Have you seen the face Stephen made when Karol proposed that French social banks invest in the Big Society Bank?
That was a Friday lunch when Hugues and Karol invited us to Paris to finalize our joint plan for the European social investment fund. Since it was a decisive meeting we went out to a nice restaurant instead of the office.
My puritan readers – I doubt I still have many – my raise their eye-brows. I can hear them disapproving such a behaviour when you do business, but in Southern Europe it’s normal, especially in France.
When the meeting is really important and your counterpart wants to show respect, you get an invitation for a nice meal rather than spending an hour sipping a weared out almost cold coffee in an office.
Who decided that decisions must be taken in an office instead of sharing good wine?
On the contary, my Friday lunch showed you can combine the two and start reducing the time we spend in the office. I doubt anybody would challenge my proposal.
Another point for social business vs old business
