The English Gentleman

I missed a day!! :( I didn't bring a computer with me on a business trip to the seaside and realized when I arrived that I was going to miss a day of posting. Sigh.

The trip was great, I was amazingly comfortable spending a good part of 24 hours in the company of middle-aged men who all know a heck of a lot more than I do about printing and publishing, and have a completely different life than I do. It's quite a feeling to be the youngest and the only female in a business meeting at the same time. At dinner on Thursday when I was surrounded by five businessmen, I remember thinking, Okay I could get intimidated, or I could really enjoy this! And I enjoyed it, for the most part.

Two of the men were what I would consider the quintessential English gentleman. I think I found the conversations at dinner and the meetings so stimulating partly because of how much I just loved listening to them talk! Something about the accent, the proper way of speaking, drinking brandy after a nice meal - it all made me feel like I was being transported back about 100 years. Plus it was an older beach town where we stayed in the "Grand Hotel" and I had lounge chairs and tapestry curtains in my room, which certainly added to the effect!

One outcome of the trip is that I am definitely motivated to get my act together to keep holding my own in these settings. I don't necessarily feel I have more to prove because I'm young and a woman, but certainly don't want the fact that I am young and a woman to be the only things that come across, and having nothing to add to the conversation is a sure-fire way to allow someone's mind to rest on those facts. At the Book Awards, there was an older man who made a few comments that I should be promoted and told my boss why isn't she running things, can't you see "talent"...and I have never spoken to him before, leaving me to assume the 'talent' he is referring to is my ability to look fashionable at an event. Now, he could know my boss or have talked to a colleague across the table who knew me, but I am always scared of the assumption that I achieved something on looks or charm, maybe too much so. Regardless, it motivates me to work hard, so I'm not too worried with getting over that fear. In another few years, when I have even less chance of that assumption being made, I'll have to find something else to motivate me ;)