Minding you manners, remotely.
Being polite in business is a balancing act between too much and too little. Even more so in pandemic when the rules have shifted both dramatically and subtly.
To guide us through it, I’ve interviewed headhunter and business owner Alex Gordon Shute of Ithaca Partners about what she has learnt about business etiquette over the years. Whenever I am not sure what the right thing to do is (most of the time) I call Alex and she always knows.
Alex’s good manners priorities:
listening well
being interested
being enthusiastic
Knowing her, I would add a fourth: an inclination to be direct and honest, without threatening the security of her relationships.
Manners that matter:
Saying no politely
How to give gifts
Communicating bad news
Pursuing new business—without irritating
Being candid
And what to do when you can’t remember someone’s name.
Enjoy Alex.
I’ll see you next week when we’ll be going to back to looking at whether deep work is gendered. My inbox is exploding with your thoughts and rants: keep sending them!
-Christine x
