SMART J O BS


For a protocol officer in a premier’s office, that can be a full-time job. D


wight MacAulay sits next to the Manitoba premier in a car in Mumbai. Tey’re on their way to meet the CEO of a multi-million dollar


corporation as part of a trade mission. Dwight is chief of protocol for the province and as such this is only one of hundreds of visits he’s planned meticulously. Te car pulls up to the building. Outside are the company’s board of directors and executives who have flooded the sidewalk to meet the premier. Tis isn’t the quiet greet- ing indoors that Dwight had planned. Te question is, which of the businessmen in identical suits is the CEO? “Tere are lots of things that can go wrong. It’s almost


endless,” says Dwight. “But you never let on that things are not going as you hoped.” Dwight, however, does recognize the CEO, having


met him a few days earlier. He leans over to the premier and quietly says, “It’s the fellow with the blue tie.” Te premier walks up to the CEO and introduces himself. “Te person you’re meeting is impressed because you’ve done your homework and you know what’s what.” Unbeknownst to many people, protocol and etiquette


are a huge part of the government and business worlds, where people like Dwight spend their career organizing events at home and abroad to strengthen relations and secure investments. Across Canada, every provincial and territorial government employs protocol officers


28 SMART careers | Early Spring 2011


Estelle Danyuk as do many major cities. Tere are also independent consultants who help businesses with etiquette and foreign relations. Protocol officers and consultants make a career of making sure everyone is on their best behaviour. Protocol and etiquette are closely linked, says Jay


Remer, a corporate etiquette and protocol consultant in St. Andrews, N.B. “Protocol was designed as a set of rules that would allow heads of state of other countries or tribes to communicate with one another, indicating they are on friendly terms,” he says. “Etiquette is some- thing that we practice every day. It’s a set of guidelines on how to conduct yourself in a civil way so that you can make other people feel comfortable around you.” Both come into play when you are greeting visiting dignitaries and when you’re greeting executives at a corporate function. It’s hard to define exactly what a government protocol


office does, says Dwight, since the situations an office encounters are different depending on the province or territory and government jurisdiction. “I don’t think any two protocol offices from one province to the next are exactly the same,” he says. At the provincial government office in Winnipeg,


Dwight’s two main obligations are to organize official visits, such as a visit from a head of state or diplomat,


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