As we approach the conclusion of our survey of the American way of business, you may be thinking to yourself, “So what do I do next?” Or perhaps you’ve skipped over the preceding chapters and started with this one, hoping to find the “executive summary” so beloved by busy American businesspeople. Either way, this is the right moment to summarize our most important guidelines and recommendations on working with Americans and help you focus on putting them into practice.

Some of them will be more relevant to you than others, depending on your situation, your experience, and your objectives. Some of them may apply to working with almost anyone, not just Americans. But taken together, they describe an approach that is likely to prove effective.

WILL AMERICANS TRUST ME?

Any kind of close human relationship depends on trust; business is, of course, no exception. If you are unable to earn the trust of your American partners, colleagues, or friends, then all your efforts will come to nothing. Yet it should not be difficult to establish trust with Americans – we are after all an instinctively trusting people. Perhaps this stems from our naive assumption that everyone is more or less like us. For that reason, you need to focus more on preserving the trust that is already present, rather than on trying to “create” trust through some sort of communication “technique” or cultural formula.

Consider these two situations.

Is this approach reasonable? Efficient? Considerate? To you maybe, but not necessarily to the Americans, who may be thinking:

“Where do we stand in the new organization?”

“What opportunities will there be for us?”

“What changes will the new owners make?”

“With a foreign owner we will be cut out of the decision-making.”

“With a foreign owner we will be far away and invisible.”

. . . and so on.

Those highly mobile self-motivated American managers and professionals will have their resumes prepared and will immediately start to look over the fence to where “the grass is always greener”. They will leave.

What about this approach? Is it reasonable? Efficient? Respectful of the Americans’ professional autonomy?

Maybe. But consider what the Americans may be thinking:

“Why did the company not promote one of our American team members to the post of Project Manager?”

“We are being managed at a distance, from a foreign country. How can they understand what is going on here?”

“We don’t want him telling us how to do our jobs, but why does this new manager not get involved here?”

“Does this mean that the project is in trouble?”

. . . and so on.

You may have good answers to all their questions, but this may not be the moment to be “hands-off”.

If you think that Americans have a tendency to take just this sort of approach when they manage their overseas projects, you now understand how they may be feeling in this situation.

Keeping the trust of Americans should not present a problem as long as you keep a few basic principles firmly in mind.

• In all situations, be ready to “get down to business” quickly. Americans want to get things done and avoid wasting time. This applies whether you are phoning one of your American colleagues to ask for information, leading a meeting of your American team, or making a sales call on a prospective American customer.
• It is probably safe to say that Americans are like most people in that they are inclined to trust people who express an interest in them, their needs, their goals. Do not be afraid to ask direct questions in order to find out what you can do for them.
• Adopt the practice of “over-informing” that we described in our chapters on management and communication. Or to put it more sensibly, make it a point to keep people in the loop – your American boss, your American direct reports, your American customers and suppliers.

We Americans are ourselves far from perfect in this area. Much of the talk in American organizations about the importance of being “open” is just empty talk. But it is fair to say that we do not trust people who appear to be holding back information for no good reason, or who cannot be bothered to communicate it clearly. There are at times good business reasons for holding back information, but there is no right of rank or privilege that entitles anyone to do so.

• Be there. Be accessible. When an American wants to talk to you, they want to talk to you now. Management, in America (as often elsewhere) wants answers to their questions now.

Americans do not always understand why their foreign partners or colleagues do not reply to their e-mail messages now. There are naturally several possible reasons for that: maybe your American friends have “forgotten about” the time difference between your locations. Maybe you are not the right person to receive the message. Maybe (usually?) you have more urgent matters to attend to. And maybe Americans would be shocked to know that their foreign and overseas colleagues make the same complaint about them! No matter. If you wish to preserve that trust, get back to them; talk to them.

There is another important reason to keep the principle of accessibility in mind in your dealings with Americans. If you are in a leadership or management role, accessibility means visibility. In Chapter 6 we saw how important this factor is to Americans in corporate life, and the clear impact of one’s manager on it. But the consequences of not making yourself accessible to your people are likely to be worse for you. You will find yourself isolated, and regarded as someone who “hides behind his desk” or in their office. Keep in mind as well that making yourself available and accessible only to certain people will undermine the trust of the whole group.

American businesspeople themselves often violate these principles. But as a non-American, it is important for you to make a deliberate effort to put them into practice. Sensitive situations of international contact heighten the risks to you. Americans will not distrust you simply because you are a foreigner, but any apparent failure on your part to meet their expectations will be attributed to your “foreign-ness”. A gap may appear that becomes harder to bridge as time goes on.

WILL I BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY WITH AMERICANS?

We have already described in some detail communication “American style” – the approach and attitude to which Americans are accustomed and with which they feel comfortable. We can sum it up by noting that your effectiveness in communicating with Americans in any role will be facilitated by these three elements:

• Your friendly and confident tone. Show that you like them, and that you believe in yourself, your idea, your product, and your company.
• Your clarity in stating what you want, what you can do, what you expect, what you offer.
• Your persuasive approach. Spell out the benefits to them of your offer, request, or recommendation. Do not be afraid to ask for a decision then and there on the next step.

Polish your horn, and get ready to blow it!

HOW CAN I ESTABLISH RELATIONSHIPS AND GET TO KNOW THEM?

Don’t let yourself be frustrated by those quick and superficial contacts that Americans love to make. Take advantage of them.

• Be prepared for networking. Be ready to talk – at any moment – in concise positive terms about who you are and what you have to offer. This applies whether you are selling yourself for employment, your idea to your boss, or your product to a customer.

Do not hesitate to network, if you think that a person you have met can be useful to you in your business. Whether or not you care to accept our friend Charlie’s “If you’re ever in Dayton. . .” invitation, you can certainly contact him after your flight if you want to pursue the contact for business reasons. Send an e-mail or phone him, saying how much you enjoyed your chat about quality assurance (or whatever). Then give him a reason to get back to you: ask a question, or offer to provide some information, for example. Take it from there. He would certainly do the same with you for similar reasons in the same circumstances.

• Use the various organizations we mentioned in Chapter 4 as opportunities for networking. Many of them are international, and will have branches in your country. Do not rely solely on trade shows, industry events, or professional associations, especially if you will be based in America for an extended period of time.

WILL AMERICANS ACCEPT ME AS THEIR MANAGER AND LEADER?

As we observed in Chapter 6, when it comes to managing Americans, there is no single model that will apply in all situations. There are certainly no simple solutions, no “silver bullets”. Your experience and common sense will take you far.

It is vital, however, that you keep in mind those elements of management and teamwork that are likely to have the most positive impact on the Americans who report to you:

• You should develop a direct interpersonal relationship with each individual, “one-on-one” as we say. Much jargon – which comes and goes with fashion – has evolved to describe this relationship: “coach” or “management by walking around”.
• Whatever you want to call it, just remember that there are two approaches your American direct reports won’t want: they do not want a parental figure, not they do want to be neglected under the pretense of a “hands-off” approach. As time goes on, you will be able to get the balance right for each of the people in your group.
• Focus your role on defining clear individual and group objectives, outlining clear responsibilities, and providing the right amount of feedback. Your people need to know where they stand.
• In leading a team, show your confidence and belief (and, yes, even your enthusiasm) for the group’s common objective. Your direct reports will know that many things you are asked to do by management seem unrealistic, pointless, or contrary to what they were asked to do last month. They do not expect you to be a cheerleader for management, but they do respond to a person who shows confidence and a positive attitude.
• If you are working in an American office, take the initiative to get to know your Human Resources (HR) Manager.

If you are going to be an expatriate in America, you will probably get to know the HR Department in any case, as the people responsible for the administrative aspects of your assignment. But you should use them as well for up-to-date advice and information on correct employment practices and other workplace issues. This is in order not only to avoid costly errors in behavior and practice; but also to ensure that you get assistance with the tools and systems that can make your job easier. If your organization does not have a Human Resources specialist, talk to corporate counsel (or in plainer language, the company lawyer).

ARE THERE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES?

The European traveller in America. . .is struck by two particularities: first, the extreme similarity of outlook in all parts of the United States (except the Old South), and secondly, the passionate desire of each locality to prove that it is peculiar and different from any other. The second of these is, of course, caused by the first.

Bertrand Russell, Modern Homogeneity, 1930

Americans might disagree with Russell, an Englishman. Outsiders, looking at any country or culture, see uniformity, whereas insiders, being more sensitive to the characteristics of the people around them, see differences.

This certainly has been true with respect to the “Old South” to which Russell refers. This region is traditionally defined as those states in the southeast of the country that made up the Confederate States during the American Civil War.(1) Up until 1865, this region had evolved a predominantly agricultural society based on a land-owning and slave-holding aristocracy. With the Confederate defeat, the economic and social foundations of that society were destroyed. What remained was deep animosity between many whites and blacks, great resentment toward the North (which was reciprocated with 100 years of contempt), a poor agrarian economy, and a distinctive way of speaking.

Southern middle-and upper-class values also persisted: the importance of “manners”, loyalty to one’s “own people”, and a trust in one’s word, one’s parole, when it came to reaching agreement. In other words, these nineteenth century Southern values were very unlike those of twenty-first century American business. They implied a greater formality, slower pace of activity, and a much stronger sense of obligation.

Much has changed in America and in the South since then. The South has seen enormous economic growth, and much of the regional animosity has disappeared. So have the differences, some might say. But if your business takes you to the South, you may yet encounter people whose way of doing business betrays the lingering influence of these values.

As for other regions or states, market researchers can give you their analysis of differences. I can recall a marketing executive for a fast food chain telling me that they never test-marketed any new products in the New England states(2) because people there were too conservative, and reluctant to change their habits. How very un-American that sounds.

We should also add here a special word about Texas. It is the second biggest state in area (after Alaska) and in population (after California). It is the only state that was once an independent republic, commemorated by the “lone star” on the state flag. Texans do not hide their identification with their state, and continually express the idea that Texas is special. If your business takes you there, do not be surprised by this local chauvinism.

Despite these perceived differences, and the very real differences in demographic and economic characteristics between states, Bertrand Russell is largely correct – and not excepting the “old” South – when it comes to business. The mobility of Americans and the common characteristics of American organizations have tended to minimize – though not eliminate – regional differences in the aspects that we have covered.

WHAT ABOUT CANADA?

In your dealings with the people of North America, do not treat the USA and Canada as a single unit. The two countries may share the same telephone calling system, the same majority language, an enormous free trade area, and certain other visible features, but they are not at all identical.

Above all, do not refer to Canadians as Americans, even if you happen to come from “south of the border” and regard both peoples as norteamericanos. This is a basic courtesy, which your Canadian friends will appreciate. People from outside North America may have difficulty distinguishing the two when hearing the accent of native English speakers, and indeed people from the USA often are unable to tell the difference. There is a difference, but it will take time to attune your ear to it.

At this point, the best guideline we can offer is: if your business is likely to bring you into contact with both Canadians and Americans at the same time, try to find out beforehand or in your introductory small talk the nationalities of the others involved.

In Quebec, you may find yourself speaking English or French when doing business, but be aware of strict language laws designed to protect the use and expression of French. In many cases, you would be well advised to have your commercial documentation in French.

Having glanced at Canada, let us turn our attention back to the United States, and to preparing yourself for a successful short business trip.

PREPARING FOR THE VISIT

• When planning your itinerary, learn the geography in order to understand the distances and time zone differences that you will have to contend with. Americans may not do the same when visiting your country, but there is no reason for you to make the same mistake.
• Be fully informed of the American market for your products and services. That market is huge, but very segmented. If you propose to sell in America, you must also be aware of your competition – there will always be some – and of the national, state, and local laws and regulations pertaining to your business. Don’t bother leaving home without researching all these areas.
• Make sure you bring with you something specific to offer or propose. Your American counterpart is generally not very interested in discussions “in principle”.
• Ensure your colleagues back at your headquarters are ready to respond immediately to requests from you for approvals, support, and information. If you are going to the States to negotiate an agreement, be sure you have sufficient authority to conclude that agreement; your American counterpart will expect it.
• When arranging a meeting, it is useful to send ahead a short written statement of the objective and rough agenda of the meeting. That can be changed at the time and on the spot, but this preliminary plan will assure your American counterparts that you “mean business”.

Are you are ready to do business the American way? Perhaps you have decided to adapt certain “American” approaches or styles to help you be more successful. Before you set out, however, as a final thought, it is worthwhile considering how you can enable Americans to better understand your way.