David has recently joined the Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors for the media section of The 2008 American Business Awards.

What was the best Christmas present you ever received?
When I was about 10 years old I received an art set that included a wood-burning tool. My brother and I burned our names into everything. Everything.

What book are you currently reading?
I just picked up Steve Berry’s The Alexandria Link: A Novel. Hope to start it soon …

What was the last movie you saw, and would you recommend it?
It’s an old one: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We watch it together as a family every year. I recommend everyone making it a tradition–it’s always funny.

What is your favorite sport or hobby?
Who has time for hobbies? I enjoy design, architecture, and photography. My job allows me to be around these things on a daily basis,

Who is your favorite historical figure?
I hate this question. Maybe Frank Lloyd Wright? Whether you like his style or not, he had vision and brought it to life.

Who is your favorite living person?
My parents. They’ve done more with less than anyone I know. I really admire it—I just wish I could figure out how they did it!

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
Architecture. It’s inspirational seeing something come out of the ground that never existed before.

What do you think is the worst bad habit to have at work?
Passing the buck. It leads to mediocrity.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
Tenacity. They don’t give up. But that doesn’t mean they’ll only do something one way. It means they come back with different solutions to solve the same problem.

Is there anything you'd like to improve about your own work practices?
I believe our biggest challenge is not having the time to do things properly. It seems like we have less and less time everyday–but the time it takes to do something right never changes. So, finding ways to give us the proper amount of time is something I’d like to improve. Definitely a challenge …

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
“Next” keeps me inspired. It’s one of our core beliefs here. Every day is different. We’re always creating something new, something that hasn’t been done before. It’s stimulating and exciting to find new ways to let consumers know what our clients have to offer.

What do you consider has been your greatest achievement in business?
Surviving it.

What advice or useful tip would you give to someone who is just starting out in business?
An advertising career on the creative side is considered a “fun” job. And it is. But it’s also real work. The blending of art and commerce is no small challenge and it can be extremely frustrating. You really have to work at it to be good. It’s more complicated than ever before to get a message out because consumers have access to more mediums than ever before. However, there’s a bright future out there for those who figure it out. It calls for more creativity. And that’s always good.

About David Crawford
As a Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director, David has been accountable for all creative strategies and campaigns that build business for Kohler Company and BMW. Over the years his account experience includes Land Rover North America, Pennzoil, Texas Tourism, North Carolina Tourism, Southwest Airlines, Piedmont Airlines, Don’t Mess With Texas, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines, the American Legacy Foundation, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Karastan Carpets, Pebble Beach, Rolling Stone magazine, RC Cola, Americans for the Arts, and Rock the Vote.

David’s work has been featured in Communication Arts magazine, The One Show, Cannes, The Art Directors Club, the Athena’s, and the National Addys. He was also selected as an ADWEEK Creative All-Star and recently judged the One Show, The Art Directors Club and the Kelly Awards. He graduated cum laude with a B.F.A. degree from Western Carolina University.

About GSD&M’s Idea City
GSD&M is now GSD&M’s Idea City. It has moved from an acronym of the initials of its founders to what it stands for and does: visionary ideas that make a difference for its people, clients, country, and the world. GSD&M has always been in the business of ideas, and is now taking it to the next level as GSD&M’s Idea City. Interested in learning more? Visit the company’s website at www.ideacity.com to read about the transformation.

“Try the famous echo in the Reading Room of the British Museum” 
Gerard Hoffnung, 1954

Do not be deceived by that stiff upper lip.  Underneath a repressed and conventional exterior the British are a deeply emotional race, and they like to see feelings frankly displayed in the workplace. Especially men. You will be amazed at the effect if you take the initiative emotionally. If a British man does a good piece of work for you, don’t stop at saying a bare thank-you or congratulations. Give him a big hug right in front of everybody and tell him how deeply you love him as a person, not just as a fellow worker. This is called hands-on management.

The British are very flexible about working hours, so long as they are given strong leadership. Make it very clear that you expect jobs to be finished even if it means weekend working, or a special journey or effort, or giving up time from a sport, hobby, or family activity.  You might detect a sullen attitude when you make these demands, particularly late on a Friday afternoon, but the employee will actually be delighted to be singled out in this way, and valued more highly than other employees. Reinforce this message by making a point of letting others leave early when you ask the valued employee to stay in.

The British are at their best when dealing with a difficult customer. With any British business, large or small, try to make your order unusual, outside the normal specifications of the business. The company will be delighted to show how it can meet your needs. This will be shown in the phrase: “We don’t get much demand for that here” expressed on a rising note of pleasure and surprise.

At an official level, the British work best when they are unencumbered by red tape and paperwork and are able to use their initiative to solve a problem. If you are asked to bring a set of official documents to a meeting, make a point of not bringing at least one of the documents. For example, with a tax official you will get on so much quicker if you say: “Look, I don’t think either of us want to wade through all these invoices and records.”

If you have any kind of problem with a British official, including the police or a judge, don’t be coy: Ask straight away what it will cost to fix it.

The British have a healthy disregard for rank and seniority. People are often given apparently important titles or job descriptions, such as director-general or permanent under-secretary of state or even commander-in-chief, but that does not mean that they are respected or influential. When one of these people is holding forth on a problem and you know the solution, do not hesitate to interrupt and take command.

Matching the apparent hierarchies of rank and seniority, British names are often complicated with a string of titles before and letters afterwards. However, these titles are adopted only out of personal respect for the sovereign and they are used only in her immediate presence. It is very bad form for anyone other than the Queen to say “Your Lordship” or even “Colonel Mustard” or “Professor Plum.” All important Britons have a nickname or some other secret identity, known only to their intimates.  Find this out and use this right away. For example, when you meet the Duke of Devonshire, give him a big hug and call him “Bingo!”

Be on the alert if you see what might be a Scots, Welsh or Irish name. The Scots, Welsh, and Irish, after centuries of subjugation, like to show that they are fully assimilated into British society, and they will resent it very strongly if you insist on referring to their national origin. Make a point of identifying them as English or at least British.

The British have taken up enthusiastically the concept of the power breakfast, the earlier the better. An early morning conference call is an even better way to do business, because there is no distraction from people serving food and beverages and trying to remember orders. The British are at their most clear-headed and decisive first thing in the morning: it is never too early to call. In fact, if you have a bright idea, share it with your British colleagues instantly, any time of day or night, before someone else thinks of it. 

As you can see from a map, Britain is a very small place, smaller than many American counties, let alone states. Nowhere is very far from anywhere. It is no hardship for people to drive from London to say, Manchester, for a meeting or a social function, and they will not expect to stay overnight.

An area of British etiquette that is often very hard for visitors to understand is the queue. A queue is much more that what Americans call a line. The British invented the queue and are very strict about its rules. But not enough people know that a queue is for British people only. It is more like a club, or a social gathering, a chance for people to meet and talk to each other and, above all, to identify themselves as British or local. It is therefore very bad manners for an American to join a British queue. Walk right past it to the front of the line and receive attention, so that the queue can follow its own unique rhythm. Remember to identify yourself as a VIP.

People often are not aware of the British reverence for professional language. Such language is identified with expertise, qualification, the right to give advice. The invention of special language is a recurring feature of British history. In the past, official business was conducted, deliberately, in languages other than English, like mediaeval Latin or Norman French.  Even when English was used, each profession quickly established its own unique expressions: priests, lawyers, soldiers, astrologers, alchemists. Their efforts are matched by the new priesthoods of the twenty-first century: economists, psychologists, social scientists, management consultants. It is therefore very discourteous to reduce any kind of technical matter to simple, everyday language. Give your British audience the confidence that you know what you are talking about. Instead of saying: “I think our companies could work together,” say: “The capacity and organizational complementarities of the respective companies and their differential product, service, and market focus offer significant opportunities to leverage their synergies, going forward.”

However, if there is one quality the British value, in work and business and in every aspect of life, it is humor. The greatest gift for any manager in Britain is to make colleagues laugh and enjoy themselves in the workplace. In fact, a leading consultancy made a motivational video on this aspect, which is a best seller. It is called simply The Office.

I hope that I have covered, obliquely, most if not all exasperating things about working with the British; however, it is important to remember that for each one of these things there is an equal and opposite virtue.  Here are some examples.

First, the love of red tape. The British are obsessed with procedure. There is a fundamental principle of English administrative law: a decision can be quashed because the decision maker did not follow correct procedure. It is a very old principle, from what the English call “time immemorial” which actually has a legal meaning: before 1189.  To the British, correct procedure is equated with fairness, with protection from arbitrary power.  The mediaeval King and feudal lord had to follow correct procedure before they could command loyalty and order peasants to perform labor, pay taxes, or die in battle. Most of the great battles for English liberty are battles about procedure—how to make decisions—rather than about great decisions themselves.  The first battles of trade unions were about he right to be admitted to a procedure. So were the Reform Bills of the 19th century and votes for women.

The downside of this love of procedure is its slowness. The upside is British respect for law and decisions or agreements that are correctly reached. Follow the right procedure and the British will honor the outcome.

Second, rank, title, and status. The English obsession with these things is not just snobbery. It is also about recognizing a person’s rights and duties in society. For centuries of British history, title and rank were not empty honors, they actually identified what property people owned, what businesses they could conduct, whether they worked for others or for themselves or did not work at all, whether they could take part in government or the administration of justice.  Establishing titles, ranks, and status is still important to the British for these reasons and it reflects genuine interest in who someone really is, where he or she comes from.

The downside is time wasting snobbery, and the upside a respect for other people and a willingness to accept decisions by people who were authorized to make them.

The British place a very high value on leisure pursuits and spend a great deal of time on them (they did invent a great number of them: football; golf; cricket; snooker; killing birds, fish and animals for pleasure; to name a few). They also spend a great deal of time talking about them. The downside of this is boredom. If you are not interested in golf or gardening many British conversations are unbearable. The upside of this small talk is that it reflects the British belief that there is more to life than business, that people are linked to each other by more than economic or commercial relationships.

One of their great strengths in the workplace is that the British tolerate non-conformity and eccentricity, so long as people get their work done. The British civil service and the Foreign Office–bastions of the establishment–are full of people who are decidedly odd: I worked there myself for many years. This vital quality of tolerating the offbeat is under grave threat from the alien culture seeping through every British organization of team meetings, bonding sessions, and playing together at being soldiers.

I would like to conclude with the British love of conventions. The upside of belief in convention—the done thing—is the British belief in decency and integrity.  There are standards people must uphold to keep respect of British society, especially fair, honest dealing; keeping your word; not using naked, arbritary power.  In my view, this is the biggest strength of British business, British society generally. British public life is still very incorrupt; British business is still generally honest towards its government, its customers and its competitors.

Finally …

The British have very much taken to the idea of salesmanship. “Salesman” is a term of profound respect in British life, and the best way to flatter an executive is to call him or her a salesman. The British virtually invented product placement.  Many of Shakespeare’s finest passages are really extended “commercials.” Think of Lady Macbeth, the harassed housewife desperately searching for a cleaning product to remove persistent stains. Anyone who gives any kind of public address in England is expected to create some kind of buying opportunity for his or her audience, or it will be regarded as a complete waste of time. To find out about everything you could possibly want to know about public speaking in England, read my book High Impact Speeches: How to Create & Deliver Words That Move Minds, recently published by Prentice Hall Business, a complete guide to composing and delivering words that move minds and move money. Now friends, this is so much more than just a how-to book, it’s a book, which raises the standards of English prose to heights never before attempted, let alone achieved.
 
About Richard Heller
Richard Heller was born in Brooklyn, New York, of American parents, but has lived in England since the 1950s. He is an associate of Clarity, a leading think-tank and communications consultancy.

Blogs, or web logs, are all the rage these days. Each month in this space we'll point you to several blogs that we think might be of interest to you.

Iowa Caucus Blog : Read up on political commentaries from seasoned Des Moines Register journalist David Yepsen.
The Swamp : Political blogs on Washington from Chicago Tribune reporters and more …
The Daily Kos : Created in 2002, this site now receives about 600,000 daily visits and carries blogs from from the likes of President Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, dozens of other senators, congressmen, and governors, plus tens of thousands of regular folk.
Newsbusters : Started in 2005 as a project of the Media Research Center (MRC) as a blog to document, expose, and neutralize liberal media bias.