My parents were spies and I was raised in Europe, so most of the telltale give-away actions that signal “American” are not present in me.

The American Lean isn’t really a flaw, it’s a byproduct of a culture. “The CIA trains operatives to drop it specifically because it draws attention, but for the rest of us, the bigger takeaway might simply be awareness. Knowing that leaning on a doorframe in Vienna reads differently than leaning on one in Cincinnati is the kind of small thing that can make travel feel a little more intentional. And if you’re not a spy, you can always just lean anyway. James Dean made it look pretty good.