Polly Platt
This was a delightful meeting with the author of French or Foe? and Savoir Flair! who received us most graciously at her home. Over a delicious lunch (especially the courgette soufflé) we chatted about AMB Côte d’Azur while Polly spoke enthusiastically about her company Culture Crossings and her two books that issued from its creation.
Polly is a charming, elegant and dynamic lady with a wonderful sharp wit. She has a complete understanding of both American and French culture which is borne not just from her years of experience dealing with international companies, but also from a deep inner respect towards her host country, France.
Descended from a French Huguenot who escaped from France to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1685, this native Philadelphian graduated from Wellesley College and turned to journalism working for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and New York Post.
In 1967 she moved to Paris with her Serbian husband and their five children. And it was while in Paris that she became acutely aware of an amazing fact: the incredible differences and mis-understandings between the French and Americans whenever business or personal negotiations or contacts occurred.
When an opportunity to serve her community came along, Polly jumped at the chance - and in 1986 she founded Culture Crossings.
Though hard work and long hours contributed to much of her success - we believe Polly’s dynamic and charismatic personality was also a major factor in the success of her company.
Her idea was a simple yet powerful one: Culture Crossings would offer cross-cultural seminars and workshops for corporate executives, spouses and employees, transferred abroad.
While the workshops and seminars explained the fundamental cultural differences between France and America, they also discussed:
- Cultural orientation: the U.S., France and other European Union countries, China, Japan and the Middle East.
- Negotiations and marketing: adjusting eacj culturally
- Management issues
- Teambuilding
- Ethics
- Business procedures in different countries
- Business entertaining- etiquette according to cultures
She also introduced Role Play exercises, a totally new concept and quite unheard of in the 1980’s. The workshops and seminars also paved the way for Americans to understand more about the French - their history, ethics, and, above all, the French people themselves.
As Culture Crossings became the number one market leader, so her list of clients grew.
Clients such as American Airlines, American Express Bank, Dassault, International Paper, JP Morgan, Kodak-Pathé, Microsoft, Otis Elevator, Sun Microsystems, 3M - are just a fraction of the companies that benefitted from Culture Crossings - and continue to do so.
Although her workshops and seminars kept her busy Polly also carried out numerous Public Speaking engagements. Again Polly’s enthusiam and charismatic personality made these talks informative, highly entertaining and inspiring.
Even today she is still in demand and, when we met her, was in the throes of preparing slides for a seminar she was to give a few days later in the US.
With her many years of experience dealing in cultural issues it seems only natural that someone with a journalistic background would want to write a book and share their vaste knowledge.
Her first book, French or Foe?, was published in 1994 and was an immediate success.
Incredibly, it is still the all-time non-fiction best-seller in English at W.H. Smith and Brentano’s in Paris with over 140,000 copies sold world-wide.. It’s now in its third edition and 12th reprint.
Savoir Flair!, the companion book to French or Foe? was published six years later in 2000 and was very well received.
Although still active in Culture Crossings, Polly is the first to acknowledge that there’s much more competition than when she started all those years ago.
She also admits that the tragic events of 9/11, and present world-wide unease has had a sombering effect on companies relocating their people to Europe (or elsewhere around the world). But this gentle slowdown has allowed her to channel her energies into another exciting project. Her third book.
We’ve promised not to let the cat out of the bag about it’s contents - but we do know it will be equally entertaining and full of charm like her other two books. Plans are to have it published early next year and Polly has agreed to be interviewed again by AMB Côte d’Azur to talk all about it.
We await our return journey with eagerness - and also keenly look forward to another of her wonderful soufflés.
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