6 useful principles of an American businessman, which are not ashamed to learn

I have always wanted my company to become a world-class manufacturer. In fact, this is what happened: today we are working with two dozen countries. But to do that, you had to learn from the leaders. Therefore, in 2012, I flew to the United States to find out how everything works in Western corporations.

Since then, trips to America for business experience have become regular. In the latter, I spent a month and met with partners every day. During six years of such visits to the largest companies, I met a wide variety of people. And now I will describe a typical American businessman - the way I see him.

1. Dresses not at all pretentious

The main difference between an American businessman and a Russian one is immediacy. Modern business leaders do not care about the image of a business person. No expensive watches or formal suits. Sometimes excessive severity is even condemned. For example, I heard that at one of the offices in Silicon Valley, a man in a jacket, tie and with a leather briefcase was somehow called pity peacock - "a miserable peacock."

2. Always polite with the interlocutor

American businessmen are always polite and courteous when they meet. Often this does not allow them to directly refuse a negotiating partner or express their opinion head-on. Brutally honest feedback is the highest form of trust and is very difficult to achieve. Americans prefer to cover refusals with words like nice or sounds good. Those who communicate with them for the first time take these phrases literally. But in reality they mean something like "I'm sorry friend, but this is complete nonsense."

3. Planning your day rationally

Businesspeople in the United States know how to balance work and personal life, in large part because they carefully plan their time. An American gets up early, his work day often begins the same time he wakes up. A business lunch meeting, a business breakfast meeting at 8 am is quite commonplace. For those who work in high positions, and for managers, overtime sometimes happens.

In general, the attitude of an American to work can be described with a phrase that my acquaintance once said: “Business is a better life”. This is where work is organically woven into the life cycle. Of course, for an entrepreneur from the United States there is the concept of holidays, but even at this time he will be doing something useful for the development of his business. We can say that a worker and an ordinary to do list are one and the same for an American.

4. Strives to be independent of circumstances

American businessmen are eliminating their dependence on anything. Whether it's someone else's business, ineffective solutions, or inappropriate technologies. The famous Tesla is a good example. In the production of its Model 3, the company ran into problems due to a supplier of assembly equipment. To solve them, Tesla simply bought out the auto assembly robot manufacturer. It is much harder for startups to make such decisions, but they also try to take control of the process as much as possible and achieve non-addiction - independence.

5. Loves a clear division of labor

Specialization is something that both tiny businesses and corporations like Apple, Uber, Google, or Zappos are returning to. At the same time, the range of tasks for each employee is clearly defined, and they are completed on time.

The accountant here does not run after the office manager with requests to install a bottle of water in the dispenser. Even for small tasks, there is a person responsible for them. This is something that many Russian companies still need to grow to.

6. Sets clear goals for the company and each of its members

Each employee clearly knows what global goal the team must achieve, and formulates a goal for a specific period (for example, for two weeks or a month). Exact goal setting, that is, a clear goal setting, allows employees to act independently, without waiting for a command from their boss. And it also gives meaning to all the work: it's 100% easier to give all your best when you know exactly what for.

The tasks that employees perform lead them to the goal as quickly as possible and with minimal costs. This is possible thanks to the hierarchy of objectives - a chain of objectives. Important tasks are always reminded through common corporate communication channels (in English this is called unity of action). When the work of all people is transparent, it is easier to navigate in the process.