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Book review: Americans at Work, A Guide to the Can-Do People
by David C. Wigglesworth

Craig Storti has attempted to do the impossible — to define Americans — and he has done it quite well!

Any approach to defining Americans is fraught with conundrums that have different answers for different people. We are dealing with perceptions and generalizations, and as Mark Twain noted, generalizations are not necessarily true. As for perceptions, they are all in the eyes of the beholder.

Storti begins by looking at Americans at work (Part one - 9 chapters), and delineates, at least by implication, how they differ from workers elsewhere. He also identifies what he recognizes as the most important American cultural themes. He places them in historical context and offers them as an every day guide for foreigners working with Americans.

Foreigners are different?

In Chapter One, Storti articulates how Americans have a very difficult time believing that foreigners are fundamentally different from them. This is partly due to geography. Americans can travel for thousands of miles and for weeks on end and never have to leave their country. Most Americans do not have to meet foreigners, nor do many have the opportunity to do so. After all, only 13 percent of Americans have passports! Because of this geographical uniqueness and their spirit of individualism, which is reluctant to recognize cultures, Americans tend to believe that foreigners could be just like them, if only they wanted to. When foreigners are told at work how to conform and they don't, they are seen as being difficult. Thus, he says, foreigners need to be prepared to work with Americans so they can do so effectively.

Land of opportunity

Next, we come to one of the six most important American cultural themes in this book: "The land of opportunity" (Chapter Two). Foreigners need to grasp that Americans think of their country as a land without limits, where nothing is impossible, and all that it takes to succeed is a matter of effort. If you appear to be satisfied with your station at work, you may be perceived as having given up.

As a driven people with multiple opportunities for upward mobility, loyalty to an organization is not necessarily a prime factor. Instead, the chance to succeed is the big motivator. With such mobility, Americans tend not to invest too much into developing personal relationships at work. The emphasis is on contracts, not on people.

"Can do" people

Another of the six major themes is the "can do" people (Chapter Three). Americans are people who have the "go for it" mentality. Here foreigners may bump up against the ready, aim, fire approach, or the view that anything new is, of itself, better. This is epitomized in the "think outside the box" mentality that challenges traditional approaches to work-related issues.

Foreigners often have trouble with Americans' reliance on a "gut feeling" or "hunch". Americans seem to value the lessons from "the school of hard knocks" and "hands on learning," not the lessons from history.

Equality for all

Equality for all is the subject of Chapter Four. It calls to the reader's attention the perception that Americans tend to abhor special privilege, especially for others. In the workplace, bosses may give the appearance that they treat subordinates as equals even though they retain the power of their positions. Just because one is the boss does not make that individual a better person, but at the same time, one should never forget who is boss and who is subordinate. Job performance is to be evaluated fairly based on results.

Nice guys finish last

The drive to achieve or "nice guys finish last" is the theme apparent in Chapter Five. Entitled "you are what you've done," the key words are ambition, competition, the bottom line, the meaning of work (almost like the meaning of life itself), and of course results and achievements that must be visible. These are things that Americans feel good about. Two other concurrent themes in the book are individualism and time. Doing your own thing is the individualist's mantra, and time matters so much that we must continually strive for efficiency.

While these topics have been addressed in many books, Storti places them in a work-related context. Being told to do something is okay, but being told "how" to do it is an imposition on one's individualism.

And while Americans may realize that they have all the time that exists, they know that they never have enough time. Thus, they are obsessed with efficiency, so they press for getting to the point and believe that whatever is quicker is better.

Communication styles at work

The author devotes a lengthy chapter to American styles of communication particular to the work setting. Straight talk, which means communicating with everyone in the same way, comes from the American viewpoint of equality. In addition, Americans use direct speech on the job, and have serious trouble with negative feedback (while championing positive feedback).

They use direct speech in almost all situations, and prefer to avoid confrontations. They are bothered by indirect speech such as understatements and euphemisms for saying "no." The exceptions to straight talk seem to occur during demonstrations of a positive outlook, exaggerations, and maintaining political correctness.

The final chapter of part one is a further discussion of the relationships between bosses and subordinates and what to be aware of if you are a non-American. It includes the fact that bosses are generally seen as managers and not experts. Though bosses have the power, they are most often informal and try to accomplish their goals by recognition and reward. Subordinates are encouraged to take the initiative and to speak up while respecting each other's roles.

Specific advice

"The Details," as Storti calls them, are covered in Part Two. He offers specific advice on details such as workplace relationships, women in the workplace, sexual harassment, meetings, presentations, email and telephone etiquette, giving feedback, nonverbal communication, dress, and smoking, among others. While a must read section, it is also handy as a reference that non-Americans can go back to time and again to help them resolve potential intercultural issues.

I found two unique features in this book that are quite useful and beneficial. First, each chapter concludes with a section, "How Americans see others," which relates specifically to the theme of the chapter. Second, specific advice for working with Americans written in the form of "quick tips" is placed at the end of each chapter.

In the epilogue, Storti reiterates that his goals for the book were to provide some explanations of Americans; however, the reader should readily remember that no two Americans and no two workplaces are exactly the same. Storti explains that the book deals with a type of person, and that when working in America, one will never meet "the type" but only imperfect copies.

It is next to impossible to write a book like this, yet Storti has done an excellent job of it. Each American reader will find items to question, yet if they read the book carefully they will learn much about themselves. Foreigners or non-Americans will gain valuable insights and much practical advice from these pages, and this will enhance their adjustment to a brave new world.

David C. Wigglesworth, Ph.D. an interculturalist, is an international management and organization development consultant and president of D.C.W. Research Associates International, 2606 Parkdale Drive, Kingwood, Texas 77339-2476 USA. Tel: 281-359-4234; Email: dcwigg@earthlink.net.

Craig Storti, Americans at Work, A Guide to the Can-Do People. Intercultural Press, Yarmouth, ME, 2004. 200 pp. softbound. $24.95.

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