American agreements bind all parties, including the more powerful one. The employer must honor its commitments to employees, not just the other way around. The institution must follow the terms it specified, not just enforce them against individuals.
This principle—that power does not exempt one from obligations—runs deep in American thinking. Americans watch whether powerful parties keep their commitments and judge them harshly when they do not.
When you make agreements with Americans, understand that they expect you to keep your commitments as seriously as they keep theirs. Status or power provides no exemption. An agreement that binds only the weaker party is not really an agreement at all—it is an imposition that Americans will resent and resist.
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