Turning the air blue won't bring in the green from US

NET RESULTS:St Patrick's Day may open doors, but we need ministers with business nous and cultural sensitivity to take advantage

DO YOU know where Brian Cowen was this week? My mother did. Not that my mother has any particular interest in world leaders and their daily schedules. But the Taoiseach’s visit to Silicon Valley earlier this week was already getting prominent coverage in the Californian media by last weekend. So my Valley-based parents were quite aware that an Irish delegation was in the US for St Patrick’s Day, and that part of the visit included talking to Valley tech companies.

If my parents had clocked the Irish delegation’s visit, you can be sure there was broad awareness of it throughout California. And Ireland would benefit greatly from closer ties with this region, in particular from the potential investment, mentoring and support such ties would bring.

So consider all that media coverage. It is the kind of publicity for which most countries would grovel. It is the great misfortune of other countries that they do not have a big bash to get annual access to the world’s cities and leaders.

How frustrating it must be for, say, the Belgians that the Irish have a national holiday that is not only recognised around the world, but provides an annual excuse for high-profile visits to promote business and tourism which, in the choice market of the US, culminates in a one-on-one with the US president.

As someone texted in to a radio programme, if St Patrick’s Day didn’t exist, the Government would be trying to invent it.

Yet half the nation seems to miss this point and instead whines about junkets. Even the laziest minister is going to buy publicity for Ireland simply by being in another country for St Patrick’s Day. We desperately need that visibility. Getting it in this way is one of our best competitive advantages in the PR stakes.

Americans respond to this kind of visit and event. It creates the basis for establishing helpful business contacts. And if you are looking for an occasion to inspire the diaspora and turn thoughts to Ireland – the value of which was repeatedly underlined by attendees at the Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh – nothing serves that better than St Patrick’s Day.

The US, quite obviously, is a critical market and crucial friend for Ireland. Now, more than ever, with the passing of many of Ireland’s oldest friends in the US government, we need ways to connect with it at the highest levels. St Patrick’s Day opens doors, but cracking the US market, much less succeeding there, takes far more: an understanding of US culture and its specific business protocols.

Doing business in the US is not like doing business in Ireland, or Europe, or Asia. Each region has its subtleties; each requires a nuanced approach – and government ministers who understand this and can deliver.

That’s why I think that the current discussion about Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan’s abilities in this area are important. Right now, there is no more important ministerial role than enterprise and employment. There is no more important market than the US. Yet a well known technology sector businessman, Norkom’s Paul Curley, raised concerns on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme recently about the Tánaiste’s profile within the Irish and international business community. He stated that there was a “cringe factor” involved regarding her approach abroad.

Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar was cutting during a Dáil debate afterwards, stating that many, including those in government enterprise agencies, were worried about past incidents that seemed to indicate poor business knowledge in the sectors concerned, especially international business

discussions, or perhaps a disinterest in international business protocol. Blue language arose as a worry.

Are these criticisms valid? The fact that a businessman with extensive international experience and profile at home and abroad raised the issues in such a public forum as Prime Time must make any concerns more alarming than if these issues were raised only in the cut and thrust of Dáil debate, where they might rightly be suspect as personal or party politics.

It is extremely important that anyone representing the State at any level in the global business world – but especially anyone with a critical role in attracting and retaining jobs, industry and research – be adept at negotiation and international business protocol.

Language is the medium of negotiation. While Ireland may have a high tolerance for foul language,in many cultures – the US in particular – foul language is just not done in serious business. For many in North America, such language would be so offensive that it could be a deal-breaker.

One senior Irish business figure with long-standing connections to the US told me that in two decades of high-level business work in the US, the only time he ever heard an expletive during any discussions was from one or two very senior Wall Street bankers (who are a law unto themselves, as we have all unfortunately seen).

Are these gender quibbles? There are certainly ways in which women can be held to different account than men in political life, much of it unfair. But we have already had a woman in this ministerial position, Mary Harney, who was widely respected in this role. Whatever her woes now in the Department of Health, you’d be hard put to find anyone in business who didn’t find her an exemplary minister, deeply respected in international business circles.

As always, international business discussions require subtlety and nuanced understanding; negotiating skills, calm determination, and an awareness of cultural protocols. No company or country owes us jobs or business. But adept, sophisticated negotiating can retain them or develop new opportunities.

Given the importance of the US to Ireland economically, any enterprise minister absolutely must possess such abilities to the highest level and have the full confidence of the business community and the enterprise agencies.

klillington@irishtimes.com

Blog: Techno-culture.com

Twitter: Twitter.com/klillington