Half the room ended up by the window. Half by the bar. Nobody planned it, and nobody moved for twenty minutes.
I watched this happen at a reception mixing UK and Latin American guests. Ten minutes in, the room had split clean down the middle, separated by the Atlantic Ocean.
The Situation
The Latin American guests opened the way they always open: are you married? Do you have children? Where's your family from? To them, standard, expected warmth.
The British guests heard something else. A door opening faster than they'd like. A few smiled and answered anyway. More found a reason to top up a drink near someone safer.
To the Latin American guests, the retreat read as nothing. Weather, traffic, how was the journey: three questions that ask for nothing back. Most got bored, and drifted off too.
A Mexican corporate affairs manager spends the weekend before a big London pitch working through a business masterclass online. Lesson four says that holding eye contact is the single biggest signal of trust one can send.
He walks into the meeting and does exactly that. Steady gaze, no breaking away, right through the whole pitch.
Twenty minutes in, his British counterpart has shifted in his se...
Ted Lasso is back, and I won't pretend I’m not delighted.
I remember watching the previous seasons and recognising my own work as a diplomatic interpreter in Ted’s approach to Total Football: constant movement, no set positions, everyone covering for everyone else. His style of play, broken into the four maxims below, is part of what came to be known as The Lasso Way:
Conditioning
Versatility
...
You sent the agenda four days out.
Three items. Tight. Time-boxed. One page attached to the calendar invite so everyone could come prepared.
They confirmed attendance. Nobody pushed back. You walked in with a deck for each point and ten minutes to spare.
By 11:15, you were still on item one.
The Situation
The meeting didn't collapse. Something else happened.
A question opened up a conversation ...
THE BRITISH-LATAM FRICTION SCORECARD™
Â
Find out exactly where your friction is.
Â
A personalised read of where your British-LatAm friction actually lives. The kind of specific information that changes how you walk into your next meeting. Used by British and LatAm professionals. Takes 4 minutes.
