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Reboot Your Brain

By Jon Bradshaw

THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER AFTER A PARTICULARLY HARSH WINTER as I write this, and most people’s thoughts are on the long hot summer days ahead. Of course, meteorologically such days don’t generally exist here in Britain, resulting in the fact that at this time of year much time, effort and money are invested in organizing two of what are often the most stressful and demanding weeks of the whole year—the summer holiday.

You’ll know that I am proud of my nationality if you’ve read my column before, but I have to warn readers who haven’t visited these fair isles recently that living here isn’t all cricket, bowler hats, cockney accents and Mary Poppins. I’m afraid that there are more Mr. Beans than Mr. Bonds—the proof of which is that 90 percent of the population will choose to escape in the coming few months, a situation that is either welcomed or dreaded in equal measure depending on whether you own a beach bar in southern Europe or are the parents of the three teenagers who are planning to spend the equivalent of Greece’s national debt there. Batten down the hatches, the British are coming!

(Very) generally speaking, when it comes to taking a summer break the British will do one of three things. Youngsters, heading for their first holidays without parents, will go to Mediterranean bars in Greece, Italy or Spain for two weeks and embarrass our country by drinking so much on the first night that they spend the remaining 13 days in the hospital, hoping that when they return 15 pounds lighter sporting a hospital tag but no tan their parents won’t notice. Can I apologise now to my Greek and Spanish friends for the behavior of our younger generation (and for doing this myself in the early 1990s)?

Families, on the other hand, will head to Europe by car looking forward to two weeks in the sun. This optimism will be short lived when a) having driven less than three miles, the children begin a 14-day argument about which music should be played, b) continental Europe suffers its wettest summer in years (while Britain hits 76 degrees Fahrenheit, the roads melt, public transport grinds to a halt and a state of emergency is declared) and c) the falling value of the pound means that it would have been more economical to buy a small Caribbean island.

Finally, the older generation relaxes as the children and grandchildren are away, hooks a 1960s caravan to the back of a 1950s Mini and proceeds to frustrate the rest of the nation by driving 20 miles per hour and taking four days to travel the coast, thus creating a traffic jam the length of Chile.

My family duly fit into the stereotype—we generally took the ferry every year in the mid- to late-1980s and camped on France’s northwest tip. I remember the scene as if it were yesterday, my dad asking a Frenchman in English (but with a hilarious French accent) how far it was until the next campsite and reacting to the puzzled local by standing closer, raising his voice and speaking twice as slowly—cross-cultural communication at its best!

Being an island nation, we British haven’t always had the best track record in understanding the habits of those native to the countries we visit when holidaying “overseas.” In the 1980s, when Ian Rush—one of England’s top soccer stars—returned to the country after just one of the three anticipated seasons playing for Italian giant Juventus, he reportedly put his early return down to the fact that living in Italy was like “living in a foreign country.” Hardly an advert for British cultural adaptability.

As MPI members, no matter where you’re planning your holiday/vacation this year—or perhaps more relevantly no matter where you’re attending your next meeting—you at least can be assured of blending in seamlessly with the cultures you are exposed to thanks to a fantastic online resource.

Funded by the MPI Foundation, IMEX and MCI, the CultureActive tool, developed by Richard Lewis Communications, is available via the main MPI Web site at no cost and introduces you to a staggering library of information about a variety of cultures. By taking the short questionnaire, you can compare yourself to others on aspects such as communication, the interpretation of body language and conducting meetings.

Improve your cross-cultural skills today by simply visiting MPIWeb.org, choosing the Education tab, selecting the MPI CultureActive tool from the drop down and being safe in the knowledge that next time you are in Rome you really can do as the Romans do

I hope you all manage to enjoy relaxing vacations in the coming months whether abroad or not. One+

JON BRADSHAW presents and trains internationally on a variety of subjects in the field of human behavior and performance. He is also director of business development for IMEX, the European Meetings and Events Exhibition and can be can be contacted via www.equinoxmotivation.com.