Epilogue

The goal of this book has not been to attack or to defend Americans but to explain them, although it s difficult to explain a particular nationality and not seem to be making excuses for them. Be that as it may, as you turn these final pages, it doesn t matter so much whether you think better or worse of Americans but whether you now understand them better. If you do, then this book has done its job: to help you work more effectively with people from the United States.

You should remember, meanwhile, the cautions we have repeated throughout: no two Americans are alike, and neither are any two American workplaces. And nor, for that matter, are any two readers. In the end, you (whoever you are) have to deal with the particular American standing in front of you (whoever he or she may be) in the particular circumstances you find yourselves. With any luck, that person will resemble in some ways ” much of the time if not in every instance ” the generic American you ve been reading about here.

That American is only a type, of course, and you ll never meet a type, only imperfect copies. But there s a good chance you will come across some of the characteristics of that type in the Americans you have to work with. When you do, you will now understand those people better. At the same time you may now also understand your own reactions to Americans better, why some of their attitudes and behaviors strike you the way they do.

You may or may not actually do anything with your newfound understanding, applying it, in other words, in day-to-day interactions with Americans. But whether you apply it or not, the nice thing about under- standing is that merely in acquiring it, you ve already done a great deal: you ve changed how you see the world.