Tags: the friction dispatch™

Showing 12 results:

Are you making eye contact or demanding it?

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 a...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 spatial dimension the friction dispatch™

The room that split in two

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 Lat...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 conversational dimension the friction dispatch™

The agenda was aspirational

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 ...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 temporal dimension the friction dispatch™

The yes that wasn’t

‘We'll certainly take that on board.’ You leave the meeting satisfied. The questions were good. Someone on their side even mentioned exploring next steps. You make a note: deal moving. Two weeks later, nothing. You follow up. Warm reply, no movement. Another week. Still nothing. Eventually a mutu...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 conversational dimension the friction dispatch™

They liked you. That wasn’t the problem.

By the time the coffee arrived, you’d been introduced to two people who weren’t on the original invite, the conversation had moved well off the agenda, and nobody in the room seemed to mind. You left thinking: this one’s going somewhere. Three weeks later, you’re still waiting for the contract. T...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 relational dimension the friction dispatch™

The follow-up that disappeared

You sent the follow-up the same afternoon. Summary of what was agreed, action points, a suggested date for the next call. Clear, prompt, professional. Then nothing. A week goes by. Then another. You send a gentle chase. Still nothing. You start wondering if you misread the room. The situation I'v...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 temporal dimension the friction dispatch™

There is no such thing as Latin American Spanish

Contrary to what most British professionals assume, interpreting a technical meeting about infrastructure is often simpler than interpreting the lunch that follows it. In a meeting about bridges, water supply, or electrical grids, the Spanish is largely standardised across Latin America. The voca...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 conversational dimension the friction dispatch™

You both spoke English. That was the problem.

There is a particular kind of British-LatAm meeting that runs entirely in English, goes smoothly by all appearances, and produces a follow-up where both sides discover they understood something different. Not because anyone was unclear. Not because the English was poor. But because the two sides ...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 conversational dimension the friction dispatch™

The meeting went well. Then nothing.

You know the feeling. The meeting was warm, engaged, maybe even overran by twenty minutes. Everyone left smiling. You sent the follow-up that evening. Then silence. Not a cold silence. A polite one. Which, as it turns out, is harder to read. The situation A British consultant I know, senior, expe...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 temporal dimension the friction dispatch™

There’s a season inside The Season and you're missing it

Between late March and September, something shifts in the way British professionals relate to each other. The diary fills differently. Conversations have a different register. There are invitations that carry more weight than they appear to, events that function as professional rituals disguised ...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 relational dimension the friction dispatch™

When ‘now’ means different things on each side of the call

There is a phrase that became a kind of shorthand during the pandemic years, when every meeting moved online and every delegation that used to fly into London started joining from a screen instead. ‘Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whatever applies to you.’ I heard it dozens of time...

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 temporal dimension the friction dispatch™

When your body says more than your words

Most professionals preparing for a British-LatAm meeting think about what they are going to say. Very few think about what their body is already saying before they open their mouth. The spatial dimension of the Slots v. Loops™ systems is the one that operates entirely below the level of language....

by Cecilia Lipovsek — Aug 25, 2026 spatial dimension the friction dispatch™

1 2

Cecilia's Blog

My notes on the friction that costs British and Latin American executives and diplomats trust, deals, and influence. Observations and systems for the real work.

THE BRITISH-LATAM FRICTION SCORECARD™

Find out exactly where your friction is.

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.

Take the Scorecard

by Cecilia Lipovsek. See the friction. Close the gap.

Scorecard Field Kit Circle Books Virtual Support Full Service

Blog Dispatch Featured-in Keynotes Store

Member Portal

Tags: the friction dispatch™

Cecilia's Blog

My notes on the friction that costs British and Latin American executives and diplomats trust, deals, and influence. Observations and systems for the real work.

Find out exactly where your friction is.

How can we help you?