Our starting point for understanding these American attitudes is understanding how we Americans see ourselves as a people. This self-perception or self-belief explains much about our attitudes and responses towards foreigners in business and elsewhere.

WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?

For our discussion, an American is a citizen of the United States of America, someone who identifies himself with those who were brought up there or who live there. But the term “American” in fact applies to many other citizens of the “New World”: Mexicans, Costa Ricans and Peruvians, for example see themselves as Americans, too. To them, people from the United States (and English-speaking Canada) are Norteamericanos, North Americans. People from Europe, Asia or Africa should keep that in mind when dealing with their friends from Spanish-and Portuguese-speaking America.

Thanks largely to the letters of an otherwise little known Italian sailor named Amerigo Vespucci, which reached a French mapmaker of the early 16th century named Martin Waldseemüller, the entire New World was labelled “Amerigo’s land” on maps of the era. Latinized and feminized, the name became “America”. The founders of the United States incorporated it into the name of the new nation as the United States of America, but the English had already long been referring to their New World colonists as “Americans.” In this way, the name came to be associated primarily with people in one large country of North America, at least in the eyes of Europeans. (You may hear a person from the United States who is sensitive to the feelings of Central and South Americans refer to himself or herself as a “U-S American”.)

Ideals and symbols

Aside from the name, what is the anchor of the US-American’s own identity? What gives this large heterogeneous mixture of people not just a single system of government, but a single identity? Two very concrete and specific things: the US Constitution, and the American flag. The foundation of America is a set of ideals, embodied in a written constitution and the system of government thus established. Those who agree to abide by, protect and support it, are Americans. Belief and pride in one’s country and in the Constitution are not the same as belief in the inherent goodness of the governmental authority, however. Many Americans distrust central “government”, and see its primary role as the safeguard of freedom and rights, rather than as the primary means of solving social problems, or of managing the economy.

The other more symbolic embodiment of American identity is the flag. Our national anthem is a hymn to it. Our school children “pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands. . .”. Burning or vandalising it is a crime, and there exists a number of rules pertaining to its display, storage, handling and disposal. Americans, as foreigners often observe, are real “flag-wavers” – and not merely on national holidays, special occasions, or at times of national crisis.

Both the Constitution and the flag in turn represent those ideals of “liberty and justice for all” that define the American identity and focus people’s aspirations on the future. American is in a sense a “club” that one chooses to join, or willingly accepts (although African slaves and many native Americans did not originally share in this choice). From these ideals comes a sense of both destiny and mission: America has a responsibility to offer these ideals to all mankind, whether or not other people care to embrace them.

“E pluribus unum” – America as an international country

These unifying factors are strong in America because of, not despite, the heterogeneity of the American people. In addition to seeing its ideals as universal, America sees itself as an “international” country. According to this view, people have come to America from all over the world to become part of this society, and have chosen to leave behind their old ways of life, old ways of thinking, even their families’ language and culture to a degree. The Latin motto E pluribus unum – “Out of many, one” – which appears on American currency, embodies this belief.

The United States has long been described as nation of immigrants. What many non-Americans may not realize is how true that remains today. According to the census of 2000, the foreign-born population of America was 31.1 million, 11 percent of the total, and a 57 percent increase from 1990. More than half of them are Spanish-speakers. This is the latest of several waves of immigration, of which the heaviest until now occurred during the decade 1900-1910. Many of those immigrants came from southern and eastern Europe, while previous waves brought large numbers from Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia. As early as the beginning of the 18th century, newcomers to “America” from France, Northern Ireland, and the German states, together with earlier settlers from Sweden and Holland, contributed to the formation of a national identity that was already not entirely English.

Attitudes in America toward these succeeding waves of immigrants have always been mixed. New immigrants have sometimes been regarded as threats to public order, to people’s jobs, to the public welfare system, to economic stability, or to the established culture or language. The political effect has been a series of measures that have alternated between restriction and permission. But despite these tides of toleration or hostility, immigration has been an essential part of the formation of the United States.

The Americans you are likely to meet in business may not have been part of the latest wave, which has tended to be poor and unskilled. On the other hand, they will very likely have grandparents who were immigrants, and they may still have an attachment to their country of origin, even if it is but a sentimental and romanticized one.

Immigrants brought much more to America than just their languages, religions, and cultures. They brought an attitude. Immigrants, whatever their origin, have been risk takers, seekers of opportunity. They have also been optimists. If you don’t think you can make it, you stay home or return home (as many did). As we shall see in later chapters, these same attitudes characterize American businesspeople to this day.

“GLOBALIZING” THE AMERICAN WAY?

At this point, you may be thinking, “If America is in fact this ‘international country’, why are Americans often so ignorant of the rest of the world, and unable or unwilling to understand different ways?”

The answer to that question is a bit of a paradox. The powerful if idealistic example of “E pluribus unum,” of unity from diversity, leads many Americans to believe that the American model is universally applicable. “If people from Norway, China, Mexico, Poland, India, Slovakia, Vietnam, and Ethopia can be successful here and live peacefully with their neighbors, why should things be any different elsewhere?” the thinking goes. People are fundamentally similar at the core, and need only a set of rules and a common objective to bring them together. Viewed through American lenses, important differences between people are personal, individual, and circumstantial, rather than collective or cultural.

Race and culture

But what about the question of race in America? Surely that should influence Americans in the direction of a greater understanding of the peoples of the rest of the world.

Despite all the talk of “multi-culturalism”, political decisions about race in America are about skin color, not culture. Protected groups of people, for purposes of awarding assistance, providing protection, and granting privilege, are labelled “Asian” or “Hispanic”, to give two examples. Yet each of these designations encompasses a multitude of countries and cultures. One prominent American politician claimed a few years ago that America’s “management of diversity at home” equipped it to be a leader internationally. This may make some sense to us Americans, but people from South America, Africa, Asia or Europe may not see it the same way. “Managing diversity” inside America has little to do with responding to diversity outside America.

No passport required

An American’s knowledge of the rest of the world may also be limited by the size and location of his own country. The United States shares land borders with only two countries: Canada, of which the population, only one-eighth that of the USA, is clustered mainly within 100 miles of the border and Mexico, with a population of over 85 million. This helps explain why only a minority (around 25 percent) of Americans hold passports.

If an American family wishes to take their holidays in the tropics, they need no passport to go to south Florida, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands. If they prefer somewhere similar to Polynesia, they can go to Hawaii, the 50th state. If for some reason, they are attracted to sub-arctic regions, there is no need to go to Finland, for there is always Alaska. If they want to meet French speaking people, then Quebec is nearer than France, and no passport is needed for Canada. Nor is any required for Puerto Rico, if they want to speak Spanish and enjoy the heritage of Spanish America. Even the area of northern Mexico adjacent to the border is open to US visitors, furnished with only a tourist card.

A belief in the example of their society and the universality of their political and social ideals, often combined with limited experience of “foreign” people, leads Americans to the view that if it works in America, it should work anywhere. If you perceive Americans as not concerned with or knowledgeable about other cultures, ways of life, or value systems, part of the reason lies here.

This in turn has posed certain problems for Americans on an international level, the effect of which you may have experienced. For one, the US-based headquarters of your American parent company may attempt to put in place policies, procedures, and practices for “global” application that take no account of differences elsewhere. For another, the American you meet while on business may have travelled a good deal, but he may lack a true international perspective. The American executive you report to may be so concerned about success in the huge American domestic market, that strategic decisions designed to improve operations in the USA often have the opposite effect internationally.

These problems are due to ignorance, not malice, and so are amenable to solution through education and experience. Other American attitudes are more deeply rooted, and give America much of its strength.

THE AMERICAN WAY OF THINKING – FAITH AND FREE WILL

Two other factors, contradictory in nature, have helped to influence the American mentality: religious faith and the notion of free will, both of which were first brought by the European settlers and immigrants.

From the early Baptist, Puritan, and Quaker settlers who came before them, Americans – whatever their particular personal belief systems, and whether they would admit it or not – have brought to everyday public life a sense of “sin”, a moralistic view that often sees right or wrong in “black-and-white” terms. Shades of grey, situational factors, or practical compromises are not the ideal basis for judgments. A compromise may, of course, be the result of a dispute, but many Americans find that a less than satisfactory outcome. One observer put it in even stronger terms – to an American, compromise is “ethically fatal”.(1)

Armed with this faith, these early Protestant Christian settlers also brought with them the belief that all people were equal in the sight of God. Through succeeding generations, this belief may have lost something of its explicitly religious association, but none of its force. Truth therefore was not a matter of philosophy, but of religion – it is what you believed. Knowledge, on the other hand, was pragmatic; it grew out of experience.

A further word about religion in America is in order here. Its influence is not simply a matter of spiritual or ethical heritage. Americans, by comparison to other developed nations, are active worshippers. As a visitor or new foreign resident, you may be struck by both the number and variety of places of worship, and the number of people attending. Non-Americans may associate active religious practice in America only with certain sects, or with people of certain political views, but it transcends social classes and political parties. Church attendance and membership meet certain needs in American society, above and beyond that of religious expression. Churches serve as community centers for immigrant and minority groups. They also provide a means of affiliation and belonging, which Americans eagerly seek, and which we discuss at greater length in Chapter 4.

YOURSELF IS ALL YOU’VE GOT

Whatever their particular beliefs, or their degree of intensity, Americans believe that their lives are primarily governed, not by the will of God, but by themselves. In the words of the poet Walt Whitman, “. . .nothing, not God, is greater to one than one’s-self is.”(2)

Americans have had comparatively weak attachments to what anthropologists call primary groups: family, native land, social class. Those were left behind by immigrants, and further loosened in the new land by space, mobility, and individual opportunity. The American life is an individual one, defined by the free choices that are the individual’s responsibility and under his control. We Americans are constantly exhorted to “be what you want to be”, to “be all you can be”, or to “take control”. Americans approach their business careers with this idea and this drive – realize your ambitions, control your career. There is no such thing as “fate”, or “bad luck”. If something goes wrong for us, we do not simply accept this as the will of God. Either we show determination and start again, or we find someone to blame. The reality, of course, is that this total control is an illusion, but the belief (or better yet, the faith) in it is a powerful motivator.

Pragmatism and individualism

For an American in business, these influences, while strong, are not the primary immediate basis for daily action. In that respect, American business people are realists, or to put it more precisely, pragmatists. Americans judge the rightness or ‘wrongness’ of their decisions by one fundamental criterion: Does it work? Abstract definitions, theoretical descriptions of validity, philosophical debates on right and wrong – these to an American are pointless. The only thing that matters is: Does it do the job! Does it meet the need? That is the very practical point of view of the settler trying to survive in a hostile new land, of the inventor testing an innovation, of the entrepreneur launching a new product.

We can describe that pragmatism even more precisely: “Does it work for me?” More than just individuality of thought or individual equality in the sight of God, American individuality is one of individual choice, achievement and action.

The well-known American individualism, which another former President, Herbert Hoover, described as “rugged”, originates in 17th century European thought, greatly reinforced by the experience of early settlers. The first English colonists in Virginia and Massachusetts learned the value of individualism the hard way. They at first tried collective economic organization in their communities. Unfortunately for them, that turned out to be ineffective in meeting their most important need – survival. They found that individual ownership, responsibility and reward, in a framework of co-operation under the rules (laws), were the better means to the common good.

While the requirements of building a new society on a new continent demanded individualism, the opportunities available in the new country rewarded it. There was land and wealth enough for everyone, with notable exceptions being the African slaves and the native tribes. Anyone who wanted to work hard could succeed. Individual initiative and effort would bring individual reward. That belief – not unique to the USA, but strongly held there – still characterises the attitudes of Americans in business. The reward – in this world – took the form of wealth. An individual earned this not only by working hard, but also by taking great risks. Failure was viewed as merely a temporary setback. There would always be a chance, an opportunity to start again. Even today, personal bankruptcy or business failure is not a permanent stain on a person’s record, a permanent check to one’s ambitions. It is no more than a stumble on the road to success.

“Rugged individualism” is a popular phrase, but as we noted above, we Americans are not usually philosophers. We do not enjoy spending our time talking about pragmatism and individualism. We nevertheless feel the influence of these values through our families and our education system.

FAMILY AND SCHOOL

The Americans you are likely to meet have been socialized in a family and school framework that encourages and promotes several important values, which they bring to business:

• Psychological independence – a reliance on one’s own self rather than on the group.
• Co-operation with other members of a group.
• Financial independence, or a certain amount of it, often beginning with summer jobs at the age of 16.
• Personal competitiveness – personal accomplishment and the desirability of talking about those accomplishments.
• Compared to educational systems in many other countries, a lack of specialization until later stages of education.

Growing up American

American middle-and upper-class families are not large. Furthermore, the demands of family obligation – to support, feed, and shelter one another – do not extend much further than the “immediate” family (parents and children). Have you been surprised to see how common it is for older Americans to be housed in “retirement homes”, rather than live with their adult children? If this seems harsh to you, it is not viewed the same way by Americans. While it is true that some American adults find their elderly parents a burden rather than a necessary duty, most see this as fully compatible with family love and care. Indeed, in many cases, elderly Americans prefer to live in such communities. In this way, they are in turn freed from the sense that they are a burden to their children. They retain a degree of independence while being able to associate with people like themselves.

The focus on independence and individual achievement starts at a much earlier stage. As a child, my elementary school (roughly ages 8–11, grades 4 through 6) sent “report cards” to my parents on which my “self-reliance” was assessed. This was the degree to which I looked after myself, solved problems on my own, and showed “initiative”, the quality whereby a person originates an action or idea. At home, moreover, many American parents now attach a great deal of importance to building their children’s self-esteem, rather than their self-discipline. They remind their children daily of how special they are. They praise them frequently and urge them to believe in themselves so that they can “win”.

The long summer vacations, normally ten weeks or more, combined with parents’ short work vacations of two to three weeks a year mean that families have relatively little extended time to spend together. Summer camps and summer schools fill the gap, giving young Americans time away from their families. By the time they enter university, or even while in high school, most American youth will also have acquired that indispensable tool of freedom, independence, and (hopefully) individual responsibility: the car!

From the age of 16, young people are permitted to find employment in most if not all states. These may be low level manual or service jobs, such as painting houses or waiting on tables in restaurants, but they provide the young American with some financial independence. Most importantly, they also provide an early introduction to the world of work. When it comes time to apply for admission to university, usually at age 17 or 18, the young American can expect that admission officials will want to check that the candidate has spent his summers in a constructive way in some form of employment, study, or volunteer work.

“Bright college years”

Progress through the American educational system and admission to university is far less dependent than in many other countries on the results of competitive examinations. While students are assessed on basic skills and aptitude at various points in their elementary and secondary years, this is only one factor in university admissions. Course work, academic grades, and useful activities outside the classroom are also weighed in the balance. The last factor is very important. It may include previous employment or volunteer work, as already mentioned. It may also include membership and leadership responsibilities in school clubs or student organizations. You can see how at a young age, the profile of the “active doer” so admired by employers – independent, achieving, co-operative, and responsible – is being formed.

However strong his or her profile, an American student has to “sell” himself in the competitive arena of university admissions. This is done partly by letters and essays that may support an application. It is also done, crucially, in the admissions interview. Here, the candidate must talk about his accomplishments, appear to have clear goals and objectives (however vague and tentative in reality), and give specific reasons (even if somewhat hypocritical) for wanting to attend a specific college or university. These same skills will help that student to find employment after graduation, and to advance his career subsequently.

So what do Americans learn from their education, and how?

The first response we can offer is – not enough, according to both American and foreign observers. Standardized international comparisons of scholastic achievement find American students ranked well down in the table, especially in mathematics. As you have probably found, few if any will learn a foreign language to a competent level, if at all.

At the four-year college or undergraduate level, leading to the BA or BS, American students will have an opportunity to pursue a speciality (known as a major) while retaining considerable flexibility, in the event they change their minds as to field or eventual career. The undergraduate’s preparation for graduate studies in law, medicine, or engineering will involve a greater concentration on relevant subjects. There are also increasingly specialised Bachelor degrees in fields ranging from media to information technology. In 2001, degrees in business accounted for 21 percent of the total. But the field in which a graduate has earned his Bachelor’s degree does not necessarily predetermine his choice of career or graduate study. This is especially true in the case of the MBA (Master’s Degree in Business Administration).

As far as methods are concerned, American educational methods do not emphasize comprehensive mastery or rote learning of a body of literature, information, or texts. This is very different from cultures such as the Arab or the Chinese, where intensive scholarship is demanded and respected. American schools prefer instead to emphasize “self-expression” in various forms – creativity, individual points of view in analysis and opinion, novelty.

Americans usually finish their undergraduate education at age 22. (There has been a recent trend toward later completion, possibly as a result of the expense of a college education.) At this point, if they are not going directly on to graduate school, American graduates are ready, although certainly not yet “seasoned”, for employment in business. They hope that there will be no more painting houses, or waiting on tables.

Class ring

In our discussion of the objectives and content of American education, we must not overlook one other benefit that the undergraduate experience brings to an American – friends.

Most American university students live in residence halls (dormitories) on campus for four years. It is rare to live at home or in rented rooms. Students may also join, if invited, more intimate groups, called fraternities or sororities. Residing together on campus enables Americans to establish close ties with each other, something that will be far more difficult after they leave. It gives them a vital sense of group membership and belonging. It is here that they may well make friends and form a network, often for life. Many Americans wear a “class ring”, on which is engraved both the name of the college or university and the year (”class”) in which they took their degree. This identity badge can serve later in life as a link to a strong network of fellow former students (or alumni/alumnae), or at the very least as a reason to get better acquainted with ones they meet.

But if, as a foreign visitor to the United States, you have no “class ring”, how will you establish strong relationships and lasting friendships with Americans? In your list of perceived American characteristics, did you include “friendly”? “Superficial”? Both? Let us turn our attention now to this aspect of American life. The success of your business relationships and the satisfaction you derive from your expatriate life in the USA will depend on it.