Let's Master American Soft Skills. Raj Boone's Gadasalli
total, 1997
Source : Census Bureau: Data derived from Population Estimates, 2000 Last Revised: Tuesday, 15-Jul-2003. Note by writer: Available data is included here. For latest data visit www.census.gov.
Economy
GDP is in excess of 14.2 trillion dollars. New York is the financial capital of the World but Chicago is the commodity capital. The Midwestern states of Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska are called the Heartland of America. Corn, Wheat, Soybean and Rice are grown in abundances here. Wisconsin is famous for its Dairy industry. Food accounts for approximately one-fifth of the value of all I exports. The farmers and other folks who live in these parts are honest to goodness people with excellent work ethic. Marriages last for 4 to 5 decades and large families are the norm. These states account for a large percentage of personnel in the Defense forces.
Education
Americans want their children to have the best possible education and take great pride in their schools. Education is a State responsibility. After 11 years of High School, students go either to 2- year community colleges or to four year degree colleges which award bachelor degrees referred to as under graduate degrees. A graduate degree in America is what is called as Post graduate degree under the British system. Thus MA or MS in America are graduate degrees, not BA, B.Sc or BE. M.S, MBA and M.A are termed graduate degrees. PhD and DBA or doctoral degrees.
Today only about half of the young people who graduate from high school go on to colleges or universities. This has resulted in severe shortage of highly skilled manpower. US colleges are hungry for foreign students and over 50 percent of the PhD candidates are foreign students, Chinese and Indians sharing a large piece in the pie. As of June 2004, 74,600 Indian students were enrolled in US colleges.
Sports and Leisure
Baseball, Basketball, Football, Golf and Tennis are the most popular. Skiing and water sports are also popular. American football is different from Indian football, which is called Soccer. Football matches start when the first ball is “kicked off” This is the origin of the word Kickoff time which is extensively used in business lingo.
USA – Nation of immigrants
The first European immigrants in American history came from England and the Netherlands. Attracted by reports of great economic opportunities and religious and political freedom, immigrants from many other countries flocked to the United States in increasing numbers, the flow reaching a peak in the years 1892-1924. During the late 19th century, the government operated a special port of entry on Ellis Island; it was in operation from 1892 until 1954 and is now preserved as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The Statue of Liberty, which was a gift from the people of France to the people of America in 1886, stands on an island in New York Harbor, near Ellis Island. Between 1820 and 1979, the United States admitted more than 49 million immigrants. The United States accepts more immigrants than any other country!!
The Legacy
The steady stream of people coming to America’s shores has had a profound effect on the American character. It takes courage and flexibility to leave ones homeland and come to a new country. American people have been noted for their willingness to take risks and try new things, for their independence and optimism. If Americans whose families have been here longer tend to take their material comfort and political freedoms for granted, immigrants are at hand to remind them how important those privileges are.
Immigrants also enrich American communities by bringing with them aspects of their native cultures. Many black Americans now celebrate both Christmas and Kwanzaa, a festival drawn from African rituals. Hispanic Americans celebrate their traditions with street fairs and other festivities on Cinco de Mayo (May 5). Ethnic restaurants abound in many American cities. President John F. Kennedy, himself the grandson of Irish immigrants, summed up this blend of the old and the new when he called America “a society of immigrants, each of whom had begun life anew, on an equal footing. This is the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dare to explore new frontiers…. “
source: US Diplomatic Mission to Germany /Public Affairs/ Information Resource Centers.
Some world – famous immigrants
Why is this info relevant?
Because these high achievers made it in America because of their superior people skills in addition to technical skills.
Albert Einstein. Scientist extraordinaire. Germany.
Alexander Graham Bell. Inventor of the Telephone. Scotland.
Alexander Hamilton. One of the founding fathers of USA. West Indies.
Alfred Hitchcock. Hollywood Director. England.
Andy Grove. Founder and Chairman of Intel. Hungary.
Bob Hope. Hollywood legend. England.
C.K. Prahalad. Management Guru. India
Deepak Chopra. Writer and spiritualist. India.
Enrico Fermi. Physicist and team leader, for producing the first Atom bomb. Italy.
Felix Frankfurter. Justice of the US Supreme Court. Austria.
George Soros. Money- manager. Hungary.
Henry Kissinger. US Secretary of State. Germany.
Ieoh Ming Pei. Architect. China.
Irving Berlin. Composer. Wrote God Bless America and other famous songs. Russia.
Joseph Pulitzer. Publishing magnate. Has a prize named after him. Hungary.
Kalpana Chawla. Astronaut. India
Levi Strauss. Inventor of the Blue jeans. Russia.
Madeleine Albright. Secretary of State. Czechoslovakia.
Peter Drucker. Management Guru. Austria.
St Francis Cabrini. First American Saint. Italy.
Yo Yo Ma. Great Cellist. China.
Yul Brynner. Hollywood legend. Hungary.
Zubin Mehta. Conductor. India.
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