager, whose every move was shadowed by a cameraman from Nepalese television, who was a touch too intrusive.

As the Chair of Trustees remarked after the meal, the Mayor is invited to large numbers of such events every year, yet he chose to attend this one.  He is clearly a man of the people, and it’s hardly surprising that he is in his third elected term of office.

Together with a small raffle, the evening’s donations totalled nearly £930, which Gift Aiding will take past the thousand mark. Pretty good for a Curry Evening, wouldn’t you say?

The mayor of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock, supported a Curry Evening in aid of the Jimmy Mizen Foundation. Jimmy Mizen was a teenager who was murdered in South London five years ago, and his parents, Barry and Margaret set up a charity dedicated to promoting peace and community spirit among …read more

Source: Phillip KP WordPress.com

“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the Twain shall meet”

Of course the twain do meet in today’s small world – but research since the 1980s has illuminated huge differences between western thinking on the one hand and the way people think in the Far East and Middle East.

The burgeoning economies of the Arab world have attracted increasing numbers of westerners to holiday and even work in places that were once obscure names on the neglected pages of the world atlas. The area around central London’s Marble Arch has acquired an Arab look, with many a shop sign in the curly right-to-left Arabic script, and late night café customers sit at pavement tables with their hubble bubble hookahs.  Such a change is not universally popular.

In the late ’60s, the poet-writer, Dom Moraes, revisited India, the land of his birth, and found that he was a stranger.  Speaking no word of any Indian language, he was in the hands of his manservant, and had to learn how to manage the master-servant relationship.  For example he could not bypass his man and deal directly with lower caste subcontractors, such as the sweeper: the hierarchy had to be maintained.  He learned, but did not understand, that his man would fiercely protect him from exploitation by vendors, but considered it his right to swindle his master on the daily food shopping.  He noticed that servants would not make eye contact with their masters, nor do any of the things that build a personal relationship.  In short, he became acutely aware that East is East and very different from the West.

Of course, the East has long been part of the British scene, with curry now the most popular dish in restaurants and take-outs.  Yet, amazingly for a nation that only recently relinquished a vast empire, and which has adopted a sizeable number of Indian words into the language, Britain remains largely ignorant of Eastern ways.  In London, the Sikhs in Southall, the Bengalis in Brick Lane and the Hindus in Harrow have clustered together like the Arabs of Marble Arch, in a sort of reverse colonisation, forming communities that are distinct from the host community.

Unfortunately, host communities often feel threatened by visible gatherings of foreigners whose customs, dress and language are different from their own.  They feel anxious about losing their jobs, their homes and even their womenfolk to the invaders.  Attitudes and values can be very different.

In southern Europe and many eastern countries, deadlines are considered to be loose indicators, not commitments.  When a friend of mine first went to live in Spain, she believed (in common with many other English people) that the word manana meant “Tomorrow”.  In time she realised that, for the Spanish, manana simply means “not today”.

An equally frustrating word, regularly used in the Middle East, is “N’sha’llah”  or “Inshallah”.  It translates as ‘God willing’ but actually means, “I take no responsibility for what might happen in the future”.  Both the Spanish and the Arabs (and the nations in between) have a relaxed attitude to time keeping and deadlines, and things get done when they get around to them.  It’s not that way in Britain.

Certain practices give offence simply because they are insensitive, and some nations are more likely to take offence than others.  However, two thoughts should guide us:

1. We all react when someone does commonplace things differently from us, whether it be a handshake or the way they eat a steak.  We therefore need to be aware of the reflex of prejudice that is within us.
2. We need to be sensitive towards others, and aware of our own conduct, in case it gives offence to them.

Above all, we should never cause someone to lose Face.  Not only is it discourteous, it can make an enemy for life.  Face is a concept that dominates social and business contact throughout the Far East.  Losing face is to lose dignity, and for the Chinese that is like losing their eyes, nose and mouth.  The embarrassment is actually felt in the face.  Social relations should be conducted in such a way that everybody’s face is maintained.  Paying respect to someone is called “giving face”.  Think of the English expression, “I couldn’t show my face in there” – it refers to the way we experience humiliation, and goes a long way towards helping westerners to understand the concept of face saving.

There’s more, of course, but that’s a good place to start.

Filed under: public speaking, speaking