Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success

by David Livermore

Overview

Succeeding in today’s global market requires a new set of skills than it did when the pioneers of the twentieth century were making their mark but don’t let that intimidate you from expanding your business beyond our borders.

In order to negotiate with vendors from other countries, it is not necessary to immerse yourself in the culture for an extended period of time, or take a month-long trip to learn what people are like. As cross-cultural interactions become increasingly virtual, cultural intelligence—or CQ—becomes the key to taking your business global, and doing so effectively.

Having done training and consulting for leaders in more than 100 countries, David Livermore, president and partner at the Cultural Intelligence Center, has detailed a four-step model for improving your CQ and maximizing your impact in managing across cultures.

In Leading with Cultural Intelligence, Livermore will help you learn about:

• Drive—boost your motivation for and confidence in interacting with other cultures
• Knowledge—understand the relevance of differences in religion, values, norms, and languages
• Strategy—plan ahead for unfamiliar cultural settings, but remain flexible if actual experience differs from expectations
• Action—successfully adapt your behavior to each situation

Featuring fresh research, case studies, and statistics on the ROI of improving your CQ, this new edition of Leading with Cultural Intelligence with help you thrive in any business environment—whether it’s across the world or in your own backyard.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400231119
Publisher:	AMACOM
Publication date:	09/06/2022
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

DAVID LIVERMORE, PH.D., is President and Partner at the Cultural Intelligence Center. He has done training and consulting for leaders in more than 100 countries and is the author of The Cultural Intelligence Difference.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1: CULTURE MATTERS: WHY YOU NEED CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

Leadership today is a multicultural challenge. Few of us need to be convinced of that. We’re competing in a global marketplace a managing a diverse workforce, and trying to keep up with rapidly shifting trends. But many approaches to this leadership challenge either seem way too simplistic (e.g., “Smile, avoid these three taboos, and you’ll be fine”) or way too extreme (e.g., “Don’t go anywhere until you’re a cross-cultural guru”). Cultural intelligence (CQ) offers a better way. The four capabilities presented in this book can help you navigate any intercultural situation.

What are the biggest hindrances to reaching your goals personally and professionally? How do you effectively lead a culturally diverse team? What kinds of cultural situations bring you the greatest level of fatigue? How do you give instructions for an assignment to a Norwegian team member versus one from China? What kind of training should you design for an implementation team coming from multiple cultural backgrounds? How do you get feedback from a colleague who comes from a culture that values saving face above direct, straightforward feedback? And how can you possibly keep up with all the different cultural scenarios that surface in our rapidly globalizing world? These are the kinds of questions that will be answered by developing your cultural intelligence.

All my life I’ve been fascinated by cultures. From as far back as when I was a Canadian American kid growing up in New York, a was intrigued by the differences my family would encounter on our trips across the border to visit our relatives in Canada. The multicolored money, the different ways of saying things, and the varied cuisine we found after passing through customs drew me in.

I’ve learned far more about leadership, global issues, and my faith from cross-cultural experiences and work than from any graduate course I’ve ever taken or taught. I’ve made people laugh when

I’ve stumbled through a different language or inadvertently eaten something the “wrong” way. I’ve winced upon later discovering a offended a group of ethnically different colleagues because I spent too much time complimenting them. I’m a better leader, teacher a father, friend, and citizen because of the intercultural friendships

I’ve forged through my work. And through the fascinating domain of cultural intelligence, I’ve discovered an enriched way to understand and prepare for my work across borders.

Cultural intelligence is the capability to function effectively across national, ethnic, and organizational cultures.1 It can be learned by most anyone. Cultural intelligence offers leaders an overall repertoire and perspective that can be applied to myriad cultural situations. It’s an approach that includes four different capabilities a enabling us to meet the fast-paced demands of leadership in the global age. This book describes how to gain the competitive edge and finesse that comes from using these four capabilities to lead with cultural intelligence. Think about a cross-cultural project or situation facing you. Take a minute and walk through the four capabilities of CQ right now:

1. CQ Drive: What’s your motivation for engaging with the cultural dimensions of this project?

2. CQ Knowledge: What cultural differences will most influence this project?

3. CQ Strategy: How will you plan in light of the cultural differences?

4. CQ Action: How do you need to adapt your behavior to function effectively on this project?

If you don’t have a clue how to answer some of these questions,

I’ll get to all that. But before more fully describing cultural intelligence and how to develop it, we need to spend a few minutes understanding its relevance to leadership.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Foreword by Soon Ang, PhD, and Linn Van Dyne, PhD

PART I: CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE FOR GLOBAL LEADERS

1. Culture Matters: Why You Need Cultural Intelligence

Creating and navigating culture is among leaders’ most imporant roles. Review why culture matters for today’s global leaders and beware of the myths that often inform global leadership practice.

2. What Is Cultural Intelligence?

Discover the critical capabilities found in culturally intelligent leaders and learn how to assess and improve CQ in yourself and others.

PART II: DEVELOPING CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

3. CQ Drive: Discover the Potential

Start by considering the impact of your motivation for adapting cross-culturally. And learn how to improve CQ Drive in yourself and those you lead.

4. CQ Knowledge (Part 1): Know What Differences Matter

Next, learn how to read an intercultural situation by improving your grasp of the seminal ways cultures differ. And understand the best way to use intercultural understanding.

5. CQ Knowledge (Part 2): Understand Ten Cultural Value Dimensions

Review ten cultural value dimensions and the way they influence the behavior of the ten largest cultural clusters in the world. And learn how to improve CQ Knowledge in yourself and those you lead.

6. CQ Strategy: Don’t Trust Your Gut

See how to use your cultural understanding to effectively strategize on behalf of yourself and your organization. And learn how to improve CQ Strategy in yourself and those you lead.

7. CQ Action: Be Yourself, Sort Of

Discover when and how to adapt your behavior for different cultural situations. And learn how to improve CQ Action in yourself and those you lead.

PART III: LEVERAGING CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

8. The ROI for Culturally Intelligent Leaders

Discover what predicts whether someone has high CQ. And note the relationships between what improves CQ and the return on investment from leading with cultural intelligence.

9. Developing a Culturally Intelligent Team

Review the best practices for developing a culturally intelligent organization or team. And create a plan for leading with cultural intelligence.

Epilogue: Can You Really Be a Global Leader?

Acknowledgments

Appendix 1: Ten Cultural Clusters

Appendix 2: Resources from the Cultural Intelligence Center

Notes

Index

About the Author