The Unwritten Rules of Building Influence Inside a German Tech Company

Why your good ideas keep getting a “no,” and what to do about it

By Shawn Slusser, Slusser Advisory Group

“No.”

For years, that was the first word I heard almost every time I pitched a new idea to my colleagues.

I’d walk out of those meetings frustrated and confused. I thought my ideas were solid. The customer needed them, and they would make the business stronger. So why did they keep getting rejected?

It took me 10 years to figure out the answer. The problem usually wasn’t my idea. It was how I was proposing it.

I was playing by the American rules I’d learned early in my career, but I was working inside a German tech company. Nobody had ever explained that rulebook to me.

Over 29 years there, I grew my career from engineer to SVP reporting to the C-suite. I believe I became an executive because I learned those unwritten rules and changed how I brought my ideas to the table.

It took me a decade to figure it out, and I’ve condensed it into practical steps you can read in 10 minutes over a cup of coffee.

If you’ve ever walked out of a meeting wondering why your good idea got shot down, this is for you.

And if you’re a German leader with international teams, read this from the other side of the table. It may explain why your colleagues push the way they do, and how to get the best from them. The goal isn’t to change who you are. It’s to understand each other well enough to combine the best of both approaches.

What Game Are You Playing? Do You Know the Rules?

Think about what it would feel like to play a competitive sport without knowing the rules. How could you possibly win? That’s the situation many engineers and leaders find themselves in when they join a global tech company headquartered in Germany. They’re talented, motivated, and smart, but they’re playing without knowing the rulebook.

And the same can be true in the other direction. German colleagues may find American colleagues hard to read, hard to pin down, and surprisingly comfortable making commitments before anyone has done the analysis to back them up. Understanding why that happens changes how you work together.

This is about learning the unwritten rules for succeeding inside a German tech organization. Once you know them, everything changes.

What Makes German Engineering Special

I’d like to start by asking a simple question: what brand of car do you drive? Here in California, it’s striking how many people drive German cars. And when I ask why, I consistently hear the same answers. Performance. Quality. Reliability. The sheer pleasure of the driving experience.

Let me tell you a story that crystallized this for me. One day I was walking through Costco and ended up in the small appliances aisle. There were only a couple of irons on display. I remembered I needed one, so I grabbed a Rowenta that cost $89. Not cheap for an iron, but it was Costco, so I knew I could always return it.

A few days later, I finally opened the box and used it. The moment I picked it up, I noticed how substantial it felt in my hand. How powerful the steam was. How effortlessly it removed every wrinkle. I actually got excited about ironing, which makes no sense to me either. Then I looked at the label to see what kind of iron this was. It read: Made in Germany.

In that moment, I had an epiphany. Whether it’s a car, an iron, or a high-tech product, there is something distinctly special about German-engineered products. They seem to come together with a precision and elegance that is hard to replicate. Suddenly, that higher price feels worth every penny. And that same philosophy runs through the German tech companies where many of us work and create products for our customers.

The Similarity Trap

When you first start working inside a German tech company, it’s easy to assume the cultures aren’t that different. On the surface, that’s true. We both use a common business language. We both want to grow the business. We enjoy a beer together. We love fast cars, just maybe different brands.

But here is the Similarity Trap: because the cultures seem so similar on the surface, the deeper differences stay hidden. That is exactly why it took me so long to spot them. The similarities mask the gaps, and those hidden gaps are where people get tripped up, on both sides.

The Eight Hidden Gaps That Took Me a Decade to See

Let me generalize a bit here. I’m drawing on patterns I observed over decades, not making universal judgments about anyone. Neither approach is wrong. Both have real strengths. My goal inside a global German tech company was to combine cultures and approaches to get the best of both. Here’s a summary of my observations about American and German engineering approaches to driving success in the tech business. Maybe you’ve experienced some of them too.

Making a Plan. In America, a gut instinct or a rough concept is often enough to get started. In the German settings I experienced, people expected a detailed long-term plan, because that signals you are serious. Americans say “let’s start and pivot as we go.” Germans say “let’s get the plan right first, then commit to it.” Neither is unreasonable. The American approach moves fast. The German approach avoids costly late-stage surprises.

Managing Risk. Americans often say, “Let’s give it a try and figure it out.” The German approach is more likely, “Let’s have high confidence before we proceed.” Americans embrace risk as a necessary path to high returns. In the German engineering environments I experienced, taking risks could mean wasted resources and personal consequences. Knowing this, German engineers can better understand why Americans push so hard, and Americans can better understand why Germans pump the brakes.

Handling Failure. Americans tend to think failure is how you learn and grow. In my experience, within German tech culture, failure is not just a business setback. It is often viewed as a reflection of the quality of your planning. If something goes wrong, the implication may be that you did not plan well enough. That can be professionally damaging in ways that Americans do not fully anticipate, and it helps explain why German colleagues are so thorough before committing.

Customer Innovation. Americans are comfortable sharing early-stage ideas with customers and co-developing from there. The German philosophy I encountered was more cautious: do not show a customer something new until it is ready and proven. Presenting something unpolished can be embarrassing and erode trust. Both instincts come from caring deeply about the customer relationship. They just express that care very differently.

Decision-Making. In many American environments, one person can make a decision and move forward. That creates speed within an organization. In the German environments I experienced, decisions were often made by a team of experts working toward consensus. It takes more time, but the result is usually more thoroughly vetted and less likely to require starting over. Americans who understand this perspective can stop interpreting the process as slow or bureaucratic and start seeing it as rigorous.

Customer Commitments. Americans often look for a way to say “yes” to a customer request, no matter what. The German approach I encountered favored avoiding overcommitment. If you are not certain you can deliver, hold back rather than risk making an inaccurate promise. Americans are sometimes accused of “cowboy talk,” meaning big promises that lead to overcommitment. The German style is the opposite: be reserved, be precise, and meet your commitments 100% of the time.

Product Philosophy. Americans are comfortable with creating products that are “good enough” for the market to try out. Get it to market fast and iterate to a better solution. In the German engineering view I encountered, there is one best solution that must be created for the market, and settling for less is a compromise that undermines the craft. Both philosophies have delivered remarkable results. Combining them thoughtfully delivers even better ones.

Handling Hard Problems. This one surprised me the most. In America, we often save the hardest problem for last when working with a customer, building momentum on easier wins first. In the German approach, I found the opposite: start with the most difficult challenge. If you cannot solve that, there is no point investing resources in the rest. Showing a customer that you are working around a hard problem rather than confronting it directly can actually destroy trust.

Six Ways to Get Your Ideas Heard

Recognizing these hidden cultural differences helps you understand the unwritten rules you’re working within. But how do you use that understanding to influence a multicultural organization? First, you need people to listen. Here are practical steps you can use to help them hear your ideas and remain open to what you’re proposing.

1. Be passionate and have a plan. You need both. Passion without a plan reads as cowboy talk. A plan without passion signals you are too afraid to take any risk. Both together signal credibility.

2. Don’t rely only on verbal communication. Use simple visual tools to explain your point of view. For example, create a high-level block diagram showing the system you see and how the pieces fit together. Or use a 2x2 matrix to break a problem into four distinct quadrants. Either can make your case more quickly and clearly than a two-hour phone call.

3. Use data. In an engineering company, arguments backed by numbers carry weight. If you can show your point with data, do it.

4. Don’t just describe the problem. Bring solutions. Joining a discussion only to complain creates defensiveness. When you bring possible solutions, even imperfect ones, you start building energy and momentum in the right direction.

5. Avoid American sports analogies. “Home run” and “touchdown” often land flat with non-American audiences. They simply do not resonate the way you intend. Take a look at how often you’re doing this without even noticing.

6. Most importantly, build trust. This is foundational to everything. Trust is earned over time, not overnight. It comes from putting in more than you withdraw. From meeting people face to face. From delivering on what you promised. From offering help to others without expecting an immediate return. Do not be discouraged if you do not have everyone’s trust right away. It takes consistent behavior over time. By doing so, you will earn more respect, influence, and autonomy.

Six Ways to Get Your Ideas Supported

Once people are listening, the next challenge is turning their attention into action and support. Here are practical steps to you can use to help you gain the commitment you need.

1. Make the plan “ours,” not “yours.” Bring colleagues in early to help shape your idea with you. When people feel ownership over a new plan, they are far more likely to support it.

2. Start small with a pilot. Test your idea within a limited scope, collect data, and prove the concept. Once you have evidence, you have a much stronger case for broader adoption and larger investments.

3. Break the plan into smaller, lower-risk steps. If you ask for a multi-year commitment upfront, people will hesitate. Instead, ask for an initial three-to-six-month commitment with a smaller investment and clear short-term milestones. Once you hit those milestones, you can discuss what comes next. That lets people manage their exposure to risk rather than feeling locked into a large, uncertain commitment.

4. Issue a wake-up call when necessary. People inside engineering organizations sometimes do not fully recognize how differently a customer thinks and operates. When that is the case, say it plainly. Explain the customer’s cultural and business expectations and why the company needs to adapt to meet them.

5. Build trust, again. Getting people to follow you requires the same trust-building as getting them to listen.

6. Pass the Fall-in-Love Test. Are you getting people to fall in love with your idea? This may be the most powerful way to build support that I learned. Pressure or backing people into a corner might work once, but never twice. Instead, build a genuine emotional connection to the goal or the customer’s needs. Help people see what is in it for them. When people truly care about what you are trying to achieve, they bring energy and momentum that accelerate everything. Before your next proposal, ask yourself one question: does each person in the room know what’s in it for them, and do they genuinely care about the customer this helps? If the answer is no, your idea hasn’t passed the Fall-in-Love Test yet.

The "No" Decoder: Why “No” May Not Mean No

One of the most important lessons I learned was how to interpret the responses to these practical steps. Inside a German tech company, you may hear “no” often. But that first “no” may not be a final rejection. I call this the No Decoder. A “no” can mean one of four things:

I did not understand you. The problem may not be the idea. It may be how you communicated it. Go back, adjust your message, and try again. Try the visual tools I described earlier.

Not yet. The timing may simply be wrong. I have seen ideas get rejected and come back three months later with full support. The idea had not changed. Only the timing had. Do not confuse a timing issue with a rejection of the idea itself.

Show me something less risky. The idea may be right, but the risk profile feels too high. Think about how to reduce it through a pilot, smaller steps, or more data.

I am not yet emotionally motivated by your idea. In other words, your idea hasn’t passed the Fall-in-Love Test yet. Go back and strengthen the emotional case.

My advice is simple: do not accept the first “no” at face value. Run it through the No Decoder, figure out which “no” you’re hearing, then adjust your approach. In my experience, it often took four or five “no” responses before an idea was truly dead. Persistence, combined with the right adjustments, often turns a “no” into a “yes.”

Your Next “No”

It took me 10 years to learn this. You just did it in 10 minutes.

The next time you walk out of a meeting with a “no,” remember that the obstacle may not be your idea. It may be that you’re playing by a different set of rules. Run it through the No Decoder, adjust your approach, and go back in.

If you’re a German leader, try this the next time an international colleague brings you a big idea with a thin plan. Before you say no, ask which part they could pilot first. And if you do say no, tell them which kind of no it is.

What’s one unwritten rule you’ve had to learn when working across business cultures? Share it in the comments or send me a message.

If you’re leading inside a German tech company and have an idea that keeps hitting “no,” I’m happy to compare notes. I invite you to book a conversation with me.

Shawn Slusser is the founder of Slusser Advisory. Over 29 years inside a global German tech company, he grew from engineer to SVP reporting to the C-suite. He now advises leaders on building influence and on B2B commercial strategy and growth.

Connect with Shawn on LinkedIn, visit slusseradvisory.com, or reach him at shawn@slusseradvisory.com