Meet Fitzgerald "I Did It - So Can You!"
There have been so many times throughout my life that people have told me, “You’ve got to fake it until you make it.” While there will be places and situations that one might find themselves in where this cliché may be appropriate, my experience has revealed that there is one area where you just can’t fake it, Manners!
The idea that I didn’t know everything about appropriate Etiquette, Business Dining, and International Protocol and I would arrive at different levels of success in my life where there were people who did have it and I didn't? The thought that I could already be on an unspoken/unwritten "Black List" that I don't even know I am on because I offended someone. It was like the old Jenny Craig commercial, “Well I knew I had to do something.”
A great friend and now owner of Tea & Crumpets of Chicago and Etiquette firm, Jihan Murray-Smith during one of my visits to her family home for Christmas pulled me into a separate room and showed me this brochure from The Protocol School of Washington that said, “Trained to be a Corporate Etiquette and International Protocol Consultant.” She guarded that brochure as if it contained state secrets. At this point in my life, I was the Head Concierge at the luxury Hilton Hartford Hotel property in Connecticut. I share the story of Jihan because quite often the way one finds out about the best training offered around the world for personal and professional development is from word of mouth and from people who share with me the unquenchable thirst for gaining the knowledge that allows for me to be one step ahead of the rest or as I learned at PSOW, to “Outclass the Competition.
It was 7 years ago, I brought my dreams to become a “Master of Manners to The Protocol School of Washington to grow, and grow they did. As a verifiable expert and trainer in Corporate Etiquette, Dining and International protocol, trained both here in the United States and Dubai, United Arab Emirates by PSOW, I have gained the confidence and authority to present myself as a collected, savvy and distinguished gentleman. While I could share countless examples of my success I would rather share where I would be if I didn’t attend PSOW. I would be a person who was still trying to pretend I knew everything already when it comes to having class. I would be still trying to convince people that I understood the rights, dignities, customs and professional courtesies of individuals, for people and of nations when really I don’t even know the first thing about them. Today, because of PSOW I know better, I know how to show honor and respect and because I know better, now I get to do better.
Fitzgerald Heslop is a 2008 Graduate of Train to be a Corporate Etiquette and International Protocol Consultant. and a 2011 Graduate of International Protocol Manager Training.
Fitzgerald Heslop is the President & Chief Protocol Officer for THE BLK HOUSE – Image & Lifestyle Management Firm | www.THEBLKHOUSE.org