Companies

Making the right impression on society

By Andrew Moody (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-30 16:01

Social level

She said one of the problems a lot of the China new rich face is in engaging on the same social level as their children, many of who have been sent to top private schools in the West.

"They are sending their children to private school but then are worried when the children see them as having no taste or class," she said.

Herman, who is now in her 60s, started out selling her second hand clothes through the upmarket The Lady magazine as a young mother.

She progressed to running a dress agency and advising high profile women executives and politicians how to dress.

It was after the break up of her 28-year marriage in 1994 she decided to set up her own image consultancy.

"The break up was quite acrimonious and I felt I needed to dust myself down and just get on with life," she said.

"I thought there was a gap in the market for an image consultancy. It was a time when a lot of senior executives were having to do much more presentational stuff and they had concerns about their appearance and how they came across," she said.

Herman now regular makes appearances on television back in the UK as an expert on image.

One such recent appearance was discussing the poor presentational skills of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown who lacked the glamour of his predecessor Tony Blair.

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She said one of his problems was to try and be like Blair and construct an image which was not true to himself.

"Gordon Brown is a serious man. He is an economist and he is not charismatic like Blair or Clinton. He is, however, a good family man with many other qualities and it was important he remained authentic to those," she said.

Herman said senior executives can be seriously let down by body language and presentational skills. She cites the recent example of Tony Hayward, the outgoing chief executive of oil giant BP, during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.

"He looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights. He looked beleaguered and couldn't do anything about it. I have worked with BP in the past and had they called me in I could have done something to help the poor guy," she said.