Americanize.

Soon my base of operations will be Bonn and Philadelphia. Spending large blocks of time in the latter will allow me to be closer to my US-based clients. And I intend to broaden my offering beyond the German-American space. Input, ideas, suggestions are coming in from my network of contacts in the U.S.

A common theme thusfar has been that I need to „americanize“ myself, in the sense of how I communicate, present my experience, expertise and services, in the end how I help clients address the overarching theme of the influence of culture on business. A few examples.

Language. About as basic as you can get. Americans use first names. Introduce themselves, greet each other, refer to themselves with their first name. It‘s personal, not distanced, seeks to be familiar, to get to know. It‘s a sign of openness, of transparency, of sincerity. For the most part. Germans take a different approach. More formal. Very rarely do they offer their first name. Even colleagues who have worked together for years will remain on a last name basis only, using the formal Sie instead of the informal Du. Communicating on a first-name basis and using the Du signals a level of friendship, a degree of proximity with many kinds of implications. „Americanize, John“ means for me move from „Magee“ to „John“.

Intensity. The Germans are an intense people. Intelligent. Focused. Analytical. They get to the point quickly, want to address the heart of the matter early, zero in on things that are problematic, separate the personal from the professional. This can come across to Americans as overbearing, overly intense, a bit self-important, cramped, unfriendly, reducing everything to the purely rational.

Americans are equally capable of rational thought, of solving problems, of recognizing the essence of a situation. However, we‘re a bit indirect, sometimes circuitous, depending on the situation careful, perhaps politically correct. Americans do not separate sharply between personal and professional. For us every human interaction has a human component. „Americanize, John“ means for me to reduce the intensity level a few notches (or more).

Listening. Germans are excellent listeners. They‘re raised to listen, not to interrupt, to take in, then to respond. If you observe them live, on radio or tv talk shows, in meetings, during any kind of debate, you‘ll be astounded at how long they talk without interruption, before the next person responds. They are a detail-oriented people, so they take more time. Sometimes they‘re downright long-winded. But, if you understand German and listen carefully, you‘ll realize how much content they can pack into so few words. So when they talk at length, there is truly much said.

We Americans do it differently. We like short bursts of communication, highly interactive, give and take, moving from point to point, changing topics. We get impatient with folks who talk too long. We‘re also trained to communicate the message up front, then to supply supporting arguments, information, facts, context. The flow of the communication is determined by those involved, not exclusively by the sender of the message. „Americanize, John“ means for me to get terse, and to listen more.

„Wir werden amerikanisiert!“ translates into „We‘re being americanized!“ I‘ve come across this sentiment many times over the last few years, and in major German companies. Not a clash of civilizations, but certainly a reservation, a reluctance, for some a fear, of being forced to do things (thus think things) which are non-native. Many of us know the powerful ripple effects of globalization. We work across borders, across cultures, have to adapt, do things a bit differently, be open to folks with different approaches. And because decisions have to be made, structures set up, work processes defined, often we‘re asked to operate in ways foreign to us. For many, not all, this is uncomfortable, challenging, disconcerting.

How do we react? How do I react? Spending more time in the U.S. will demand of me to re-adapt, to americanize. I‘m looking forward to it. America is my home culture. But wait, have I not learned some things over the last two decades here in Germany? Have I not taken on some of their attributes, their ways of thinking and doing things? And if the Germans are a capable people (and they are), aren‘t these attributes positive?

Like the many Germans and Americans among my clients, there is rarely a day when I am operating exclusively in one of the two cultures. When do I take the American approach, when the German? Is the answer „When in Rome, do as the Romans“? Perhaps. But, what about when I‘m dealing with both at the same time? Whose logic has the say?

Maybe both logics, but carefully integrated, with a high degree of sensitivity to the understandable reluctance of Germans to be „americanized“ and to Americans to be „germanized.“