People Strategies: Outside impressions of Americans prove interesting

Linda Bower is a speaker, executive coach and human performance improvement consultant in Rogersville.

Europeans have a very different view of Americans than most Americans. Or at least we understand ourselves better. Last week I was in Windsor, England, to meet with about 35 businesspeople. I was the only American and in a minority of women.

There were times when the group would forget I was there and I could hear what they really say about Americans when we arent around. There were other times that we openly exchanged perceptions about our countries.

My role was to facilitate the first day of a four-day meeting. I taught the group how to consult in the areas of leadership and team effectiveness. Generally, I served as their subject matter expert in these areas plus strategic consulting and individual effectiveness. Usually working from home, I support them by Webcast, conference calls and writing.

Specifically, the group was comprised of human performance consultants and support staff from England, Scotland, Ireland, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and South Africa. Ages ranged from 19 to 60 and experience with the company was from one day to 25 years.

All of them spoke English, but some only movie English. All had worked with Americans, and some had been to America or had relatives here. Their economic status started at $30,000 per year to multi-millions. I couldnt have asked for a better group to do a little study on America.

Perhaps most intriguing was their view of American businessmen versus American businesswomen. Their general impression is that American women work harder than our male counterparts. However, we are considered uptight, easily emotional and they think we sue men for just acting like men. There is often laughter when they say American women are very assertive.

American men are less popular than the women. The word bravado comes up a lot. American men are seen as ignorant of the sophisticated business environment outside the United States. They plow over people and are too confident. Europeans also see them as physical giants.

Regardless of gender, Americans are perceived as ignorant of cultural diversity, fat, loud, spoiled and selfishly colonizing the world through capitalism. Our business practices are considered insensitive to world realities.

They indicated that American businesspeople sweep in and assume they know whats best for every country without discovering if its true and that reality is way more complicated than Americans realize. Its like they see our country as so rich with resources that any idiot could make money, and we are proving that point. They think George Bush is a dangerous buffoon when it comes to foreign policy.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that they felt deeply about the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Sasha, the consultant from Moscow, said the entire city ground to a halt, and he expressed his personal condolences. What other countries dont say is that theyve been experiencing terrorist acts for decades. They think we have a long way to go to learn how to deal with it.

Sasha and I went to London for fish and chips, which gave us the opportunity to have an intense conversation about our countries. He asked me directly why Americans are so ignorant of foreign affairs. I gave him an example: On a two-hour flight from London you could get to 15 plus countries with 15 plus languages and histories. Where can we go on a two-hour flight from Springfield?

He wanted to know what we do in the Midwest and why anyone would live here. Part of his difficulty in understanding this area is that he lives in a city of 12 million people. So, when I said that we hike, fish, boat, hunt, camp, have ice cream socials, play music and work around animals a lot, he looked puzzled. I just laughed.

There were moments through the evening when I was awed to be hanging around London with a Russian. If I believed the propaganda Ive been exposed to about Russia, I would have been terrified that he would try to get national secrets from me.

My conclusion is that any country that is the lead economic power will be subject to the most criticism. However, we could have a more positive influence by taking a different attitude and being aware of different cultures. In the end, they chose an American to teach them about leadership and teams.