I wanted to understand Germany and the Germans at a deeper level. I flew from Philadelphia to West Berlin at the end of September 1988:
German History
1988-92. Graduate studies is work, especially in a foreign language, and at a German university. I studied Modern History. My focus was on Germany post-World War II. I chose the Freie Universität in West Berlin because it was on the front lines of what then was still the Cold War.
My Master’s thesis was on the “Dissonances between the Kennedy and the Adenauer administrations during the Second Berlin Crisis 1961-63”, about their disagreement on how to react to Moscow’s pressure to force the three allied powers (France, UK, USA) out of West Berlin.
I analyzed how Bonn and Washington struggled to develop a joint response to that pressure. I could not know then – in 1992 – that I would spend another thirty years researching, analyzing and explaining where and why Americans and Germans struggle to collaborate.
CBS News
1989-90. On November 9, 1989 the East German regime opened up the Berlin Wall. The next day, at the Brandenburg Gate, I offered my services to CBS News. Around the clock until Christmas I helped CBS cover those historical events.
CBS asked me to continue supporting their news coverage: the first free elections in East Germany in March 1990, the Two-Plus-Four-Negotiations in June-July 1990, German Unification in October 1990, the all-German federal elections in December.
I was in the right place, at the right time, studying the right subject. I learned how a modern news organization covers fast-moving, historical events. I helped explain to Americans what was happening in Berlin, in Germany, and in Europe.
Intercultural Training
1993-96. I had been in Germany for five years when I joined a Bonn-based intercultural training firm. The work opened up my eyes. I began to understand the influence of national culture on my life and work as an American in Germany with the Germans.
We initiated and executed the five-day USA-Seminar, preparing German subject-area experts for long-term delegations to the United States. Boot camp. We worked them hard. The participants were from the largest German DAX30 companies.
The seminar addressed core topics: communication, decision-making, leadership, feedback, conflict, processes, product philosophies, relationship management. We focused on the influence of cultural differences on collaboration.
German Bundestag
1995-99. I wanted to understand the Germans at a deeper level. I set my eyes on politics. After a year of intense networking, and then a year of political analysis, I was introduced to Wolfgang Schäuble, the Leader of the majority party Christian Democats in the Bundestag.
I explained the underlying historical and cultural currents moving political developments in the U.S. From the American perspective, but in the German language, with an understand-ing of German history and politics. I was a translator in the truest sense of the term.
And I established and deepened relationships between Americans and Germans. People who needed to know and understand each other: key staffers in both houses of Congress and from both parties, as well as thought-leaders in academics and think tanks.
Post-Merger Integration
1999-2002. Siemens had acquired Westinghouse Power Generation. Post-merger integration, especially cross-border, is extra-ordinarily complex. After eleven years in Germany I was able and ready to help. With my knowledge of language, history, politics, and in the widest sense culture.
I was a one-man consulting practice within Siemens. I helped colleagues from both companies to address three questions: Where do we differ in how they think, therefore work? What impact do the differences have on our collaboration? How can we get the differences to work for and not against us?
I applied my expertise at all levels, in all disciplines, and at all locations in both Germany and in the U.S. Depending on the situation I was a trainer, a coach, and a consultant who prepared and executed off-site workshops defining how best to integrate German and American approaches.
Consulting
In 2003 I went into business for myself. Siemens, additional DAX30, and US Fortune25 companies were my customers. I focused on the three key questions.
The red thread throughout my three decades in Germany has been identifying and explaining the differences in how Germans and Americans think, therefore how they work.
See my Book from 2009, published in Berlin by Cornelsen Verlag. It’s based on my work integrating Siemens and Westinghouse. Read the chapter with the title Philadelphia.
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