Intern in the City: The start of my journey

My first month

Now four weeks in, the city has been as electric as the work environment, demanding attention, intention, and a tolerance for constant motion. In contrast to the cozy pubs of Yorkshire, even a relaxing post-work drink finds itself in the charged hum of a west village cocktail bar.

An anthropologist by training, I hope to use each blog post to note my observations of the city and its people, to pause on how these experiences mold the way I think, and finally how it connects to my work at Living. Today, it’s the tension between American gall and British reserve.

‘Englishness’

British academic Kate Fox identified a few key characteristics of ‘Englishness.’ Amongst them are courtesy, moderation, modesty, and my personal favorite; Eeyorishness. She concludes that we carry a kind of social inhibition. We tend to refrain from asserting ourselves, default to polite compromise, and police ourselves from emotional extremes.

We downplay achievements and push self-deprecation to the front of the conversational stage, wincing at anything resembling self-belief. Americans it seems, do not share this social crippling. Between friends from Chicago and LSE’s international student populus, I’ve had my fair share of exposure in both bars and seminars. Brits often held vague irritation with American peers; they had a reputation for boisterousness and seemed to speak more than they listened. In North London pubs, those same Americans grew frustrated with the dryness of Brits and our unwillingness to engage. We found their unapologetic social extroversion jarring, and they found our restraint suffocating. 

Fieldnote: Process

At Living, that assembly process is central to the work. Internal workshops around core values and brand characteristics are built through shared construction, while continuous dialogue with our clients extends that collaborative assembly process.  Language, options, and opportunities are explored, tested, and played with while expectations are aligned and core targets affirmed. Ideas are born incomplete, and gain coherence aloud. 

'New Yorkers'

In New York, that readiness to speak has become an everyday encounter. Ordering a coffee slips with ease into a conversation about nearby vintage stores, and strangers ask your weekend plans before the subway doors close – moments that usually pass in polite silence or brand interaction as intrusion. While my Englishness historically placed emotional restraint above expression, I grow increasingly envious at the ease with which people push themselves forward to others. 

What is it about America that creates such strong permission to try? Fox joked that it was the British climate, inducing a sort of pessimism, while my first theory was the intimacy induced by tipping culture. In an economy where income is shaped through eagerness and a readiness to engage, the Stranger/Stranger boundary that exists in England has been long broken. Where everyday interactions reinforce the dissolve of that boundary, a readiness to engage all strangers becomes no big deal. 

Fieldnote: Voice

This value inherent in what we say as individuals seems to branch into the culture at Living too. In contrast to agencies I’ve seen work in the UK, Living places great value on a research-centric approach. Our ‘discovery’ phase consists of interviews and workshops with our client teams, in effort of understanding how they think and feel about their brand and story on a personal level. From there, we begin to understand the firm as a whole. There is great value attached to what we say, and feel. 

Social entrepreneurialism

Already the spirit of social entrepreneurialism seems to be rubbing off on me. Be it the young woman from Geneva I spoke to in the line for coffee or the Russian gentleman in the Soho House elevator, with every interaction it feels more natural to spark up conversation. Social inhibition begins to fade, and a preference for respecting perceived codes of etiquette falls away. 

More interestingly, is how I see this tension between boldness and reserve play out in the realm of branding – particularly within the professional services industries. In the highly fiduciary worlds of law and asset management, a recurring pattern emerges across brand strategies: an absence of human touch, with lacking showcase of people, culture, and storytelling.

In a world where competency, trust, and professionalism are currency, design and dynamism frequently fall to the periphery. Visual conservatism and guarded messaging are often mistaken for credibility. In doing so, firms can underplay their people, culture, and point of view, limiting differentiation in an increasingly crowded market.

In the same way our British reserve can hold us back from asserting ourselves in the social world, this misconception seems to hold back firms from differentiating themselves, their story, and their identity, in a crowded market. In adherence to perceived ‘rules of the game,’ do we miss out?

My internship here prioritises a kind of dual learning, with the out-of-office experiences being as key as the ones in the meeting room. Over the following months I hope to continue this blog, reflecting on a monthly takeaway and mapping my observations. 

Jacob Whiteley-Guest, Intern, Living New York