As the chief legal officer for transportation and distribution giant CEVA Logistics, a company that does business worldwide, Dana C. O’Brien knows she has to meet and greet carefully.
For example, she includes salutations in the body of e-mail messages she sends to members of her legal department overseas. “All over Europe, my lawyers always start e-mails with ‘Dear Dana’ or ‘My Dear Friend Dana’ or ‘Dearest Dana’,” she says. “I’m informed by people who work for me and know me that Americans who type without a name in the body of the e-mail come across as very abrupt.”
