Question
“Our German colleagues seem convinced that there is one best way to do everything, and that their way is it. We Americans believe there are many ways to get the job done. Why this difference?”
Answer
The American idiom is “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” The German equivalent is Alle Wege führen nach Rom—all roads lead to Rome. But the two expressions do not carry the same meaning, and the difference reveals something fundamental about how each culture approaches work.
The American expression emphasizes that multiple methods can produce the same result. The method matters less than the outcome. Americans are pragmatic: if it works, it works. As an immigrant society built from multiple cultural traditions, the pursuit of one single right approach would be impractical and incompatible. The American experience has demonstrated that varied, flexible, situation-specific approaches also lead to success.
The German expression carries a different implication. Yes, all roads lead to Rome—but not all roads are equal. Some are faster, safer, more efficient. The German instinct is to identify which road is best and to take that one. This is a scientific orientation: analyze the options, determine the optimal approach, and commit to it. Germans believe that at any given time, there is one approach that is genuinely superior, and that the effort to find it is worthwhile.
This does not mean Germans think their current method is perfect forever. The “one right solution” is the best solution at this time, given current knowledge and circumstances. When a genuinely better approach emerges—supported by evidence—Germans will adopt it. But the burden of proof is high. The new approach must demonstrably outperform the established one, not just claim to.
There is also a human dimension. Germans are a capable, self-confident people, and their methods have produced extraordinary results. Their success verifies, for them, that their approach is the right one. Until proven otherwise, why take the risk of changing?
And beneath the technical discussion lies a question of power. Whoever defines the “right way” to do the work controls the work itself. In multinational collaboration, debates about the best method are often, at a deeper level, debates about authority. Germans instinctively recognize that process ownership equals power, which is why they engage so intensely in discussions about how things should be done.
For Americans working with Germans: do not dismiss the German pursuit of the optimal approach as rigidity. Engage with it substantively. If you believe your method is effective, demonstrate it with evidence and results—not with appeals to flexibility or speed. Germans respect a well-supported case for a genuinely better approach. What they do not respect is the assumption that multiple methods are equivalent simply because each one produces some result.
For Germans working with Americans: recognize that American pragmatism is not a lack of rigor. Americans evaluate methods by outcomes, and they are willing to tolerate imperfect processes if the results are good enough, delivered fast enough. This is a different optimization strategy, not an absence of standards. The American willingness to try multiple approaches and iterate toward the best one is itself a method—one that has also produced extraordinary results.