• The American culture is a 'linear active' or 'blue' culture in Richard Lewis' framework

• On the task-based - relationship-based scale, which is very much about how we build trust (as Erin Meyer explains in her bestselling book The Culture Map), the Americans are on the task-based side of the scale.

• Using Hofstede's terminology: the USA has a low 'power distance' score. But income equality is a lot less than in The Netherlands.

• On the individualist - collectivist scale Americans are on the individualist side of the scale. Individual achievement is seen as important; everybody can make it in the United States (or at least that's what people like to believe), this is part of what's often called the 'American dream'.

• When it comes to argumentation and learning, Americans prefer a practice-first way of making your point more than principle-first. This is one of the cultural dimensions Erin Meyer writes about.

• In general, Americans have a direct communication style. On the low context - high context scale, the Americans are certainly on the 'low context' side.

• But when it comes to communication and especially providing feedback, Americans tend to be indirect sometimes. They prefer to start positive and be careful to criticize directly. Erin Meyer writes about this in a chapter of her book called 'The Many Faces of Polite'.

Some cultural aspects other than dimensions:

• Customer friendliness and friendly customer service are very much valued in the USA. Of course, in Europe, a lot of people will have their own ideas about what the Americans call customer friendliness. When greeted with an enthusiastic 'Hi, how are you today?', many Europeans will say this is just fake, or 'plastic'. But Americans value their culture of customer friendliness. Read some answers to the question: In America, “the customer is always right”. In Europe, “the business is always right”. Why is there such a difference? Why don’t European businesses compete by being nicer to the customers?" on Quora if you want some perspectives on this.

• Americans often focus on the short term. In business, people are solution-oriented, practical, action-oriented. Business (and more) is fast-paced. Americans like to be 'on top of things'. They like to use the abbreviation ASAP (As Soon As Possible), where soon often means, real soon, VERY soon, right now, immediately, this working day and so forth.

• Individual freedom is important; people like to be independent; their rights must be guarded; they like to be able to look after themselves, and not rely on government (for instance). Combined with the importance of the individual and focus on individual achievement, this means that Americans in business like to have options/have something to choose.

• Job security is low and social security system is very different from many countries in Europe. Missing targets, making mistakes, disappointing performance, but also changing outlooks or worse than expected financial results for the company regardless of personal performance can mean you're out. For many Americans this is a reality.