Civil Affairs in Israel, Public Relations Image Challenge
By
LAUREN GELFOND FELDINGER
The Jerusalem Post
Jerusalem-----February 4....... Not Israeli, not in Israel. Training the 'savage sabra' for an increasingly global market is a new business opportunity. Dr. Itzhak Majer looked around the cozy, upscale Tel Aviv charm school offices and extended his hand, smiling. He was feeling confident, professional and well-dressed. But, it turned out, he was a "don't" from the start.
The polished Tami Lancut Leibovitz, founder and head of the Israeli Institute for Communications, Manners and Etiquette, didn't perceptively move her eyes away from the 58-year-old plastic surgeon's as she smiled back and took his hand. However, as she would admit during the first of three consultations, she had quickly sized up Majer and thought to herself, "wrong, wrong, wrong again." "When you come to my office, I'm the host. I need to extend my hand first. It's a little aggressive, forward or like a demand for respect," she explained.
She also didn't like the way he introduced himself, "Dr. Majer, Itzhak," last name first, she said, because it can confuse the hosts as to which is the family name and which is the first name; and a person's name should always be consistent for name recognition, like a brand. It turned out that his eyebrows and the navy color of his shirt and striped tie were okay and he seemed like a good guy. But much of his style, personal demeanor, and spoken and unspoken communications were fashion or etiquette faux pas.
She filmed him, so he could study the so-called gaffes, and a wall-length mirror helped him see what she saw as she no-noed half of his outfit, including a decades-old tweed blazer with elbow patches, that she made him remove, "for use with jeans only." "You are not bad but there is definitely a lot to improve," she said. "You have tiredness in your eyes; how you sit. Start doing sports, go to the gym. You don't like it? I don't care - go! You have got to be more energetic." Majer nodded and smiled. He wasn't insulted to hear that she saw him as inappropriate in so many ways.
In fact, this feedback, for better or worse, is what he was paying for. "Why are some [professional] groups so successful and known within their own circles but not beyond, while other groups are less technically good but are in the headlines all the time?" he asked. "She made me consider not just the logic of the clients - but their feelings."
Like dozens of other Israel professionals - from business executives to politicians - who don't know the ABCs of business etiquette and public relations, Majer was dropping some cash to learn to become more competitive, well-known and savvy in the public sphere. "BUSINESS TODAY is an international language," Lancut Leibovitz explained to him. "What's the difference between you and the other businessmen? Research shows that 90 percent of communication works on feeling and only 10% on business logic."
Indeed, a resume has never been enough to get a person noticed, and the concept of image management developed decades before reaching Israel's shores. It especially came into public consciousness in the US following the infamous Kennedy-Nixon presidential debate of 1960. The public was amazed when polls showed that those listening to the debate on radio found Nixon and Kennedy to be on par, but those watching on TV were overwhelmingly convinced by Kennedy. Analysts explain that one of Kennedy's edges was his image: a well-fitted suit in a good color that made him stand out on the TV screen, and makeup and body language that made him look strong, healthy and charming. Nixon, apparently, had gotten a little sick and lost some weight on the campaign trail, making his skin a little gray, his clothes a little loose, his stance a little more slouched, and he had refused to wear any makeup for the debate.
Politicians started following the leads of marketing firms and hiring PR consultants to help them dress, speak and convey their message - or image - and reach their target audiences. Politicians in Israel have only begun to take such strategies seriously in recent years, holding on strongly to traditional, informal ways. Golda Meir used to smoke cigarettes while being interviewed on TV. And years later in 1993, When Teddy Kollek ran for mayoral reelection in Jerusalem, he hired a very young and recent army press-corps graduate as his PR director, and a lay art staff to design his posters, many of which were made by hand. He also smoked cigars publicly. Israeli candidates for prime minister started hiring American consultants as far back as 1977, but it wasn't until the 1999 elections, when Binyamin Netanyahu hired Arthur Finkelstein and Ehud Barak brought in James Carville, Stanley Greenberg and Bob Shrum, that top American consultants totally revamped the Israeli electioneering process to follow American marketing strategies.
While Israeli election campaigns were previously more informal, relying on mass rallies and parties, and focusing on issues, the elections became more image oriented, focusing more on personal character than on issues. Abroad, the US media often mentioned Netanyahu as American-educated and well-dressed and well-spoken; now, they are commenting on the American-style suits of Mahmoud Abbas, in contrast to the uniform and keffiyeh preferred by Yasser Arafat. At home, Israeli politicians or candidates are also increasingly described by their image and reputation, as "grandfatherly," "forceful," or a "war hero." It was only after the last elections that the public noticed that the candidates had barely mentioned their economic policies.
Lancut Leibovitz and other image public relations consultants in Israel, like Joel Leyden of Leyden Communications Israel, say their client list includes a growing but undisclosed list of diplomats, government and parliamentary officials, army generals and heads of organizations and companies. Mannerisms and business dress beyond the political arena have only attracted interest in Israel since the introduction of the Internet and international media, which made Israel less secluded and more in touch with the global culture. In recent years, companies from Bezeq to El Al as well as banks, and even the Income Tax Authority, have trained employees or written scripts instructing them how to talk to customers more politely. "Israel is getting more Americanized and becoming more polite in the business fields," said Ben-Gurion University research fellow Michael Feige, who has written widely on Israeli culture. "I was in the US seven years ago for one year and when I returned I bought a train ticket and the seller told me 'have a nice day.' It was the first time in Israel I had heard that expression."
But changes are slow, inconsistent and may be superficial, says Hebrew University sociologist and expert on organizational behavior, Dr. Michal Frenkel. "Since the early Nineties, globalism has certainly forced business people to be in touch with professionals in other places so they have to try harder. They don't have the security of just working with Israelis. It's a need, not a choice. But though I see the business interest of those who offer training, I'm not sure it's the whole story: the real tycoons are doing business without it." For others who are investing time and energy to learn the rules of civility, she says she is not sure if it's a true interest in good manners or a desire to "look like a yuppie or an American TV figure. It may be more about fashion than being 'civilized.'"
"Israelis can still be rude even in an expensive suit. Despite the fact we do business all over the world, we still don't take messages, we ask you to call again. Even go to the emergency room in a hospital - nobody will greet you, you should announce your presence," she explains. "Before, things were more personal and more bureaucratic - for better or worse. But Israel is still a very personal place and to do business, the most important thing is to know the people."
THIS OBSERVATION represents the contrast and conflict of Israeli business etiquette. On one hand, Israeli professionals are often described as brusque and indifferent. Yet the informality of business interactions may also include hugging, intimate conversations, nicknames, back slapping, eating with fingers and other behaviors that could be described as familial. One favorite colloquial expression that appears impatient - if not rude - to foreigners and new immigrants is the Hebrew word, "nu," meaning, "so?" or "so what?" or "get to the point." Such language would never be used in business culture abroad, but is still used in business between Israelis.
According to a 1994 study by Dr. Yael Maschler, the Hebrew word "nu" is a very popular word to hasten people along while talking. "In Israeli Hebrew discourse, there is a cultural-specific expectation of a relatively high degree of interaction that the primary speaker will engage in, to the point of allowing the non-primary speaker to attempt to control the flow of the primary speaker's talk," she writes. "Despite the impolite aura 'nu' carries, the impatience... is not necessarily perceived as negative; quite the contrary. Impatience is most often interpreted as indicative of the audience's high involvement."
The roots of Israeli business culture today may be linked to the roots of Israeli pioneer behavior, says Feige, explaining that the builders of the early state - who saw themselves as united in a selfless mission to create or rebuild a Jewish commonwealth - identified themselves as an extended family. Saying what was on their minds, touching, revealing strong feelings, disagreeing, interrupting and getting quickly to the point were not seen as rude but as familial. "In the 1950s, Israeli diplomats had to learn to be 'polite,' yet they represented a country where being polite to gentiles trespassed on the 'old Jew' or Diaspora Jew [who equated civility with submission to foreign or oppressive ways]. The pioneers decided to be more assertive and their children's culture, sabra culture, is one of directness. But in Zionist history, the pioneer contributes unselfishly to the public good. "In the Seventies, the word freier, or sucker, became more popular after the Yom Kippur War. The soldiers called themselves 'Golda's freiers' [because they felt taken advantage of]. In a collective society, people don't want to be used, but don't make 'not being used' a value. The fact that freier would appear as a [popular] expression means society was becoming more individualistic. 'Sucker' as an American term comes from a different social background, because in the US, it was always legitimate to pursue your own interests."
Triangle Technologies, a company with offices in Tokyo, Boston and Tel Aviv that works with the Japanese market, issued etiquette guidelines for Israelis working with the Japanese. "Following these guidelines will not make you weak, put you at a disadvantage in negotiations, or make you a freier," it said. Feige explains that a conflict or tension still exists between the Israeli style of being direct and free from pretensions, and of wanting to emulate the ways of the "cultured Western world."
Israeli business culture is affected by the Western ideology of "time is money, give me action, show me the results" as opposed to Arab culture, which is more about people, hosting and trust, says Tel Aviv University business school professor of international marketing, Yehiel Viv. "But we don't fit into the Western paradigm because Israelis are [also] affected by the element of Jewish history to want to get around the system, because they felt historically the system was against them. Western frameworks have more rules and Israelis are more improvisational, they don't take rules seriously and prefer to be creative." This conflict is even apparent in Israeli-Palestinian business dealings, he says. "Watching Palestinians and Israelis do business is like watching a Sephardi and Ashkenazi wedding. Arabs expect more hospitality and attention and get offended if they don't get it and Israelis see such manners as fake, see themselves as more direct, they don't trust the manners as real, [they] see it as people pretending to be your best friend even if they would stab you in the back. Look, Americans are so polite, but in a large part it doesn't mean that it's personal, that they like you."
But back at charm school, Dr. Majer doesn't see any conflict. He listens attentively while Lancut Leibovitz advises and shows him how to seem more interested in others, and it doesn't make him feel like a freier at all. She asks him to shake her hand and introduce himself. "Wrong," she says. "Try again." The second time she held his hand longer, leaned forward, and repeated his name. "If you have a weak hand there is nothing to talk about," she says. "When I repeat the name, it means I care." It is the same when receiving a business card. "When you exchange cards, say something nice - 'nice logo,' 'oh, you have an Internet site,' or read it out loud. Keep it in front of you."
His list of strikes was building up: He didn't have a card of his own, he would have put her card in his pocket without looking at it, he was leaning on his hand, he was not expressing excitement and he didn't know that you shouldn't call someone by their first name on the first meeting, even though it is standard practice in Israel.
At the mirror the list went on: the cuffs were too long, the pants were too short, the watch was too youthful, the shoulders were too weak, the hair was not brushed and the shoes were wrong. "You look like a shlumper [slob]," she says, laughing. Majer takes it in stride. "I understand that I can be the best but if you don't show it in a way that is acceptable to society, you lose out, and so do the clients who might go to someone else who looks and sounds better but isn't necessarily better," he says. "After the first meeting, I went out more professional, confident. What I learned is that people respond when you find the right way to communicate, when you listen, pay attention to their needs, express confidence. And you can't look neglected. It was fun to listen to a professional give advice. It gives you ideas for the future. My idea is to make my office more of a home than an office." That, he says he learned from his consultant, is a "do."
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