Oh my, sing it Ella. I love Paris in the springtime.
I was in Paris this last week and for 7 days immersed myself in all manner of Parisian delights. It was nothing less than stupendous.
I used public transportation the entire time, meandered to tourist spots and to locations truly off the beaten path and the entire time muttered just a few words in my high school French but mostly making my way in English.
The people were helpful and charming, provided advice and directions with patience and courtesy and never once did I experience any of the”French rudeness” that we frequently hear about.
In fact, my experience was quite the opposite which leads me to think that sometimes what you come to ” expect” becomes, in fact, your reality.
All too often we are led to believe that something will occur, that we’ll be treated in a certain manner (positive OR negative), that a specific outcome is pretty much assured, and when we do that we simply relinquish our personal responsibility for what DOES occur.
I see this happening in business as well. For instance, in my sales consulting practice, I find companies allowing the “scuttlebutt” about a specific organization drive their desire to prospect them or not (without taking the time to find out for themselves IF, in fact, the rumors are true), thereby undermining a potential sale.
I’m not saying that we should totally ignore what we hear and learn second-hand. But we also need to do our own due diligence and find out about certain things for ourselves. We need to take responsibility and be accountable for outcomes, in our personal and our business lives.
So for all of the people that mentioned to me that they heard that French people are rude, let me be the first to tell you it just ain’t so or at least for this vacationer that greeted every Parisian with a smile and a handshake and got nothing but the same in return.
- Being reactive about business development becaus
