Author: Michelle Diehl

Meetings Germany USA 0

When “Meeting Culture” Meets Culture: Differences and Similarities between German and American Business Meeting Norms

Meeting culture is a broad term for an increasingly complex category of business interaction. Around the world, today’s business meetings can be formal or informal, in-person or virtual, fixed or ad hoc. For the purposes of this post, I will consider all of the above in analyzing how cultural norms enhance or de-rail a productive transaction between companies in Germany and the USA.… read more

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Key Management Style Differences between Germany and the USA

Management style differences between supervisors from companies in the USA and Germany are often surprisingly pronounced. In fact, they account for some of the most difficult-to-navigate territory when it comes to business cooperation between the two countries. In my seminars, questions arise repeatedly about why a supervisor / colleague / counterpart from the USA is acting (or reacting) in ways that are difficult for the German half to understand.… read more

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Communication Style in the USA vs. Germany: Just Humor Me

Communication style in the USA can be deceptively tricky for Germans to decode, much less replicate (and vice-versa). I’ll take a few moments of your time here to highlight an aspect of cultural differences in communication between Germany and the USA that can potentially lead to the biggest misunderstandings, which can in turn derail both business and personal relationships.… read more

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Cultural Differences in Business between the USA and Germany from A to Z

Welcome to Intercultural Reflections, a blog touching on the various cultural differences between Germans and Americans. I spend a lot of time focusing on how these differences affect the business relationship. Sometimes, though, I highlight topics of more general interest.

While I hope you visit– and stay– for all the posts and join the conversation, I understand that time is often short, the Internet is full of information, and sometimes you just need what you need, fast.… read more

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Three (-ish) Dos and Don’ts of Greetings: You Had Me at HELLOOO!

Greetings—and their cultural nuances—are easy to overlook in preparing for business communication. They’re brief, standard, issued multiple times per day without thought, and have little to nothing to do with the conversational or written content that follows.

And yet, failing to recognize a greeting’s cultural undertones can lead to confusion and even offense when interacting with folks from other areas of the world.… read more