America

Cultural differences in leadership styles often cause unexpected misunderstandings. Americans, for example, tend to consider themselves egalitarian and think of the Japanese as hierarchical. But American leadership can be confusing. Though American bosses are outwardly egalitarian—asking subordinates to use first names and to speak up in meetings—they can be extremely top-down in the way they make decisions.

I find that it’s common for people from different countries to grapple with mutual incomprehension. In this case, it is usually because managers fail to distinguish between two important dimensions of leadership culture.

As Black Lives Matter protests have swept America, one of the many calls has been to change the role of the police. One complaint has been that police officers often use excessive force when subtle methods would be more beneficial. A few specific ideas have been put forward. 

First, specialized nonviolent officers could be trained to deal with nonviolent issues. One simple proposal is for traffic police to be unarmed and trained in resolving conflict on the roads. In America in 2015, 50 million people came into contact with the police. Of them 25 million were pulled over in a car, and another 8 million were involved in a car accident. 

Other ideas include mental health workers to deal with mental health concerns, or community mediators to handle conflict resolution between people who live in the same community. A further idea is for communities to police themselves—officers would live locally and have a relationship with the people they protect. 

Most Americans love to buy a lot of coffee—I learned this when I traveled through the country with an 8oz* reusable cup. That's the amount of coffee takes about 10 to 15 minutes to drink, by the time you reach the last drop, it's almost cold but not quite. I think that's a perfect size. But, the cafe staff I met did not. 

In the San Diego airport, I asked for "this cup, full of coffee." The staff examined my cup like a foreign artifact. He wondered aloud how big it was. When I told him 8oz, he looked confused, and then charged me for the smallest size they have—12oz. I paid and didn't say anything.

Then in the Los Angeles airport, I asked for the same thing. The young woman working there was equally surprised by it. She looked at the till, frowned, and then looked over her shoulder, and said, "They're just gonna overcharge you." So she took the cup and filled it with coffee for free. I guess, to her, that's fair. I said thanks.

When 25-year-old Addy Tritt went to her local Payless shoe store in Hays, Kansas, last week, she didn’t intend to walk out with the last of the store’s inventory.  

The store was going out of business and had slashed its prices. When the last 204 pairs of footwear dropped to $1 each, Tritt figured she could buy some and donate them somewhere.  

“My pile just kept growing bigger and bigger,” said Tritt. She finally went up to the sales associate and asked, “Can you get me a deal on all of these shoes?”

After a few phone calls to the Payless corporate office, Tritt was in possession of all the remaining shoes, valued at approximately $6,000. She purchased them for about $100.

“I’m a college student. I don’t have a lot of extra money to be throwing around,” she said. “I don’t know why I did it―I just did. It’s part of being a human.”