In June 2007, I made my first trip to America. That week changed my professional life and is still changing it.
Extract from ‘On Sound Foundations’; Chapter 7: ‘Found In Translation’
“11:30 Sunday morning seemed quite a civilised time to take off from Heathrow; but by the time I fell into bed at the Key Bridge Mariott Hotel around 8pm local time (1am in the UK), it didn’t feel quite so civilised!
“This was my first time in the States – my first time outside Europe. So I was completely unprepared for the games jetlag can play, like waking you up at four o’clock in the morning full of energy, then making you feel completely exhausted five hours later – just as you’re about to start work! I just about got the hang of the time difference by the end of the week.
“Nor was I prepared for how foreign I felt. Very welcome, but foreign. So often I’d heard it said in England that we and the US are ‘divided by a common language’, but I thought it was just a cliché. I assumed, as novice Brits often do before they first set foot on American soil, that after years of a TV diet including so many shows imported from the States, the one thing that wouldn’t be an issue was the language.
“How wrong I was – especially in the hotel. The staff were wonderful. I couldn’t fault the service from everyone. From the most junior porter up to the Manager, nothing was too much trouble. That said, time and time again, I’d use a word which I didn’t even think about as being particularly English, get a blank stare in response – and have to think again. The one that caught me out more often than any other was ‘lift’. It took me almost the whole week to remember to ask for the ‘nearest elevator’.
“Another reason to make that ‘Trading in the US’ podcast, I thought.”
A couple of weeks ago, I had a long Skype chat with Colleen Jolly of The 24-hour Company, in Northern Virginia. I was put in touch with Colleen by Mark Amtower – and I was put in touch with Mark by Ardell Fleeson, whom I met on that first trip in ’07. I’ve made programmes with Mark and Ardell and hope to do the same with Colleen in the not too distant future.
I think it’s safe to say that Colleen and I hit it off pretty much instantly. Well, at least, she wants to come and watch me present at a 4Networking breakfast at the end of April. No, she’s not coming over specially – she’ll be here working on the UK expansion of her company. We both agreed, though, that there’s still a language barrier between here and the US. We’ve each run into it – but we agree that finding a way through it is well worth the effort.
Last month, I said there was no substitute for the human voice. Of course, there’s also no substitute for meeting face to face. It isn’t a case of ‘either’ ‘or’. Creating great opportunities is about developing great connections – and that’s all about utilising every kind of communication at our disposal. That doesn’t have to mean flying halfway around the world (just as well at the moment!), but it does mean being open to ideas.