Culture

Religion

Great variety, mainly Christian

Cultural classification

Americans (WASPs) are linear-active and data-oriented. American subcultures, particularly those from Latin American cultures, are more multi-active and dialogue-oriented. Asian-Americans are more reactive.

Languages

English (official), Spanish, especially Florida and California.

Values and core beliefs

Cultural black holes

The American Cultural Black Hole is the American Dream, or the phenomenon of the Frontier Spirit, which underpins the mentality of the mainstream American culture (not the sub-cultures in the US). Americans imbued with this spirit or credo firmly believe that the Dream exists and is obtainable only on American soil. You may arrive with your visions of the Swedish Welfare State, British quality of life or an earthly Utopia in Costa Rica, but nothing you can say or do will change or even influence the American in his/her belief in work ethic, efficiency, democracy, dollar status, time is money and the various simplistic and often materialistic trappings of American society. This is a yawning Cultural Black Hole of staggering breadth and depth. Its surface gravity is so strong that it enables a US President to mobilize half a million troops in a few hours and dispatch them to Kuwait, Haiti, Panama, Vietnam, Grenada or Korea in the unalterable belief that only Americans can preserve democracy and free trade routes.

Concept of space

America is a large country and consequently Americans require a lot of living space and personal space. Americans’ distance of comfort with strangers or at work varies according to sub-culture (WASPs 1.2 metres, Italians 1 metre, Hispanics 80 cm.). With family and friends, Americans are not shy in showing affection and it is not uncommon to walk arm-in-arm, hold hands, or kiss in public.

Concept of time

Americans are time-dominated, particularly in the industrialized areas. It is not only a question of punctuality, but of achievement fever. Americans always appear to be impatient and in a hurry. Time is money, must not be wasted. The pace never slackens.

The pace of American life is different from that of other countries. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries vast tracts of open, unclaimed land to the west beckoned with some urgency to poorer settlers and new arrivals. For decades it was first come, first served – you staked your claim, cleared the land, tilled, planted and defended it. They were days of land grab and gold rush. There was no time to lose as immigrants poured in, out west there were no ruling classes or aristocrats, royal claims or decrees, no constraining ideologies or regulations – only practicality – if it worked, you did it, better quick before others did.

One might have assumed that with the majority of goals attained and the visible advent of the affluent society, this frenzied tempo of life would have slackened. It has not. The modern American continues at the headlong pace of his nineteenth century forbears. Work equates with success, time is money, he has to get there first. The chief difference is that in the last century, everybody knew where ‘there’ was. Today’s American, unrelentingly driven by the traditional national habit of pressing forward, conquering the environment, effecting change and reaching his destination, is no longer sure what that destination is.

The rest of the world looks on in awe, for none of us are in the same grip of this achievement fever. It can be argued that Germans and Japanese share the same work tempo as Americans, but the Germans, with their long holidays, social welfare and impressive culture, value quality of life much more. The Japanese, with no more leisure than the Americans, nevertheless achieve what they do at a much more relaxed pace.



Self image

The American self image is that of the man-of-action. They wish to initiate action (leading to business and profits) as soon as possible and they see the US way of dealing as the most efficient to this end. They hate delays or postponements or over elaborate planning.

Culture: communication

Communication patterns

Outsiders often see Americans as aggressive communicators, thanks to their directness. For some cultures Americans may seem impolite, while others appreciate Americans for their openness and general truthfulness. Americans are quite willing to reveal personal details, and may ask personal questions. They also share their opinions and expect to hear yours. Because time is money, Americans like to get to the point and move on. They can show impatience if discussion continues without progress. Americans do not hesitate to express disagreement, and often find confrontation and conciliation an exercise in skilful and successful communication. Passionate disagreement and conflict will be viewed very positively, if resolution follows. They are enthusiastic speakers who cannot tolerate silences.

In the USA one puts one’s cards on the table at the beginning and spells it all out again in louder English for foreigners who hesitate. When Americans feel they are getting bogged down, they use sarcasm and provocative measures to get the meeting going. For them a real fight is communication. Amongst themselves, they push the other side to the limit and then make quick, mutual concessions to make sure the deal goes through. Formal negotiators such as French, Germans and Japanese find this style somewhat disconcerting.

Salient points are:

They enter the room smiling and cordial.
The style is open, friendly, often folksy.
They like to show a certain naiveté.
They like to simplify issues.
They get to the point quickly.
They are blunt and direct.
They want early decisions.
They focus on action (what’s the next step?).
They dislike silence.
They have a tendency to over-analyse.
They talk about mutual trust.
They exhibit sporadic generosity.
They are not afraid to confront.
They believe the American way is best.
They focus on the deal and the product rather than long-term relationships.
Little sentiment – business is business.



Body language and non-verbal communication

American body language depends very much on the sub-culture. WASPs are only slightly more extrovert than the British, though facial expression tends to be more animated. Where Italian Americans or Puerto Ricans are concerned, the body language leans more towards Mediterranean styles. Jewish, Polish and some other subcultures tend to be livelier than, for example, German- or Swedish-American.

Listening habits

Americans are active listeners and respond verbally and non-verbally to show their interest or lack of it. Generally, Americans listen closely to technical information and humorous anecdotes. They like to be entertained. As an audience, they expect the speaker to be convincing, hard-selling, to the point, persuasive and charismatic. If the speaker lacks these qualities, Americans get bored quickly.

The salient points of US listening habits are:

They are anxious to hear facts and figures (if you can’t measure, chart or graph it, it doesn’t exist)
At the same time they wish to be entertained.
They expect the hard sell.
They respect confidence and drive.
They are dollar minded. Return on investment is always in the back of their minds.
They expect you to share some risks.
They may mistake delicacy of expression and ultra-diplomacy for lack of drive and efficiency.
They are cynical but react well to “cards on table”.
They prefer moderate extroversion to introversion.
They like new ideas.



Audience expectations at presentations

humour
joking
modernity
gimmicks
slogans
catch phrases
hard sell

Culture: interaction

Concept of status

This is based on wealth. Old money tops new money, provided there is enough of it. Top managers and magnates are more popular than professors or soldiers. Folksy presidents (Reagan, Truman, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower) are preferred to intellectuals (Woodrow Wilson) or wheeler dealers (Nixon, Lyndon Johnson).

Gender issues

Women are making their way quickly up the corporate ladder. More than 35% of managers are women, though less than 5% are top executives. They expect in most cases to be treated like men – they wear suits, pay for lunches, choose wine and often rebuff men who make a pass at them. They do not expect you to be over-solicitous with regard to their safety or comfort and are happy to take a cab home alone after a late dinner. Often they are harder than men in the negotiation process.

Leadership style

American leadership symbolises the vitality and audacity of the land of free enterprise. Management structure is pyramidical, with seniors driving and inspiring people under them. Americans are allowed to make individual decisions, but usually within the framework of corporate restrictions. Managers are capable of teamwork and corporate spirit, but value individual freedom more than company welfare. They are very mobile. They get fired if they make mistakes.

Traditionally, American managers followed command-and-control style leadership, perceiving their role as making decisions, giving orders and ensuring that their employees obey. This style of management has shifted to an involvement-oriented style centring on employee commitment and empowerment. It assumes that the best way to organise is to give workers freedom and responsibility to manage their own work as much as possible. Leaders concentrate on developing workers and encouraging them to become involved and take responsibility for their own performance. Leaders and managers have become the coaches for team–building and enthusiasm among their employees. American culture means that these new approaches are often readily accepted (few Americans are afraid to take the initiative or to take on responsibility) but elements of the traditional managerial culture remain.

For the individual, success is gained and measured by achievements and responsibilities. Wealth is the ultimate symbol of success and there is great respect for those who have made their fortune through hard work and perseverance. The self-made man or woman is the symbol of the American dream.



Language of management

In the USA the manager, if not always a hero, is viewed in a positive and sympathetic light, as one of the figures responsible for the nation’s speedy development and commercial services. The US is a young, vigorous, ebullient nation and its language reflects the national energy and enthusiasm. Americans exaggerate in order to simplify – low-key Britons feel they go ‘over the top’, but the dynamic cliché wears well in the United States.

The frequent tendency to hyperbolise, exaggerating chances of success, overstating aims or targets etc., allows American managers to ‘pump up’ their subordinates – to drive them on to longer hours and speedier results. American salespeople do not resist this approach, for they are used to the ‘hard sell’ themselves. Tough talk, quips, wisecracks, barbed repartee – all available in good supply in American English – help them on their way.

The ubiquitous use of ‘get’ facilitates clear, direct orders. You get up early, you get going, you get there first, you get the client and you get the order, got it? The many neologisms in American English, used liberally by managers, permit them to appear up-to-date, aphoristic, humorous and democratic.



Motivation factors

Use of humour.
Put your cards on the table and see theirs.
Launch quickly into a who-does-what mode.
Don’t be afraid to talk about problems openly.
Remember nothing is impossible in the United States.
Be persistent in chasing results.
Link work and effort to return on investment.
Americans are not willing to go into great detail unless they are sure there is a deal. Settle this early.
Settle for the grand outline first, but make sure the fine print is OK subsequently.
Americans like simplification of issues and get irritated with what they see as unnecessary complications.
You will often have to explain to them possible intricacies in your culture. Otherwise they will judge everything by American standards.
Don’t play your cards too close to your chest, or they will quickly conclude you are devious.
Remember time is money.
They are not averse to taking risks; you often have to match this.
Avoid long silences; they are not used to them.
They often think aloud at business meetings; you should do the same; it shows you have nothing to hide and you may cook up some joint solutions.
They dislike protocol. Anyone can say what he/she thinks at a meeting irrespective of the status of the participants.
They often use clichés. Sometimes you need to probe the meaning.
Accept sarcasm, irony and kidding from their side.
Show toughness, but eventual willingness to make concessions.
Don’t pull rank; Americans are basically very democratic.
Show great confidence in your own product and sell it hard.
Remember they have a great work ethic and hate people taking time off or vacation when there is an important project underway.
Be innovative. Change and improvement is an obsession with them.
They are more interested in their future than your past.

General behaviour at meetings

Americans want to conclude deals as quickly as possible. They are profit oriented and will do business with the Devil if the facts and figures are right. Persistent, tenacious businessmen who hate to give up and go home empty-handed. Often insensitive to the ‘waves’ of another culture. Assume US norms are best and that money can solve all problems. Informal in manner, showing scant respect for age or seniority.

Americans are risk-takers and hard-sellers. Negotiating, for Americans, is a process of problem-solving and compromise. Americans like fast-paced negotiations: they put their cards on the table, take off their jackets, roll up their sleeves and declare “Let’s make a deal!”. They don’t easily accept “no” for an answer, so they persevere until a solution is found.

Within American society, they tolerate great differences of opinion. But many Americans believe that American norms are the correct ones, so they lack sympathy for and understanding of foreign cultures. They believe that money ‘the bottom line’ in any argument, and don’t share or always recognise other cultures’ greater concern for status, protocol or national honour.



Negotiating characteristics

American businessmen have the reputation of being the toughest in the world, but they are, in many respects, the easiest to deal with. That is because their business philosophy is uncomplicated. Their aim is to make as much money as they can as quickly as they can, using hard work, speed, opportunism, power (also of money itself) as the means towards this end. Their business decisions are usually not affected by sentiment and the dollar, if not God, is considered at least Almighty. This single-minded pursuit of profit results in their often being described as ruthless. Northern Europeans are well-placed to deal with Americans successfully. Their reputation as straight-forward managers is well-received by the ‘open, frank’ Americans, who often get seriously irritated by what they see as the ‘devious’ manners of Latins and Orientals.

At meetings, the American shows the following tendencies:

They are individualistic. They like to go it alone without checking with Head Office. Anything goes unless it has been restricted.
Introduces informality immediately. Takes jacket off, uses first names, discusses personal details, e.g. family.
Gives impression of being naive by not speaking anything but English and by showing immediate trust through ultra-friendliness.
Uses humour whenever he can, even though his partner fails to understand it or regards it as out of place.
Puts his cards on the table right from the start. Then proceeds on an offer and counter-offer basis. Often has difficulty when the other side doesn’t let him know what they want.
Takes risks, but makes a definite (financial) plan which must be adhered to.
Considers most proposals on an investment/return or investment/time scale basis.
Time is always money. “Let’s get to the point.”
Tries to extract an oral agreement at the first meeting. “Have we got a deal?” Wants to shake hands on it. The other party often feels the matter is far too complex to agree on the spot.
The American wants ‘yes’ in principle and will work out details later. But he can be very tough in the details and checks on everything in spite of apparent trust. Germans, French and others prefer to settle details first.
Americans don’t like lulls or silence during negotiations. They are used to making up their minds fast. (Quick on the draw.)
They are opportunistic – quick to take chances. The history of the U.S. presented many golden opportunities to those who grabbed fastest.
Opportunism and risk-taking often result in Americans going for the biggest possible slice of the business (‘piece of the action’) 100% if possible.
Americans often lack patience. Will often say irritating or provoking things (“Look at our generous offer”) to get things moving.
Persistence. There is always a solution. Will explore all options when deadlocked.
Consistency. When they say “You gotta deal” they rarely change their mind.
They put everything in words. But when they use words like “fair”, “democratic”, “honest”, “good deal”, “value”, “assume”, they think the other party understands the same as they do. This is because U.S. sub-cultures e.g. Czechs, Germans, Poles, do understand.
Blunt. Will disagree and say so. Causes embarrassment to Japanese, Arabs, Italians and other Latins.
Often reveal brute force as argument, e.g. their financial strength or unassailable position. Will use majority vote unhesitatingly if they have it and will not spend (waste) much time striving for consensus. Are happy to fire anyone standing in the way of the deal.
Americans assume all negotiators are technically competent and expects to win on own technical knowledge. They forget the other side may see it as a matter of the status of the chief negotiator. How can a Mexican company president lose to an American engineer?
Americans regard negotiating as problem-solving through give-and-take based on respective strengths. They do not appreciate other side may have only one position.
Uncle Sam is best. But successful negotiating must enter the cultural world of the other party. Many Americans see U.S. as the most successful economic and democratic power, therefore assume that American norms are the correct ones.
This leads to lack of interest in or knowledge of the foreign culture. Americans often know little of such matters as saving face, correct dress, use of business cards, social niceties and formalities important to Arabs, Greeks, Spaniards etc.
In the U.S., the dollar is almighty and will win most arguments. Americans don’t always realise Mexicans, Arabs, Japanese and others will rarely, if ever, sacrifice status, protocol, or national honour for financial gain.

Contracts and commitments

In the USA a contract is final and binding. They have little sympathy with requests to ‘renegotiate’ an agreement (Asians) or failure to comply (Latin America). Americans do not hesitate to sue and exact penalties if the other side fails to fulfil obligations.

Manners and taboos

Social considerations: Americans make quick friendships and drop them just as quickly. This is partly because the average American executive changes jobs and homes 14 times in his lifetime. Friends tend to be used in certain areas, e.g. an American businessman assigned to Tokyo for 5 years will quickly find a tennis friend, a golfing friend, a bridge friend or one he regularly has lunch with. These can rapidly be replaced when he is sent to his next assignment. Deep lasting friendships are rare. Closeness developed doing ‘deals’ fast evaporates when the deal is done. Americans are great cocktail party-goers and lively companions. Their Hollywood-type smiles fail to impress some more reserved nationalities such as Germans, French and Scandinavians, who feel their jocularity is somewhat superficial. The American habit of relying greatly on clichés in conversation (“let’s get this show on the road”, etc.) can also irritate Europeans and baffle Asians.

How to empathize with them

To win trust and co-operation from Americans, simplify procedures, practices and formalities, don’t complicate them. Show them that you are confident and determined to succeed. When presenting, negotiating or just chatting, don’t forget your sense of humour. Keep your side of any oral agreements, and avoid appearing dishonest or untrustworthy by holding back too much information or through too little eye contact.

Don’t hesitate to discuss money, because it will probably the basis of your relationship. Don’t be overwhelmed by their immediate friendliness and openness, and don’t expect it to last after the deal is made. Keep in mind that long-term business relationships are rare but they will remain potential partners for future business. Americans are risk-takers so you can build a good relationship if you show you are willing to share risks with them.

Special notes

Americanisms

• I want black ink on the bottom line.
• I need it like yesterday.
• Do you read me.
• It just won’t fly.
• I can’t fly it by the seat of my pants.
• Don’t make waves.
• He never got to first base.
• He’s out in left field.
• We’re playing for all the marbles.
• This is a whole new ballgame.
• If you will play ball.
• Y’all (Sheikhs were insulted as they thought it included subordinates.)
• State of the art
• He’s on a roll.
• It bombed (U.S. failure, British success)

American breakfasts

An Englishman walked into an American diner and said in his upper class voice:
“I’d like 2 poached eggs on toast, please.”
The American waiter shouted down to the cook:
“This gentleman wants Adam and Eve on a raft.”

CODED SPEECH

US • BRITISH

Jack'll blow his top • Our Chairman might tend to disagree
You're talking bullshit • I'm not quite with you on that one
You gotta be kidding (disagreement) • Hm, that's an interesting idea
That's a beautiful scenario • We might find a way of making that work
I tell you, I can walk away from this deal • We'll have to do our homework
You're going to get hurt • I'm not sure this is advantageous for you
Bean-counters drive me mad • Accountants can be frustrating
It's the only game in town • I have no other choice
We had sticker-shocked the the consumers right off their feet • We had over-priced the product.
Go for broke • Stake everything on one venture
He'll do his best to make it fly • He'll do all he can to ensure success
If they ever come back from the grave • If they are ever a force in business again
When you scramble, you scramble like a son-of-a-bitch • Speed of action is advisable
I was full of piss and vinegar • I didn't have a leg to stand on

PC - Politically correct speech

While some of the following expressions may be used in a humorous way, others are mandatory. For instance, it is no longer permissible in American society to say “negro”, “red indian”, “stupid” or “fat”, particularly when the person being described is present.

POLITICALLY CORRECT SPEECH

PC • NON-PC

Native Americans, Indigenous peoples, First nations • Red indians
Cow hunters • Cowboys
Inuit • Eskimos
Afro-American • Negro
Asian-American • Oriental
Chicanos • Mexicans
Under-achiever • A failure
Low cost housing • Slums
Heavily pigmented • Dark-skinned
Melanin impoverished • Light skinned
Differently logical • Argumentative
Cerebrally challenged • Stupid
Motivationally deficient • Lazy
Charm-free • Boring
Differently interesting • Boring
Incomplete success • Failure
Deficiency achievement • Failure
Non-passing grades • Failed exam
Has strong oral culture • Can’t read or write
Person of substance • Fat
Horizontally challenged • Fat
Vertically challenged • Short
Uncompromising natural aroma • Body odour
Ethically disoriented • Criminal
Non-traditional shopper • Shoplifter
Transfer of goods • Stealing
Chemically inconvenienced • Drunk, doped
Client of the correctional system • Convict
Cosmetically attractive • Argumentative
Good looking • Argumentative
Differently visaged • Ugly
Physically inconvenienced • Disabled
Emotionally different • Mad
Optically challenged • Blind
Achieve corporal terminality • To die
Negative patient-care outcome • Death in hospital
Pre-adult • A kid
Chronologically gifted • Old
Selective buying campaign • Boycott
Negative cash flow • Losses
Downsizing, streamlining • Firing
Involuntarily leisured • Sacked
Indefinitely idled • Sacked
Between career changes • Unemployed
Underprivileged • Poor
Fiscal under-achievers • Poor
Underclothed • Naked
Explicit language • Obscene
Revenue enhancement • Raising taxes
Terrain alteration • Bombing
Aggressive defense • Attack
Friendly fire • Shoot your own troops
Wooden interdental stimulators • Toothpicks
Destination advisers • Travel guides
"Snow-Melanine-Impoverished and the Seven vertically challenged individuals" (humorous) • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

AMERICAN PARADOXES

passionately egalitarian • never had a socialist party
highest divorce rates • dedicated church-goers
most equality of opportunity • greatest inequality of income
richest government • backward in health and welfare
rich in resources • massive financial deficit
fairest voting system • lowest participation
fight for democracy • bigoted against ethnic minorities
highest incomes • longest working hours
love sports and outdoors • shortest vacations
instinctively isolationist • functions as world police force
racially divided, crime-ridden, socially crumbling • 81% optimistic about personal future


Quotes about Americans

I do envy these Europeans the comfort they take. When the work of the day is done, they forget it. Some of them go, with wife and children, to a beer hall and sit quietly and genteelly drinking a mug or two of ale and listening to music; others walk the streets, other drive in the avenues; others assemble in the great ornamental squares in the early evening to enjoy the sight and fragrance of flowers…. They to go bed moderately early and sleep well. The change that has come over our little party (of Americans) is surprising. Day by day we lose some of our restlessness and absorb some of the spirit of quietude of the people. We grow wise apace. We begin to comprehend what life is for.
– Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

How like children the Americans were, with their pranks and easy warmth. Men who offered their hands to strangers to shake, ladies who sat and chatted at dinner with gentlemen they had never seen before, children who threw snowballs at adults no matter what their station.
– Betty Bao Lord, Spring Moon

The people are bluff and good-natured and as sharp as needles to detect and defy pretension.
– Edmond Gosse, The Life and Letter of Sir Edmond Gosse

All Americans unsettled him, and most scared him, either by their knowledge or their ignorance, or both.
– John Le Carre, The Little Drummer Girl

All kinds of tourists are fair game for touts, but Americans seem their favourite targets, not just because of their careless ways with money and instinctive generosity, but also their non-European innocence about the viler dimensions of human nature and their desire to be liked, their impulse to say “Good morning” back instead of “Go away”.
– Paul Fussell, Abroad

I’m not English. I’m American. We see all things as possible. We don’t allow anyone to be better than ourselves.
– Norman Mailer, Manchester Guardian

It’s just that they never quite know who they are or where they are at; therefore much of their travel writing is a strenuous effort to find out.
– Alexander Cockburn, “Bwana Vistas” Harper’s, August 1984

Above all he found their personal relationships easy to read. It was probably a matter of race, he thought. His own people were always very careful not to give themselves away, to expose crude feelings about one another. Americans seemed not to care how much was understood by strangers. It was almost as if they enjoyed being transparent.
– Eric Ambler, Passage of Arms

Americans have no capacity for abstract thought and make bad coffee.
– Georges Clemenceau

Here again was the American new world attitude of bringing out the bulldozer to save someone from an awful fate, or what America thought was an awful fate… I had not reckoned with the naiveté of Americans nor their lack of subtlety.
– Lord Killanin, My Olympic Years

If all things are transitory, let us find delight in their transitoriness. We (in the West) welcome change for its own sake and because of the joy we take in it we have added a value to life. We think it is America that has taught us this lesson, and that it is a greater benefit which that country has conferred upon the world than rag-time, cocktails, the phonograph and the pullman car.
– Somerset Maugham, The Gentleman in the Parlor

Just in this one matter lies the charm of life in Europe - comfort. In America we hurry, which is well; but when the day’s work is done, we go on thinking of losses and gains, we plan for the morrow, and toss and worry over them when we ought to be restoring out racked bodies and brains with sleep. We burn up our energies with these excitements and either die early or drop into a lean and mean old age at a time of life which they call a man’s prime in Europe.
– Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

Civility cannot be purchased from Americans on any terms; they seem to think it is incompatible with freedom.
– Isaac Weld

MacDonald’s restaurants are probably a reflection of our national character. They’re fast… they’re efficient… they make money and they’re clean. If they’re loud and crowded and if the food is wastefully wrapped, packaged, boxed and bagged…let’s face it, Americans, that’s us.
– Andy Rooney, A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney

My book, Brideshead Revisited has been a great success in the United States which is upsetting because I thought it in good taste before and now I know it cannot be.
– Evelyn Waugh, Letters of Evelyn Waugh

In a foreign land two Americans are friends at once for the simple reason that they are Americans. There is no prejudice to hold them back and their common fatherland draws them together. For two Englishmen the same blood is not enough; they must also have the same rank to bring them together… They clutch everything but hold nothing fast, so they lose grip as they hurry after some new delight… An American will build a house in which to pass his old age and sell it before the roof is on… He will take up one profession, and leave it, settle in one place and soon go off somewhere… At first sight there is something astonishing in this spectacle of so many lucky men restless in the midst of abundance. But it is a spectacle as old as the world; all that is new is to see a whole people performing it.
– Alexis Tocqueville, Democracy in America

I respect the American frontier spirit. Recently I met someone who drove 3,000 miles to find a job.
– Japanese automobile executive

The American dream is often a very private dream of being the star, the uniquely successful and admirable one, the one who stands out from the crowd of ordinary folk who don’t know how.
– Habits of the Heart

Kako me ovo živciralo prije.

Još da dodam u istom smislu "thinking out of the box", "we need (marketing/programming/writing) ninja"...

Jednostavno ljudi hoće sve najbolje na svijetu i hoće to jučer, pa makar zadatak bio izgradnja kineskog zida. Ono, pravo se nesposoban i glup osjetiš kad razgovaraš sa Amerikancem o poslu i čuješ njegove zahtjeve. Imam osjećaj traže vanzemaljca ili nekog čarobnjaka sa štapićem.

No, to je samo prva faza pregovaranja. Bez uzbuđenja, lijepo im odgovoriš da je to nemoguće. Onda oni neočekivano uljudno pitaju, OK, što možemo dobiti realno. I svi sretni.

Samo ne valja obećati nešto što nisi siguran da možeš ispuniti, to je veliki grijeh.

Amerikanci općenito mi se sviđaju. Većinom drže do riječi, pouzdani su, spremni za dogovor, plaćaju na vrijeme, točni i komunikativni.

Jedna od predrasuda je da su Amerikanci neupućeni u to što se događa u ostatku svijeta, možda to vrijedi za radnike u supermarketu, konobare, na benzinskoj crpki i slično, ali inžinjeri i poslovni ljudi obično prate svjetska zbivanja, i najčešće znaju za Hrvatsku.