May/Jun 2008 - German World Magazine

Business and Culture Clash:
Mentality Trap –
What German Managers Do Wrong in the US
Water-cooler talk is part of everyday business in the US
but German managers don’t have a feel for it.
Today’s “global players” do business on all continents. Their
managers negotiate Monday in Taipei, Wednesday in
Chicago, and Friday in Düsseldorf. But how well do different
cultural backgrounds mix in the work environment and how prepared
are executives to successfully maneuver in foreign conference
rooms?
Even in the age of globalization it is not always smooth sailing
for Germans doing business in the US. “We have a joke – ‘here
comes somebody from Frankfurt. It’s going to be long. We better
settle in,’” explains Dr. Eugene A. Sekulow, former chairman of the
German American Chamber of Commerce in New York.
Sekulow points out the most common offense German executives
still commit in the US – are long and often boring speeches.
Germans talk on average 20 to 50 percent longer than Americans
and lose people in the process.
There are still many CEOs from major German companies who
fall into the speech trap and miss a great opportunity to make a
positive impression in front of an important audience. It is easy for
Germans coming to the US to have a false sense of security
because the cultures seem so similar. The underlying differences
are often hard to detect since Americans usually withdraw rather
than make other people aware of their mistakes. For example the
German sales manager after handing his promotional material to
his American client who, in return, raves, ‘this is fabulous, the best
technology I have ever seen.’ While the German now thinks he has
made a sale, the American was just very polite.
In marketing and communications, you need a person who is
deeply rooted in the local culture. You need both, the Germans
who bring over the idea of what needs to be said and the
Americans to determine how the message should be communicated
and translated for the local market.
A good example of different marketing approaches are trade
shows. “In Germany, the machines on display are all open and you
can see inside and marvel at German technology. At American
trade shows, the machines are running and you can see how they
work and how much they produce per hour and what it costs.
Germans are much more interested in technology and quality,
Americans in price and value.
An executive from a major German car company intended to
honor one of the board members in Detroit by calling him ‘the rock
bottom of German automotive engineering.’ Of course he meant
bedrock and if he had shown the speech to his local media repre-
sentative, he would have saved himself and the honoree the
embarrassment.
A lot of Germans are resistant to advice – they only want to hear
what they know anyway. Another seemingly harmless aspect that
can turn into a minefield is water-cooler talk. While it is customary
in American companies to discuss the latest baseball game, last
night’s episode of The Apprentice and the weather, Germans tend
to dismiss such office chitchat as a waste of time. Office small talk
is an integral part of American business culture. People are supposed
to feel good at work. If they feel good, they are motivated
and get better results.
Irmintraud Jost, a Hamburg native, works as a journalist in New
York.
May/June 2008 www.german-world.com
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