“But wait, if it is true that German decision making processes strive to save resources – time, budgets, material, manpower – why do the Germans have compared to us (Americans) far more employees for the same work?” This is a question often posed. Takeovers, mergers, joint ventures, cross-Atlantic projects. So
Frage, question. Stellung from the verb stellen, to put or place. Fragestellung. It was 1990. I was a graduated student at the Freie Universität in Berlin, then West Berlin. The Wall still existed. As did West and East Germany, the Soviet Union, and many other places, people and things which
Systematic thinking is one of the strongest of German character traits. It‘s a red thread woven in and through all of the topics CI addresses. I think of the many Germans in my seminars and workshops. I observe their tendency time and again. I separate the Americans and the Germans
Back to our breakout groups in the workshop. Americans very seldom discuss the deeper meaning of a decision to be made. If, however, such a discussion does take place then it‘s focused on the purpose of the decision, on whom it serves and how. Nor do Americans spend much time
Is it even possible to translate into English the German word Entscheidungsverständnis? Decision making philosophy, is what most Americans would say. But, that’s puffy, cloudy. Americans us the term ‘philosophy’ often to mean ‘way of thinking’. Literal, and more exact, would be ‘understanding of the decision to be made’, from
The topic is process, or process philosophy. What role does time play? Do Germans and Americans have the same understanding of long- , mid- and short-term? A rhetorical question. No need to think long about it. The differences are obvious in so many areas. Wasn‘t it Herr Wiedeking, the Vorstandsvorsitzender
Americans are, indeed, a young and often impatient people. But not all that young, for they are descendents primarily of Europeans. And the Americans of German descent are the largest ethnic group in the U.S., when separating out the British, Scottish and Irish. In other words, an American, especially an
Tiled Stoves: in apartments and homes, to burn coal, in order to produce heat. Use resources respectfully, protect the environment. I recall the debates in Germany years ago about recycling. At that time the Social Democrats and the Greens were in power. Jürgen Trittin was Umweltminister, literally Secretary of the
The American people have always benefitted from a very generous supply of natural resources. The United States in its over two-hundred year history has never known scarcity of resources. It is a land of abundance. And its economic history is one of constant growth. Generations of immigrants were welcomed to
I reflect, try to imagine how it was back then. It is 1944. My mother is fourteen years old. No father at home. Killed in an automobile accident in 1938. My grandmother at the time with seven small children. The oldest was nine. The youngest an infant. My grandmother carrying