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Interview: Working for a German Giant (1) Interview with Ted Bissell An online supplement to the books Introduction Interview with Ted Bissell - Part 1 Ted Bissell, 32, was born in Ohio and grew up in Texas and Michigan. He has worked in Washington and Madrid and now lives in Paris. He lived in Gütersloh, Germany from 1991 to 1996 and worked for media giant Bertelsmann, most recently as Business Development Director for one of its new media subsidiaries. His job saw him traveling extensively, and he spent his free time experiencing European culture firsthand, visiting various friends and later his Hamburg-based girlfriend on weekends.
My German employer, Bertelsmann, has the reputation within Germany of being forward looking and international. Yet it too mixes in the formality of German culture. The head of the music group is called "Michael" by his international colleagues and artists, but he's referred to as "Herr Dr. Dornemann" back at headquarters. Chances are though that, with the exception of IT [information technology] and media, most German companies have a more conservative culture than would their US equivalent. Someone considering an offer should make sure that he would be happy in that kind of environment, or that her personality is strong enough to selectively ignore cultural constraints. For example, if you're in a German company with less international exposure, you as a manager might lose respect from your management colleagues if you speak to your employees on a "du" basis when that isn't the custom. You don't have a colleague at the head office to ask about this one, because this IS the head office. Bertelsmann was very professional in supporting its employees, myself included. If I had any sense of isolation it was in reconciling how much I could impose my internationalized American background on a situation and how much I should simply accept tradition. GW&M: What actually brought you to Germany? Was it a transfer, a new job, or did you just apply from Madrid? BISSELL: Working in Madrid gave me a taste for living in Europe. I wanted to stick at it while I was (am?) still young and flexible. But at the same time, as wonderful a city as Madrid is, I knew I needed to move north to be working on the advanced side of the multimedia business. I had worked on projects in Germany before and been completely overwhelmed whenever I was in a situation where nobody spoke good English. It was seeking out to do the seemingly impossible then that led me to enroll in an intensive German course and look for employment there. GW&M: And now Paris? BISSELL: Paris offered me a good career move, the chance to work on a new language and a great city to live in. Gütersloh had become small for me anyhow. GW&M: Did you have any difficulties in moving to Germany? BISSELL: Because I was handling a lot of the moving formalities myself, I would have liked a book like yours to refer to. As it was I had to research everything myself, but I fortunately had a lot of friends already in Germany. GW&M:What was the most difficult part of your move to Germany? How did your friends help? BISSELL: Easier than expected was the actual arrrival of my furniture and car from the US, since in Madrid I had been living out of a suitcase. I had watched the movers load everything into the container stateside and a few weeks later everything had cleared customs and there it was. The toughest part of moving to Gütersloh was being unfamiliar with the small town and not knowing which were the good neighborhoods. I also didn't know whether the apartments I was seeing were good values or not. Even friends living elsewhere in Germany couldn't really help with this one. I didn't have the luxury of arriving a few weeks before to place an ad in the paper that I was seeking an apartment, which is common in Germany. Having watched others be relocated to the expat magnets like Frankfurt and Munich, I'd say the situation is worse there. The relocation agencies do take care of everything, but they won't find that ideal apartment with a beautiful view or in an historic building for you unless the company is paying for an overpriced luxury expat apartment. I've visited friends in these and they are immaculately kept but keep you from having German neighbors. GW&M: So you brought your car with you? BISSELL: Yeah, maybe that was part of the adventure too. I was amazed by the fact that German car prices were almost double the US prices. My US-spec Volkswagen was 4 years old but working fine. So I would have had to sell it at a loss in the US only to be able to afford a lesser car in Germany. Plus I reveal being American in liking the extras like power windows and A/C. (Germans claim you don't need A/C in the car, but I never had any complaints from my passengers in the summertime.) The customs regulation at the time allowed you to import a car tax-free as part of your household goods if it had been registered in your name for at least 6 months. I would do it all over again, especially with a European car. The conversion of the head and taillights [required by German law] plus the inspection and new title cost $800--so I figure I got off easy. GW&M: How do you feel about German drivers? A German driver's license costs a lot of money. BISSELL: For all their pride in the fact that expensive driving courses are required for everyone, I don't see that Germans drive any better than Americans. If anything, the training gives a false sense of security for it assumes everyone obeys the rules. A friend who went to German driving school was chastised for taking her foot off the gas pedal upon spotting a pedestrian who looked like he was preparing to cross the street ahead--the car obviously had the right of way and therefore the pedestrian would always wait. Drivers can be impatient, and whether you're driving slowly to look for a house number or fast in the left lane on the autobahn, before too long someone wanting to go faster will be tailgating. [More about driving in Germany on our "Driving" page.] GW&M: Did you know any German before you arrived? Are you fluent now? BISSELL: My German on arrival was pretty nonexistent, although I already spoke other languages, so the learning process itself was pleasant and went quickly. Now I would say I'm fluent and certainly haven't found an uncomfortable situation lately. GW&M: What were some things you did that helped your German skills? BISSELL: Some things that worked for me were to speak German only from day one on the job--despite the struggle at first--and to buy light reading like magazines specializing in something I like. Looking up vocabulary from a photography magazine was a lot more motivating than tackling a language instruction book. At work we used e-mail extensively and writing 20 messages a day in German--it was a German company after all--got my fluency up much more than if a secretary had prepared something for me to sign. GW&M: Not everyone would have been willing to take the plunge into "total immersion" like that. BISSELL: I'm a big fan of learning the local language. I worked for a German company in a small, unsophisticated town, so speaking German was essential. But a typical expat assignment where you're thrown onto the job with a weeks' notice for two years probably doesn't allow time to make enough progress to use German professionally, especially if it's someone's first stab at speaking another language. However, I would still say get around those barriers and speak as much German as often as possible; don't be lazy about it, because speaking the language gets you more friends. GW&M: What was it like for you making friends in Germany? BISSELL: Having moved as a single person to more than one new city, I am used to the sense of arriving and knowing nobody. In that sense I didn't really notice a big difference in getting to know people. At the beginning of my stay I often traveled to Frankfurt and elsewhere on weekends where existing friends were. This was by choice and meant that I sacrificed getting to know people quickly. At least in Gütersloh, one of the ways of meeting people outside of work would have been to join a club or team. This obligates you though to be there EVERY TIME, typically every week. I wanted more flexibility to travel (and traveled also quite a bit on business) and so limited most of my new acquaintances to work colleagues. This will be a dilemma faced by every expat, since those weekend trips to discover Germany mean you can't be home to accept or extend an invitation to come over for coffee on Sunday. Germans view American culture and Americans quite positively and are happy to accept Americans as friends. You just have to establish those friendships and accept the fact that Germans take longer to express it to the American eye. BISSELL: If anything, having the experience in dealing with the rule-conscious bureaucracy in Germany has over-prepared me for France. In Germany, if your papers aren't in order, you go straight to jail and don't collect the $200. In France, there's some flexibility. In any case, I learned from Germany to bring all possible documents (lease, customs forms, registration certificate, work contract, bank account, auto documentation, etc., etc.) with me on every visit to the authorities, because they would always ask for something I didn't have. GW&M: Based on your personal experience, do you think the stereotype of the efficient German is valid? BISSELL: I think the stereotype is generally fair, but those living in Germany see this efficiency in limited cases. The efficient German has to be motivated and performing a familiar task to be operating efficiently in an American sense. I was always impressed by the copier repairman who asked the secretaries not to chit chat with him so he could finish his repair job. But whenever I asked one of our developers if they'd tested a new multimedia program on a US-configured computer they'd always mumble away the answer, since they had no easy way to get a US computer. Part 2 of this interview. Don't miss "Customer 'Service' at the Cheese Counter," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Choosing a Bank," and the further adventures of American Ted Bissell in Gütersloh! NEXT > Part 2 of this interview Interview Copyright © 1997-2004 Hyde Flippo If you would like to receive our free WebNotes e-newsletter with updates for this site, simply click on the link below to learn more or to subscribe. > About WebNotes Top of Page | Previous | Home | Contents | Next RELATED LINKS
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