Go Along, Get Along--and Then Get Ahead : You don’t want to waltz into someone else’s country, insult them and blow a deal do you? This company can help.
At a fork in the road in Africa, Eleanor Schrader Schapa turned to the other woman in her Jeep.
They were on a tour seven years ago that was about to pass a Muslim enclave in Somalia. The woman, a physician, was wearing shorts, and Schapa suggested that she drape a scarf over her bare legs out of respect for the Islamic women there, who covered themselves from head to toe.
The physician refused, saying, “I don’t need to do that.”
“This is the picture of not necessarily the Ugly American but, in coming into another culture, how we sometimes look askance” at different practices, said Schapa, now a partner in Executive Protocol International, a fledgling company that advises clients on business etiquette.
On Sept. 18, the company will present a five-hour seminar on cultural attitudes and international business protocol at the Regency Club in Westwood.
Schapa’s partner, Bee Canterbury Lavery, was chief of protocol for former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and arranged city ceremonies for dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth II and Japan’s Emperor Hirohito.
Lavery, who grew up in Whittier, says she learned the importance of good manners as a child. She recalled that her father, who was strict in matters of etiquette, would thump her elbow if she leaned on the dining table.
Now, her 5-month-old company’s motto is: “A return to civility.”
“It’s a little way of trying to turn this country back to what it was when we treated each other with respect,” Lavery said.
Businesswomen often face unusual etiquette problems, especially, Schapa said, when they travel to countries in which men are used to calling the shots. There, a cultural faux pas could be more than bad manners--it could mean a long flight home with no business deal or with damaged corporate relations.
“We don’t want you to shoot yourself in the foot because you’ve done something to offend someone else,” Schapa said.
American women should be conscious of their dress and take care not to bristle if businessmen in some other countries do not treat them as equals.
For instance, a friend of Schapa’s who is an international banking consultant in Los Angeles would dress conservatively when doing business abroad and shun flashy accessories, such as patent leather shoes. But, inevitably, she would put a deal on the table in Belgium or France and then watch as someone turned to her male assistant.
“They listened to what she had to say and then turned to her right-hand man and did the bargaining with him,” Schapa said.
In that situation, Schapa said, one should seek out an ally--perhaps a younger man at the table--and get him on your side. “He can bring everybody else along . . . older fellows who aren’t used to women in the workplace.”
Renee Tawa can be reached at renee.tawa@latimes.com.
