Ugly American LO4267

Dick Karpinski (dick@ccnext.ucsf.EDU)
Fri, 15 Dec 95 18:10:42 -0800

Replying to European Learning project LO4164

Someone said: Whenever we try to act like the "ugly American,"
then we should expect trouble.

While the statement is true, because we should always expect trouble, it
reveals that the author has not read the book that coined the phrase.

In "The Ugly American", the term was (ironically) discovered to be a mere
identifying description of a much respected industrial manager. Rather
pertinent, I think, to the topic of this list. All the more so, because
it represents a wonderful example of a learning organization which USED
the ideas of its "native" workers, decades ago, in very difficult
circumstances.

The man identified as "the ugly American" was a manager in a colonial (or
post colonial but not so different) factory, I think. His most notable
characteristic was that in an argument with a native employee, sometimes
the employee was the universally recognized winner. In other words,
employees were getting listened to, even across economic, social,
cultural, and educational boundaries. The ugly American was a good guy
and his approach can inspire some of us in the very field of this mailing
list.

--
Dick Karpinski   dick@itsa.ucsf.edu   http://www.ucsf.edu/~dick