In the Workplace


Nothing Is Impossible

In the workplace, the consequences of the opportunity ethos show up most conspicuously in that stereotypical American bravado and self- assurance, the conviction that nothing is impossible. To people who believe that the only real limits are self-imposed, there are no circumstances, conditions, or situations that must be accepted and cannot be changed, nothing that cannot be done so long as one is willing to make the necessary effort.

People aren t always willing, of course, and on occasion decide not to pursue a certain goal or take on a particular challenge, but Americans have no doubt that if they want something bad enough and are willing to work for it long enough, there is nothing they cannot achieve.

This view in turn accounts for that relentlessly positive and upbeat attitude Americans bring to all their enterprises , their unshakable belief that they will prevail regardless of circumstances, and that somehow everything will work out. A positive attitude is important at all times, but especially on those rare occasions when things in fact are temporarily not working out. At such times it s particularly important to look on the bright side and remember that every cloud has a silver lining .

The American attitude to life, Bill Bryson has observed ,

is remarkably upbeat and lacking in negativity. . . . If you informed an American that a massive asteroid was hurtling toward earth at 125,000 miles an hour and that in twelve weeks the planet would be blown to smithereens, he would say: Really? In that case, I suppose I d better sign up for that Mediterranean cooking class now. (1999, 88)

In the workplace, then, anything less than a positive attitude is considered a serious deficiency. Americans can overlook, forgive, or explain away almost any fault in their workers, but they can t abide someone with a negative or pessimistic attitude. In this context it should be noted that for optimistic Americans anything less than being positive and upbeat ” and that would include being realistic and objective ” actually comes across as being negative.

Americans realize, of course, that people can have bad days now and then, but sooner or later such people will snap out of it (i.e., become positive again) or get a grip on themselves (regain control of events and start smiling). People who don t snap out of it, who seem permanently down or negative, are expected to do something about it: get professional help, take medication , or do whatever else it takes to restore themselves to normal (i.e., positive).

None of the above should be taken to mean that Americans always feel positive or upbeat, by the way, or always manage to behave like that. The point, rather, is that they are under considerable pressure to feel that way and tend to think less of themselves if they can t quite pull it off.

To the realists of this world, needless to say, Americans can seem extremely na ve. The deep faith Americans have that things will always work out and that nothing is impossible makes many non-Americans nervous, and likewise makes it difficult for them to entirely trust what Americans say. Either they re being devious or highly uncritical; either way, their dogged optimism is not reassuring.

Just a Matter of Effort

The optimistic, anything-is-possible mentality also colors the way Americans tend to view problems or obstacles, anything that might suggest that some things may in fact not be possible. Americans tend to underestimate obstacles and minimize potential difficulties (they prefer to call them challenges or opportunities), confident that they can overcome whatever opposition or adversity they may meet. Managers are fond of telling their employees to come to them with solutions, not problems.

This same confident attitude tends to make Americans relatively un- sympathetic to the problems and obstacles of others. They believe that persistence ” trying harder, as they put it ” is the answer to all problems, and that success is just a matter of will power. Failure, as they see it, is just another word for laziness , and those who do not succeed or get what they want have no one to blame but themselves. Indeed, if they do try to cast the blame elsewhere, on others or on the system, they are accused of whining, by which Americans mean complaining about something that is your own fault. Americans have very little patience with whiners, because their behavior casts doubt on the fundamental belief that everyone makes his or her own luck.

Listen for a moment to Brian Tracy in his modestly entitled book The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success. He gets a bit carried away,even for an American, but his advice on how to succeed is standard fare for American business books. It is not what happens to you, he writes

but how you think about what happens to you that determines how you feel and react . It s not the world outside you that dictates your circumstances or conditions. It is the world inside you that creates the conditions of your life. (2000, 15)

For you to progress, to move onward and upward in your life and your business, you must continually challenge your self-limiting beliefs. You must reject any thought or suggestion that you are limited in any way. You must accept as a basic principle that you are a no-limit person. . . . (18)

The very existence of an idea in your conscious mind means that you have within you and around you the capacity to turn it into reality. The only question you have to answer is: How badly do you want it? (65)

When you back all of your goals and plans with unshakable determination and persistence, you will eventually find that there is nothing in the world that can stop you. (71)

As this suggests, Americans don t carry around a great deal of self-doubt (or if they do, they re careful to hide it, usually by overcompensating). They tend to be extremely self-confident; they believe in themselves. And they regard anyone who entertains doubts ” people who ask too many questions, who see possible problems, who worry about potential difficulties, who raise red flags no matter how legitimate ” as timid and weak. This cavalier, almost dismissive attitude toward problems or obstacles, the notion that failure is simply a lack of effort, earns Americans the reputation for being arrogant and callous in some quarters , especially among people who believe that there are sometimes limits to what can be done and situations where success is not guaranteed no matter how hard one tries .

At the same time it must be said that American optimism and self- confidence are much admired by many non-Americans. For people with drive and ambition who are always being told why something can t be done, why it will never work, or why it s not even worth trying ” the go-for-it, anything-is-possible mentality of Americans can be a breath of fresh air.

The notion of the lack of limits accounts to some extent for the American tendency to exaggerate. If they didn t actually invent the concept of hype (which is short for hyperbole, meaning to exaggerate ), Americans are certainly world champions at it. Whether it s describing what a product will do, how long something will take, how cheaply something can be done, or how competent this team or that person is, Americans routinely make claims that are unrealistic and even un- true. In a world where there are no real limits, except the all-important self-imposed ones, to promise anything less than the best, the cheapest, or the quickest is tantamount to admitting inadequacy. Indeed, for Americans not to exaggerate, not to make excessive claims, feels almost defeatist.

Americans assume, incidentally, that everyone knows how this game is played , that other people realize they are exaggerating and know better than to take them at their word. They may, accordingly , be quite surprised if you later try to hold them accountable for the inflated promises they made, or if you accuse them of not telling the truth. As a non- American, you would be well advised to routinely factor a certain amount of hype into American projections or estimates (especially if they are not in writing), subtracting the 20 “30 percent that is swagger in order to arrive somewhere in the vicinity of the truth.

Americans also exaggerate in the other direction, minimizing or downplaying any difficulties, problems, or obstacles that could interfere with one s rosy projections and best-case scenarios. Among other things, dwelling too much on what could go wrong suggests that one might not be altogether in control of one s destiny, something Americans do not like to contemplate. The lesson for non-Americans is to remember that whether they re accentuating the positive or minimizing the negative, Americans can t always be counted on to see things objectively, or, more accurately, to describe them that way.

A Driven People

The belief in limitless opportunity makes Americans a driven people who are almost never satisfied with the status quo, with the percentage of market share they now have, for example, or with the product in its present form. However much someone has or whatever someone has achieved, there is a sense that one can always do better. If the division exceeds its goals by 20 percent, the move is on to try for 30 percent. If they can cut time to market by three days, they must be able to cut it by four. No matter how successful that ad campaign was, there must be a way to make it better. In America, Stuart Miller has observed, the doors of opportunity . . . are supposedly open to all.Therefore,one is always inclined to question oneself and ask why one isn t rich and famous, or more rich and famous (1990, 62). By a curious alchemy, the mere possibility of having more or doing better becomes the necessity to continually top oneself.

Hence the great, often-noted tension in the American workplace, especially in the private sector, where one of the greatest sins ” and a sure prescription for disaster ” is to be satisfied with one s performance. If the march of progress is truly unstoppable, then there are no rest areas on the road to success. American companies speak of having an edge or being ahead of the curve, by which they mean being the first to come up with a better product or a better way to do something, or being the first to see the potential in or otherwise take advantage of a new advance in science or technology. Having an edge, and especially keeping that edge, is what distinguishes truly successful companies from the also-rans.

Americans very much admire what they call passion in their employees. Having passion means being excited and enthusiastic about what you do, but it means something more; people with passion are never satisfied and never give up. Passion turns good performers into peak performers and causes the very competent to become outstanding. Passion, also known as a fire in the heart, is what gives you the edge and makes you driven.

Can it be any surprise that people who are satisfied, who seem content with what they ve got or what they ve achieved in life ” people who don t have passion ” are somewhat suspect to Americans? There is a sense that such people lack ambition, that they have somehow given up or that they are coasting. Sometimes they are said to have lost their edge, meaning they no longer have that inner drive it takes to excel. And in America, when you are no longer driven, you are not merely falling behind, you re out of the race altogether.

All this drive tends to make Americans hyperactive and impatient. There s a certain frenetic energy about them, a kind of force field that surrounds them and makes it hard for them to slow down and relax, and a little tiring to be around. You may sometimes wonder whether you should breathe for Americans, since they obviously don t have time to do it for themselves.

Another manifestation of the opportunity ethos is the American attitude toward risk. While several different cultural strains come together to create the American position on risk (see also pages 37 “38, 39, 75), surely the notion of abundance and unlimited resources is an especially strong support for the prevailing attitude that there s nothing to fear from taking risks. The real risk in risk taking, after all, is the possibility of failure and all its unpleasant consequences. But if you live in a land of plenty, of second chances and endless possibilities, then how bad can those consequences be? In such a world, failure is temporary even in the worst cases, and the consequences are not likely to be long- lasting .

Americans believe, moreover, that failure can be instructive and beneficial, part of the learning process. Those who are afraid to fail won t take the gambles that lead to real breakthroughs. David Ignatius, a columnist for The Washington Post, writes, What powered Silicon Valley was the freedom to fail. I still recall a remark made to me by an executive at Cisco Systems . . . ˜If you hit five out of five, you won t do well here. People like that aren t taking enough chances. If you hit eight out of 10, that s the Cisco way (Ignatius, July 26, 2002, A33).

Mobility and Its Consequences

All this opportunity tends to make Americans a restless lot. It stands to reason that no matter how good you have it in one place or in one job, it must be even better somewhere else, which is what makes Americans such a mobile people. The average American changes jobs eight times, changes career three times, and moves into a different house every seven years .

This great mobility in turn explains why loyalty is neither expected of nor received from the typical American worker. If a worker finds a better opportunity elsewhere, he or she will take it, and the employer will usually understand (or at the very least not be surprised). High turnover and frequent job changes are the norm in a culture where people are always looking for ways to better themselves. Indeed, recognizing this dynamic, many employers offer their most prized workers incentives to stay with the company or organization, trying, in effect, to buy loyalty that cannot otherwise be guaranteed.

This high turnover has a number of consequences for the American workplace, beginning with the fact that agreements are understood to be made with and binding on the entity, not any particular individual. By and large, when the players change, the commitments do not. This is in part why extremely detailed contracts, and the lawyers who draw them up, are so important in American business.

Workplace mobility is also part of the reason Americans invest relatively less time and effort in establishing good personal relationships with the people they deal with, especially those from outside the company such as suppliers and large accounts. If these people are going to be moving on in a year or two, then a strong personal relationship is not much of a foundation for a business agreement. It is much better to base the relationship on things that can be locked in with a solid contract, such as price, quality, or service.

This heavy reliance on contracts, and their apparent lack of interest in developing personal relationships with business associates , makes Americans come across as being excessively legalistic and untrusting and as caring only about the bottom line. They will go wherever they can get the best deal, which means they themselves cannot be trusted or counted on for long- term commitments. They are not loyal, and accordingly tend neither to expect nor reward loyalty from others.

High turnover, especially among middle management, where it tends to be the most common, raises havoc with continuity and likewise spells trouble for long-term projects. By and large, American managers aren t content to merely continue the work begun by others, to leave things the way they are, even if the way things are happens to be quite good. They much prefer to shake things up, to make a difference, and, above all, to leave their mark on the organization; after all, that s probably how they got this promotion.

So they want to make changes, and the bigger the changes the better, which is why the ground is always shifting in the American workplace as the latest boss introduces new ideas, projects, and procedures ” new to him or her, that is, but often not new at all to those who remember back more than five years. This also explains in part why Americans always seem to be reinventing the wheel, spending considerable time and money on a new approach, system, or product that isn t really new or better, or on fixing something that s not actually broken. The deep need American managers have to leave things better than they found them makes it almost impossible for them even to see what is working well in a company or division, much less to leave it alone.

This same phenomenon helps explain why divisions or companies seem to have a new mission every two or three years, changing their course entirely and charging off in a new direction ” reinventing themselves, Americans call it ” in the process abandoning the previous new direction before it s even out of the planning phase. If this happens to catch flatfooted those who were heavily invested personally , professionally, or financially in the old new direction, then so be it; the American attitude is that change is the new constant in business, and people need to get used to it.

While a lot of change is completely legitimate, of course, driven by real business needs, some of it is not, driven by little more than the new manager s desire to make a difference or that general restlessness that lurks in the American psyche. Either way, while the famous flexibility of American business, the knack Americans have of being able to turn on a dime, is unarguably one of its great strengths, a lot of that turning isn t true turning at all; it s just the wheels spinning ever faster in place.

Change for the sake of change ” the notion that change in and of itself is a good thing ” doesn t resonate with a lot of non-Americans, which can make working with Americans a harrowing experience. If you come from a culture where the pace of change is more gradual or where there is a lower tolerance for change, you may be wary of making long- term commitments to or otherwise involving yourself too deeply with Americans. This may explain why many foreign companies prefer to deal with Americans as vendors , to limit their exposure as it were, rather than as full partners .

How Americans See Others

As non-Americans, you would do well to remember that Americans look at the world through the lens of their optimism. They try very hard to be upbeat and positive, and from that vantage point people who try to be objective and realistic, describing things the way they are, can easily come across as pessimists. To people who believe that things will always work out, any suggestion that things might not work out, any whiff of these sentiments ” expressing doubts, looking for possible problems or obstacles, coming up with contingency plans, or even just not being enthusiastic enough ” may strike Americans as negative or even defeatist. If you want to draw attention to a problem or bring up a possible obstacle , then you should preface your remarks with observations such as, This will probably never happen, but . . . or I know this is worst case, but . . . or I don t want to sound negative, but. . . .

Unlike Americans, you may come from one of the many cultures where people cheerfully accept the notion of limits, whether it s limited possibilities, limits to what one can accomplish in a given situation, or merely accepting that certain things in life cannot be changed no matter what. Accordingly, you may not even consider certain tasks , convinced they are not possible, hence a waste of time, or you may stop pursuing a certain goal after your best efforts have come to naught. To Americans, who ve never met a problem they couldn t solve, you may come across as lacking in self-confidence or in ambition, as giving up too easily or accepting too readily that certain things are beyond your control. They may think you re too quick to admit defeat and that you lack staying power.

Americans likewise don t understand people who are afraid of taking risks and who worry about failing. Such people come across as timid, weak, and cautious, as unduly hesitant and overly concerned with what could go wrong. They re not aggressive enough, perhaps because they don t really believe in themselves, and they will certainly not inspire others and may not, therefore, be given leadership positions .

The fact that mobility is so commonplace in the United States means Americans will expect agreements and contracts negotiated with the previous leadership to be respected when there s a change at the top. It also means they may be impatient with you if you want to spend time getting to know them, trying to establish a personal relationship before doing business; believing, as they do, that people come and go, Americans won t see the point of investing time in building trust and personal rapport.

As noted earlier, Americans also worry about people who don t seem driven enough, who are satisfied with what they ve achieved and do not aspire to more. There is even an expression to the effect of Show me someone who is satisfied, and I ll show you someone who has given up.

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Quick Tips: Advice for Working with Americans
  • Try to sound positive; being merely realistic or objective may get you branded a pessimist.

  • Don t act intimidated or discouraged by problems or obstacles; be enthusiastic about solving them.

  • Never say, Here s why this won t work. Always say, Here s how we re going to do this.

  • Don t worry too much about making mistakes (unless you ve got an insecure boss).

  • Try to act excited about taking risks.

  • Never suggest giving up.

  • Be careful about American estimates; they exaggerate.

  • Don t complain or make excuses when things go wrong; just get up and start again.

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Americans at Work. A Guide to the Can-Do People
Americans at Work: A Cultural Guide to the Can-Do People
ISBN: 1931930058
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 51
Authors: Craig Storti

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