If you often have to deal with both sides of the Atlantic in high-tech you will pretty quickly experience the differences in how people communicate with each other. Here are some of my observations based on my personal background, having originally come from Germany, now living in Switzerland, and having lived for 7 years in the US.

One of the big differences between US and German style of communication is the way people talk about personal topics when doing business. In the US it is common to start saying why something is frustrating or why it is very nice to show feelings. Family and personal topics are always of interest. Germans avoid that level of personal topics in business since they don't want to be perceived as being someone's buddy or losing their professional distance. This can be quite irritating if not understood by both sides. The Americans will think the Germans are cold and not very pleasant to work with,while the Germans start thinking the Americans mix up professional with private matters and perhaps seem unprofessional.

One other area I have seen to create frustrations and misunderstanding is the level of criticism that gets raised. Germans are straightforward and bring all negative points to the table. They think it is good to do so because then one can work to solve them and get on with other things. Americans would never directly critize in a business environment but would try through all kinds of indirect approaches. E.g. they would mention lots of good things first and then maybe very cautiously bring up a negative point. They are of course irritated when they hear all these negative things from Germans. They also take things very personally here. Germans don't take these things personally at all, but think criticism freely given is purely professional and in everyone's interest. If this is not understood then it can cause lots of irritation between Americans and Germans when they have to work together.

I very well rememeber when I was included in a company management week-end brainstorming session in Sonoma Valley, CA. One of the tasks was to prepare a first presentation for the board of directors on the basis of your being appointed CEO of the company. I was the only European in the room. All my American counterparts did very well in coming up with all kinds of funny stories, but not one hit the mark as I would have considered it. So when it was my turn I basically talked about all the changes necessary in each dpeartment and what I would do to improve things. Needless to say that while the CEO was quite amused and very interested in my Powerpoint slides the rest of the CEx was looking shooked, like someone had exposed them. Which I certainly, though not deliberately, had done. So I learned it the hard way, and needed quite a lot of time later on to get the trust back from my colleagues. They of course knew that I was not American but at the same time I had violated their cultural thinking. So I recommend you adjust and don't make the same mistake!