Being American in British Business Brings Natural Advantage

There are certain things that Americans are both naturally and uniquely good at. Presentation skills. Optimism. The desire to get things done. A competitive spirit. Honesty. The ability to sell and deal with money without embarassment. When you're surrounded by these qualities, you don't question them. They're just "normal". It's only when you move away that you realise much of this stuff is actually quite unusual, and is part of what makes Americans different from others.

I am led to this morning's musings following attendance at a "Pampered Chef" party last night. This home sales company, on the Avon model, was founded in America but has been running here for a couple of years. I've been to several parties in St. Louis and Texas, but never here. The friend of a friend who was doing the demonstrating and selling was new to her role, and started out promptly by explaining that the company was American. That, she implied, explained the perhaps over-slick presentation materials, the funny measurements on the cookware and the focus on selling stuff. She was particularly apologetic about the last one.

Being an American company explained the over-slick presentation materials and the focus on selling stuff

She launched into her demonstration ... not yet confident in her patter, missing opportunities to promote and generally losing control of the group. Fortunately, this didn't really matter. It was a small room of close friends (few British houses can fit a crowd in the kitchen), many of whom were already fans of the product range and all of whom where affluent enough to buy kitchen gadgets without penny pinching. But the whole experience did make me chuckle to myself and think "how frightfully British".

It's the presentation skills that I believe Americans take most for granted. Who knew, when we were doing "show and tell" in front of our first grade classes that we were developing global business advantage? And yet, it's true. Watch a multi-national room of execs and the Americans will almost always be most comfortable stepping to the flip charts, presenting on the hoof, generally hogging the attention. Professional presentation coaches have agreed with me. I rarely train Americans, one recently said to me. "I've never met one of you who didn't have the abundant self confidence to get on a stage with comfort." Of course, there are Brits who can do this, too. But they're the exception rather than the rule. (And they often end up as politicians, actors, TV presenters or PR people.)

Who knew, when we were doing "show and tell" in front of our first grade classes that we were developing global business advantage?

The other quality we forget is unique is our optimism. Every American child is raised with the maxim: You can be anything you want to be if you work hard enough. We may get cynical about that sometimes, especially when contemplating the problems of the urban poor, but scratch away at the overwhelming majority of Americans and I guarantee you'll find a soul that believes this. Anything is indeed possible. Before leaving the States, I thought that belief was part of the human condition. After years of living internationally I see how rare it is. I've only seen Australians incorporate this attitude into their soul in the same way. Most of the world still lives in societies stratified in some way, where cultural beliefs and economic realities mean people are limited ... or at least, believe they are limited ... by where they were born. In practice, in the office, I believe this translates to simple optimism and pessimism. Your average American will jump into any assignment when told, believing any problem can be solved with enough grit and hard work. Your average Brit will bitch for days about what a useless project it is before he is coerced to start work on it.

So, if we have all these advantages, why don't Americans dominate global business even more than they do today? And why do so many people not like them? First, Americans don't really "do" humility. They have a charming but somewhat innocent belief that their system is the best in the world, and that everyone else on the planet will follow happily if given the chance. This irritates people.

Americans have a charming but somewhat innocent belief that their system is the best in the world ... this irritates people.

Americans tend to lack cultural sensitivity and an awareness of the world around them. Frankly, I'm not sure that, proportionately, Americans are any more myopic than other nationalities. If you've spent any time at all in France, you'll agree with me. But they are the world's only superpower and get more attention than others. I, personally, believe that the American expat community is now amongst the most globally savvy and sensitive group of international business people the world has ever seen. But we still get bashed regularly with American stereotypes. What else does the stereotype include? Americans are loud, brash, insensitive, preoccupied with money and culturally limited because they do nothing but work.

So, giants with feet of clay. But you can shake that clay off. Adopt some humility, turn your attention towards the rest of the world, lower the decibel level. Wrap yourself in a cloak of ironic wit to fit in with the English. With the rough edges polished off, and a bit of local adaptation, Americans can indeed have an unfair advantage. Now, how we use it ... that's another discussion all together.