The present is always the starting point for any action. The present is current, a result of what was decided, of what has been done, of action taken. To understand the present means to first understand how it became what it is, to understand its history.
Before Germans can be persuaded by any future action, they have to be convinced that the presenter has understood the present – the starting point – via its past.
German resumés (curriculum vitae) are written chronologically. The potential employer is given a complete overview of the applicant’s background, from the beginning to the present.
Germans reading a resumé look closely not only at those areas relevant to the job, but at all information which might give them a full picture of the applicant.
Most importantly, and critically, they look for Lücken (gaps) in the Lebenslauf – the German word for resumé or curriculum vitae. Leben life + lauf from laufen + to run: how one’s life has run, proceeded, moved forward. And if they spot any Lücken, they’ll be sure to address them in a face-to-face interview.
Based on what the applicant reveals in the interview the employer can gain even deeper insight into work experience, degree of reliability, motivation, ambitions. The goal is a realistic assessment of the job candidate.
As early as in high school Germans students are told: “Take seriously what you do after high school. Gaps in your resumé are not good!” German university students fill gaps between semesters with internships, language classes or travel abroad.
FC Schalke 04 – one of Germany’s best professional soccer teams, located in Gelsenkirchen in the famous Ruhr Industrial Area – and its coach, Felix Magath.
Shortly before their match against Hamburg, that city’s newspaper Abendblatt printed an article with the title “Meisterschaft? Nein! Wir müssen realistisch bleiben” – Championship? No! We need to be realistic.”
At that point FC Schalke was in third place, theoretically a possible contender for the German soccer championship. But when one of his players, Benedikt Höwedes, used the word Meisterschaft – championship – in an interview, his coach Magath reacted immediately.
“It is absolutely correct to set high goals”, Magath said to this team, “but they have to be realistic. Otherwise they will tear us apart, and then we will not even reach normal expectations. Getting to the championship this year is not a realistic goal. We are not yet a top-performing team. We have a long road ahead of us.”
Among other qualities it this “Sinn für Realismus” – sense of realism – which explains why Magath is so highly respected.
“If you care about being thought credible and intelligent, do not use complex language where simpler language will do. Couching familiar ideas in pretentious language is taken as a sign of poor intelligence and low credibility.” From Thinking, Fast and Slow. Daniel Kahneman, 2002 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics.
According to a recent study, almost half of all employed Americans with college degrees are overqualified for their jobs. In 2010, 15% of taxi drivers had bachelor’s degrees, compared to 1% in 1970, and 25% of retail sales clerks had bachelor’s degrees, compared to 5% in 1970.
In fact, U.S. overqualification has become such a large problem that in 2013, The Globalist published an article titled “The U.S. Overqualification Crisis: Why the United States is looking to Germany for answers on higher education.”
Now, many degree programs encourage American students to avoid doctorates and/or other certifications because having these will make it harder for the students to find jobs. Engineers are warned not to get certified as Professional Engineers (PEs,) because companies typically hire only a handful of licensed PEs, but hire many more unlicensed engineers.
American employers have several reasons why they avoid hiring people who are overqualified for a position. Some of their biggest reasons include:
Higher salary expectations – someone with more qualifications is likely to expect to be paid more money.
Promotion expectations – someone with more qualifications might accept a job that’s “beneath them” only because they expect to be promoted quickly to a job that’s more deserving of their higher skills.
Upstaging – someone who has more qualifications and/or experience than their boss might have difficulty following orders.
Short term – someone who is overqualified is likely to lose interest in their position, and won’t stay for very long.
Business Storytelling for Dummies. Author Karen Dietz. What does amazon(dot)com say about the book in order to promote it?
Learn to: translate data, facts, and figures into rich, captivating messages; harness the power of good storytelling to influence and motivate employees; effectively convey messages to buyers and funders; connect with your audience and drive your business to new heights; use storytelling to influence people and move them to action
Use stories to tap into their imaginations and translate sterile facts and stagnant case studies into exciting concepts they can identify with.
America is a nation of immigrants. Their forefathers and -mothers left everything they knew behind: country, language, customs, family, friends, traditions. Because they broke with the past – their own very personal past – they have less inhibition to further break away from traditions in order to plot a new course.
Between 1881 and 1920 two of the largest waves of immigration hit the United States. In those years more than 23 million immigrants arrived, the majority of them were from eastern and southern Europe. They were a long way from home.
Imagine the same task given to ten different Americans, in ten different companies, in ten different business sectors. A thousand people. They’re asked to use a maximum of ten slides in a presentation in order to persuade an audience of fellow Americans about the virtues and value of their product, service, idea, concept, recommendation.
On average, how many slides would the Americans use to explain the present (current situation), the past (how the present was arrived at), and the future (the desired situation)?
Searing: Very hot; marked by extreme intensity, harshness, or emotional power.
The United States is an immigrant country. More accurately stated: a younger, more recent immigrant country. For the history of mankind is the history of man moving, settling, then picking up and moving again.
There were and are reasons for why people moved and continue to move to the United States. Many seek greater freedom of thought, of religion, of way of life. Economic opportunity was/is certainly a motivation for many, if not most. And there are those who wanted to break out of the inflexible structures of their native country.
The immigrant experience is searing. It is of great emotional intensity, forming who we are as individuals, families, ethnic communities, and as a nation. The stories, the emotions, the choices made are passed down from generation to generation.
Oddly, but understandably, an American of German descent will say: “I’m German,” meaning, “My ethnic heritage is German,” in a deeper sense, “My national cultural hard-wiring is American and German,” just as it is for others: American and Italian, American and Irish, and Vietnamese, and Mexican, and Polish, and so on.
A searing experience. People left behind all that they knew. Language, culture, traditions, friends and relatives. The risks were both high and not entirely known. The immigrant experience leads to a complex relationship with what was once home. For people take their culture with them. National culture changes only slowly and painfully.
Immigrants admire, respect, long for their home. But they also leave it behind, in some ways they reject it. Americans have always seen America as the New World. Not just a new settlement, a new country. But a new world, as if mankind were starting afresh, anew. It is a part of the American self-understanding to believe that you can strike out on a new path, question old ways, methods, traditions.
Realistic for Americans means that the present is a starting point to the future, a new starting point towards a new future, possibly different and better than the past. Yes, the present is the result of the past, but not locked into a pre-determined, unalterable trajectory. The past, therefore, has less relevance. There is less need to explain how the present was arrived at.
Whereas for Germans realistic means “keeping your feet on the ground,” maintaining a sober view of the situation, not deviating too much from known ways; “knowing where you come from.” For Americans realistic means developing a vision, imagining new possibilities, stretching beyond, reaching for more and greater things.
Feynman-thoughts on simplicity:
You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity. When you get it right, it is obvious that it is right – at least if you have any experience – because usually what happens is that more comes out than goes in. Sympathetic Vibrations
When I found out that Santa Claus wasn’t real, I wasn’t upset; rather, I was relieved that there was a much simpler phenomenon to explain how so many children all over the world got presents on the same night! The story had been getting pretty complicated. It was getting out of hand. What Do You Care What Other People Think?
We can’t define anything precisely. If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers… one saying to the other: “You don’t know what you are talking about!”. The second one says: “What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you? What do you mean by know?” The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. I, 8-2
Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry. The Character of Physical Law