Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others, 2006): Context: Set in East Germany, this film follows a Stasi officer tasked with surveilling a playwright. Illustration: The Stasi’s internal culture is characterized by unemotional, objective reporting and evaluation. Feedback about performance is delivered in a cold, formal manner, with little regard for personal feelings. The film’s tone and dialogue reflect a clear separation between professional duty and personal emotion.
Constant Info Flow
Information: For a close collaborative effort between customer and supplier (consultant, vendor, etc.) to function effectively in the American business context a high level of communication between the two parties is essential.
Information flow is guaranteed via short-term feedback between customer and supplier during the entire business relationship. This allow customers to modify their requests depending on changing situations.
Death by Robot
The first recorded human death by robot was in 1979, when Robert Williams, a 25 year old Ford Motor assembly line worker, was slammed by a robot arm as he gathered parts in a storage facility. The incident occurred in Flat Rock, Michigan, and Williams’ family was awarded 10 million dollars in damages after the jury agreed that Williams’ death was the result of a lack of safety measures on the part of Ford Motor.
These days, robots have become fairly commonplace, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates believes that robots are likely to become the focus of the next technological frontier. With increasing advancements in the field of robotics, more and more Americans are becoming concerned about these machines. The two primary concerns are that the robots will replace the need for human workers and that robotic intelligence may exceed human intelligence.
Robot: a real or imaginary machine that is controlled by a computer and is often made to look like a human or animal; a machine that can do the work of a person and that works automatically or is controlled by a computer. First known use: 1922. The word “robot” comes from the Czech word for “forced labor.”
“Best pitch ever”
Shark Tank: Present the positives. Answer questions about the negatives.
As Wen Muenyi – born and raised in a small African village – of Jax Sheets pitches his men’s bedding company, the Sharks fall in love with his candor. When Kevin O’Leary questions whether the business is worth $2.1 million, Wen responds ‘I mean, I said it, but it might not be true!’ getting a big laugh from the Sharks, and Wen explains why he’s already living the American Dream.
Yes, candor can sell, too.
“We’re gonna keep going”
They simply could not overcome the critical questions.
YouTube comments:
“Best pitch ever indeed! Lesson to learn about how to hold your poise when the unexpected happens in perhaps the biggest moment of your life! Applaud Scott and his mate for doing an amazing job!”
“Let’s make kids safer in school.” … “No, the margins are awful.”
“They’re now worth over 8 million and still sell online :)”
Sharks in sales-mode
This is an extaordinary episode. Both sides – the entrepreneurs on the one side and the sharks on the other side – are strongly in the mode of persuasion. Interestingly, the entrepreneurs made clear early why they are seeking help: they don’t understand the American market.
YouTube comments:
“Turning the tables and asking the sharks if they were committed and if they’d give them the time is superb. You can tell they’ve been in business before.”
“These two knew EXACTLY how to handle the sharks, and pitched their product extremely well.”
“The minute the gentleman admitted how he initially failed in the US market, aka realizing the results from his trial and error and learning from them, was when I saw these men were successful businessmen.”
Zero Tolerance
Americans typically prefer rules that are very specific, but not meant to be followed to the letter. Nevertheless, recently in response to a lot of complaints about inconsistencies in disciplining misbehaving students, many American school systems have started adopting strict zero tolerance policies.
These policies typically state that any student committing a wrongdoing will receive the same pre-determined punishment, no matter what the specifics of his/her offense are.
Schools have had quite a bit of trouble implementing these policies, and statistics have shown that the rigid rules have actually led to elevated dropout rates and an increasing number of suspensions. This is largely because American students are used to having a little “wiggle room,” and weren’t accustomed to the strict enforcement policy.
Wiggle room – permission to slightly bend a couple of rules, as long as most of the rules are followed.
Germans consult. Americans serve.
A big source of misunderstanding between Americans and Germans, rarely made explicit, is about whether business should inherently be customer-centric, supplier-centric, or somehow balanced, as our fourth column in this series explains.
Germans and Americans alike will of course say they care about their customers. But they associated different meanings with that notion. And that often leads to misunderstandings and frustration. American providers of business services proudly offer exactly that: a service. By contrast, German providers view their proposition less as a service and more as a consultation. The difference is subtle, but consequential.
Who wants to admit?
When persuading Americans do not feel obligated to offer full and comprehensive information about the weaknesses of their proposal, concept, product or solution.
Instead, the obligation is with the buyer (the audience) to expose the weaknesses through critical questions. If asked, competent, professional and honest Americans will respond forthrightly.
This is a shared logic among Americans. Listeners know to ask the critical questions. Speakers know to anticipate those questions. If the critical questions are not asked, if the listener then accepts (buys), only later to discover negative aspects, the listener (buyer) will not blame the speaker (seller), but himself.
Besides, who wants to admit to their colleagues or boss, to their spouse or friends, that they made a poor decision?
Political Correctness
Political correctness language (also known as PC) aims to avoid any form of descrimination or perceived discrimination against social, economic or political groups defined by race, gender, religion, ethnicity, age, disability or sexual orientation.
See gender-neutral terms such as firefighter in the place fireman and firewoman, police officer in place of policeman and policewoman; value-free terms describing physical disabilities, such as visually impaired in place of blind and hearing impaired in place of deaf; value-free cultural terms, such as Holiday season and Winter holiday, in place of Christmas.