E XC E R P T

from

Leading with
Cultural
Intelligence
The Real Secret to Success

SECOND EDITION

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

American Management Association

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 FULL TABLE of CONTENTS

Foreword by Soon Ang, PhD, and Linn Van Dyne, PhD. . . . . . . vii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
PART I: CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE FOR GLOBAL LEADERS
1. Culture Matters: Why You Need Cultural Intelligence. . . . . . 3
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?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
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. . . 65
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
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.

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6. CQ Strategy: Don’t Trust Your Gut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
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? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Appendix 1: Ten Cultural Clusters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Appendix 2: Resources from the Cultural Intelligence
Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Free Sample Chapter from The Cultural Intelligence Difference
by David Livermore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

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CHAPTER 6

CQ STRATEGY: DON’T TRUST YOUR GUT

#1
CQ Drive

#3 #2
CQ Strategy CQ Knowledge

CQ STRATEGY: How should I plan?

Strategizing and making sense of culturally diverse experiences

Profile of a Leaders with high CQ Strategy develop ways to

leader with high use their cultural understanding to develop plans
CQ Strategy for new intercultural situations. These leaders are
better able to monitor, analyze, and adjust their
assumptions and behaviors in different cultural
settings. They are conscious of what they need to
know about an unfamiliar culture.

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My attempt to find out whether Dr. Jones in Liberia was a crook

(as described in Chapter 1) was rooted in my North American
orientation toward direct and explicit communication. I have
little tolerance for dodging the elephant in the room, and though
I surely value diplomacy, I prefer to address conflict directly and
swiftly. When I arrived at the Monrovia airport, I was able to step
back and see that Tim, the Liberian American visiting for two
weeks, and his porter were not connecting. I could listen to the
stories of my breakfast companions’ mishaps with baby food and
medical shipments. But I failed to take the time to think about how
my direct, “name the elephant in the room” approach would shape
my own success in Liberia.
If you had asked me about some of the values found in Libe-
rian culture, I could have quickly talked to you about the high
level of loyalty and commitment given to relationships. I think
I even could have described the value of saving face for a friend
and colleague above the value of providing accurate, shameful
information to a stranger from another country. But I failed to use
my cultural knowledge to effectively accomplish what I needed:
a clearer understanding of whether we should partner with Dr.
Jones and Madison College. Only as I stepped back and reflected
on what had happened, as well as Moses’s commentary, did I begin
to better understand that I was putting Dr. Harris in what felt to
him like an impossible situation. He comes from a cultural orien-
tation that places less value on being straightforward and crystal
clear than on keeping the honor of others intact while delivering
the message. This conversation could have been more helpful if I
had spent more time planning how to approach Dr. Harris with a
contentious issue—something addressed by the third capability of
cultural intelligence, CQ Strategy.
The next day, Moses and I were with another Liberian who
used to teach at Madison College and, consequently, he also knew
Dr. Jones, the alleged embezzler. Having spent some time thinking

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through the previous day’s interactions, this time I used a very dif-
ferent approach. I began by asking what this Liberian leader per-
ceived as some of the strengths of Dr. Jones and his school. At one
point during the meeting, Moses, my host, excused himself to take
a phone call, so I used the opportunity to ask the leader with whom
we were meeting, “What might a school like ours find challeng-
ing in partnering with Dr. Jones’s school?” I couched the question
so he could offer feedback that wouldn’t have to be considered a
negative assessment of Dr. Jones and his school. The leader offered
several points of caution, many of which closely aligned with the
kinds of criticisms Moses had been offering. His critique was still
indirect but the message between the lines was clear.
CQ Strategy is how we use the understanding we gain from
CQ Knowledge. It helps us go beyond the surface and dive into the
subtle but powerful issues that often make or break our leadership.
As a result, CQ Strategy is the key link between our cultural under-
standing and behaving in ways that result in effective leadership.
One way to understand CQ Strategy is to think about the dif-
ferent ways we approach driving in various places. When I drive in
places familiar to me, I’m prone to multitasking. If possible, I turn
on the cruise control, listen to the radio, and often use the time to
catch up on phone calls or talk with my passengers. But when I
drive into a new city and need to find a destination, I slow down,
turn off the radio, and minimize my conversation. Driving in a
new place requires much more attentiveness. This is especially true
if I’m in an area where motorists drive on the other side of the road.
I feel more confident driving in new locations when I’ve planned
ahead and looked at the directions for where I’m going. Sometimes
the GPS directions don’t account for unexpected construction. So
even when I plan ahead, I have to remain alert to see whether I’m
moving toward my destination. This is what CQ Strategy does for
leading across cultures. It requires turning off the cruise control
to become more conscious and alert about our surroundings;

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this in turn allows us to develop an appropriate strategy for a new

cultural situation. The three subdimensions measured in assess-
ing a leader’s CQ Strategy are planning, awareness, and checking.1
These subdimensions offer important ways for applying the third
capability of cultural intelligence: CQ Strategy.

HOW TO DEVELOP CQ STRATEGY

1. Plan cross-cultural interactions.

2. Become more aware.
3. Check whether your assumptions and plans were
appropriate.
Key question: What do I need to plan to do this cross-
cultural assignment successfully?

Plan Cross-Cultural Interactions

The first part of CQ Strategy is using our cultural understanding

(CQ Knowledge) to plan for an interaction or project taking place
in a different cultural environment. Most of us do a number of
leadership tasks on autopilot. Pitching an idea to a client, address-
ing conflict on your team, or conducting a performance review
are things that many of us have done numerous times as leaders.
With experience, most leaders can do these tasks effectively with-
out a whole lot of planning. However, when the cultural dynamics
change, we’d be wise to spend time thinking about how we may
need to alter our approach as compared to our default strategy. It’s
surprising how often leaders spend thousands of dollars to travel
twenty-four hours to the other side of the world without having
spent any time planning how to make the most of their time there.
I remember how amazed I was when I first learned that many
introverts prepare for a cocktail party by planning possible conver-
sations ahead of time. Anticipating who will be there, questions to
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ask, and remembering various details of people’s lives is a coping

strategy used by many introverts before heading to a social engage-
ment. All personality types would be well served by using this kind
of approach cross-culturally.
If you know you’re going to be interacting cross-culturally,
spend some time thinking about what and how you should com-
municate. This can be as simple as spending three minutes before a
one-on-one meeting to consider the most effective approach. Ask
yourself:

• What kind of small talk, if any, is appropriate for a person

from this culture and for this individual?
• Who should initiate the transition from small talk into busi-
ness?
• How will I get to action steps in this meeting?
• How much direction should I provide?

It’s difficult to answer these questions without a growing measure

of cultural understanding. Good CQ Strategy requires enhanced
CQ Knowledge. By referring to the material covered in the previ-
ous two chapters, you’ll at least have a decent hypothetical plan.
Your cultural understanding serves as your GPS for navigating
new terrain.
The first few times I had to drive on the left side of the road,
unfamiliar territory for me, I had to remain very alert. But now
that I’ve done it numerous times, even if I’m driving in a place new
to me, it’s easier than it was in the beginning. I’ve developed a few
basic strategies for keeping track of what side I’m supposed to be
on. Each new place brings with it new rules and challenges to my
driving, but the more I drive in different places, the more adept I
become at using heightened awareness to get to my destination.
Ironically, the strategies I use in foreign places sometimes begin to
change the ways I go about driving back home too. I find the same
thing when leading across cultures.
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Some of us have spent enough time leading cross-culturally

that even the adaptations we make have become something we can
do on autopilot. If that’s the case, stop to consider how others on
your team might not have the same level of experience and intui-
tive insight. Things as simple as avoiding the use of words such as
fall and spring when communicating with someone from a differ-
ent hemisphere or adjusting the level of formality used in writing
an email (e.g., “Dear Dr. Wang” versus “Hi, Anne”) are the subtle
but powerful cues that demonstrate whether someone leads with
cultural intelligence or not.
The real goal of CQ Strategy is to reflect on the lessons learned
from one situation and accurately apply your insights to future
situations. I will probably always experience disorienting and con-
fusing encounters like the one I had in Liberia with Dr. Harris and
Moses. But CQ Strategy and planning reduces the frequency and
helps me learn from these situations so that I can better negotiate
and lead in future interactions.
A leader with high CQ Strategy will actively create new strate-
gies or adapt existing ones to deal with the new and unique aspects
of an environment. This kind of leader is able to incorporate vari-
ous observations and interpretations to create new strategies for
new situations.2 Most contexts provide ambiguous and often mis-
leading cues about what is happening in an unfamiliar environ-
ment. We see familiar behaviors but the meaning is different. With
planning, we’ve already primed ourselves to be more conscientious
about whether a behavior means what it seems to mean. And that
leads us to the next essential dimension of leading strategically
across borders: awareness.

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Become More Aware

The ability to be aware—of one’s self, others, and a situation—is

what really makes the difference between those who lead with
cultural intelligence and those who don’t. And the higher you go
in the leadership ranks, the more difficult it becomes to be aware.
Many CEOs are surrounded by people who laugh at their jokes,
praise their ideas, and bite their tongues, even when they think an
idea is stupid. It requires a very conscious effort to be a leader who
remains aware and in touch with what’s truly going on.
Plans and strategies can be dangerous if not coupled with
awareness. Have you ever expected a leader from a particular or-
ganization or ethnicity to behave one way only to find out he was
not at all like you anticipated? The goal is to hold our hypotheti-
cal plans very loosely and become aware of what’s going on in the
midst of the interaction to see whether the plan is appropriate.
This requires slowing down long enough to become consciously
aware of what’s going on internally and externally as we lead in
a multicultural world. Awareness is stepping back from what we’re
doing and reflecting on it. It’s disciplining ourselves to see what we
otherwise miss. Awareness is one of the primary tools that enables
us to discern between the three levels of the iceberg (see Figure
4-1): What’s universal, cultural, and personal? Awareness results in
better decision making and overall performance.
Managing across cultures is rarely as simple as figuring out how
a German and an Indian are going to interact. It’s how this German
woman from BMW is going to interact with this Indian man from
Tata and vice versa. Some of the behavior may be typical of what
you would expect from their respective cultures, but other aspects
may just as easily be a reflection of the individual personalities and
the situation at hand. By becoming aware, you can begin to discern
whether the behavior you observe is typical for these individuals
or whether they’re actually adapting to you based on how they pre-

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sume you want them to behave. Cultural adaptation doesn’t just go

in one direction, nor should it. The time you devote to becoming a
more mindful leader will directly correlate with your development
as a culturally intelligent leader, particularly in this area of aware-
ness and leading strategically across cultures.
Becoming aware is an active process of drawing on the plans we
develop using our CQ Knowledge and tuning into whether those
plans suit particular situations. It’s shutting down our semiauto-
matic impulses, suspending our assumptions for a period of time,
and remaining aware throughout our cross-cultural experiences.
Look at the picture in Figure 6-1. What do you see? Take a moment
to come up with an explanation for what’s going on in this photo.

Figure 6-1. What Do You See?

Photo used with permission from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2347221/Drivers-park-named-shamed-

Facebook-leaving-cars-precarious-positions.html.

This can be a fun exercise to do with your team. Ask them

to view the photo and describe what’s happening. You’ll quickly
see how strongly people believe in their interpretation of why the

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car is parked like it is. Many people who look at this picture will
be confident that the car was parked by an inconsiderate, entitled
executive who either didn’t pay attention to the lines or thought he
deserved multiple spaces. Others might suggest it was parked by
a hurried parent who didn’t have time to park within the lines or
needed extra space to get a child out of the car because it is a two-
door model. And some who live in snowy climates might think the
car was parked this way because the parking lot was snow covered
at the time and the person couldn’t see the lines. The question is,
To what extent are you certain your explanation of the picture is ac-
curate? Without more information, we don’t really know the story
behind this picture. But our brain immediately rushes to interpret
what’s going on. And a great deal of interpretations stem from our
own experiences and assumptions.
As leaders, we’re often forced to read a situation quickly and
interpret what’s happening. It’s risky doing that anytime, but it’s
particularly risky when different cultures are involved. For ex-
ample, leaders who aren’t used to someone sitting “silently” during
a conversation may erroneously interpret that behavior as confu-
sion or boredom. On the other hand, leaders from a culture where
silence is often used as a form of respect may erroneously conclude
someone is simply being respectful when, in fact, the person might
be sending a message that she is bored or confused.
Awareness prepares us for the kinds of adaptations needed in
most cross-cultural settings. When I walk into an organization’s
office for the first time, I observe what’s on the wall, the office set-
up, the way employees are dressed, and the titles used for various
positions. Who gets invited to the meeting to discuss our proposal?
Who holds the power? Who are the ultimate decision makers for
this project? What are the vested interests behind the parties sitting
at the table?
CQ Strategy is the way we answer the why questions behind
what we experience and observe. Why does negotiation seem to

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consistently involve these dynamics here? Why is the leadership of

this organization structured this way? Why is the office decorated
like this?
When we’re in a familiar environment, this process occurs
with little effort. We know how to greet a business colleague as
compared to a close friend. We can sell something on the fly or
express empathy to a subordinate without much conscious effort.
If we have some level of emotional intelligence, we know how to
approach conflict and how to communicate in a familiar context.
But with heightened awareness, we realize all these things might
need to be done differently in a new cultural context. The sarcastic
humor that seems to enhance informality and collegiality in one
organizational culture might erode trust in another. Turning down
a dinner invitation could be a deal breaker in one cultural context
and inconsequential in another.

Self-Awareness
In Chapter 3, we considered the importance of being honest with
ourselves about our interest in cross-cultural work (CQ Drive). A
similar kind of honest introspection is important for developing
CQ Strategy. Because organizations have better understood the
importance of self-awareness for effective leadership, many human
resources departments offer a variety of tools and assessments for
becoming more personally aware as a leader. The discoveries we
make through resources like these can help us grow in CQ Strat-
egy. For example, my top strength on Gallup’s StrengthsFinder is
“Achiever,” a characteristic of one who finds great satisfaction in
hard work and productivity.3 It’s helpful for me to bear this in mind
when I’m working in more laid-back cultures where relationships
take priority over tasks. Through awareness, I have a better under-
standing of the personal frustration that often ensues when I feel
like I haven’t had a very productive day. I can also temper some of
my frustration by redefining productivity in relational terms when

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working in more relationally driven cultures. With a heightened

sense of awareness, we transcend merely being defined by our ir-
ritation or frustration and seek to understand what’s behind it.
The degree to which we’re self-aware partially stems from
our understanding of own cultural contexts. And as we become
aware of how our own behavior is shaped by culture, and of how
others are likely to perceive us given our cultural background, we
can begin to consciously accommodate for those perceptions. For
example, it’s one thing to understand that war and Baywatch are
two predominant images many people around the world associate
with Americans. But with awareness, U.S. leaders can look for cues
as to whether the non-American with whom they’re interacting
has that perception.
Self-awareness offers us greater control over the many hours
and dollars we invest in working with affiliates around the world.
Burnout and fatigue are among the top negative consequences
leaders associate with the growing demand to work across myriad
cultures and time zones. Self-awareness is a key strategy for fend-
ing off a great deal of the frustration, burnout, and fatigue that
occur in cross-cultural work.

Other-Awareness
As we gain an understanding of what’s going on internally, we
need to apply that same kind of awareness and understanding to
others and to the environment around us. In my research on the
experiences of North Americans who volunteer overseas for short
periods of time, I have found that one of the critical gaps is an
absence of awareness. Most of these volunteers travel to develop-
ing countries where they help with disaster relief, build medical
clinics, teach English, or engage in religious mission work. Of all
the comments made by these travelers on their return, the most
common statement is something like, “Even though those people
have so little, they’re so happy!” There’s something endearing about

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hearing a group of North Americans express their amazement that

people with so little can be so content. My question is, Are the
people they observed really happy? I’ve asked several hundred of
these volunteers, “What makes you think they’re happy?” They
most often respond, “They were always smiling and laughing. And
they were so generous to us. They fed us better than they them-
selves eat.” Having observed these interactions firsthand myself, I
agree that the locals typically greet foreign guests with big, warm
smiles. But what do these behaviors really mean?
First, if you don’t speak the language and you’re just meeting
someone for the first time, what do you do? After a few feeble
attempts at saying things like “Hola!” or “Ni hau!” there’s often
laughter in response. It’s really awkward. The locals in our example
might be expressing happiness or their smiles and laughter might
simply be a nervous response. This behavior in many cultures is as
much an expression of embarrassment and nervousness as it is joy
and happiness.
Then add that in places like Thailand there are twenty-three dif-
ferent smiles, each of which communicates something different. And
in one small, extremely polite community in New Zealand, smiling
is a way that people express their feelings that they have been deeply
offended.4 As I’ve continually said, the point isn’t to learn every
possible meaning of a behavior. But with heightened awareness of
others, an individual will realize that although smiles might reflect
genuine happiness, they just as well might be a nervous response
that indicates little about the other person’s level of contentment.
Awareness informed by CQ Knowledge will help us make more
accurate interpretations. When anthropologists go into a civiliza-
tion for the first time, their guiding mantra is “Hmm. I wonder
why that is?” This is an excellent approach for us when observing
the behavior of our team members and clients from different cul-
tural backgrounds. Rather than too quickly assuming you know
why someone always follows up a conference call with a lengthy

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email, ask yourself, Hmm. I wonder why that is? When you expe-
rience people in one particular region consistently arguing with
you about any new initiative, again, use this mantra to guide your
thinking on why this is happening. Eventually, you have to inter-
pret the behavior and make a decision. But slow down how quickly
you do so when cultural differences are involved.
Here are some other ways to become more aware of a diverse
workforce and customer base:

• Spend at least 50 percent of the time you have with your

direct reports listening. This is good advice anytime but
particularly with staff who come from a different cultural
background than you.
• Make regular appointments with your global partners just
to hear their insights.
• Ask sales associates in various places what’s selling (and
what’s not). Don’t miss out on their frontline observations.
• Seek varied sources of input. Check online sources and see
what people are watching from various parts of the world.
• Check out a variety of newspapers. What are the bestselling
books and movies in London? In Dubai? In Moscow?
• Keep your eyes peeled for new trends in art, film, and theater.
• Look for unfamiliar behaviors (e.g., receiving your change
with two hands) and see if it’s consistently done by others.
Ask a cultural coach if this is a norm.

These practices can serve us well in our own environment

too, but they’re particularly valuable for becoming more aware in
different contexts. Awareness isn’t something that needs to take a
great deal of time. It’s a strategy we can learn to use on the fly as we
move in and out of various meetings, trips, and conversations. The
simple discipline of seeing what we might otherwise miss is one of
the best ways to develop CQ Strategy.

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Check Whether Your Assumptions and Plans Were

Appropriate

One more important way to develop CQ Strategy is to seek out in-

formation so you can determine whether your plans fit with what
you are observing as you interact with people in other cultures. One
time when I was doing some work in Manila, I arranged a dinner
meeting with a Filipino man who had been asking for help in put-
ting on a global leadership conference. Given my understanding of
Filipino culture, I planned to make our meeting primarily social
so that we could get to know each other. Based on how things went
during dinner, I’d decide whether to talk about the conference near
the end of dinner and formalize some next steps.
No sooner had we sat down at dinner than my Filipino coun-
terpart asked me, “So what is this going to cost me?” I was a bit
taken off guard. I wouldn’t even expect such an abrupt, direct
question from most Westerners. I wasn’t sure whether this was my
Filipino counterpart’s typical way of interacting or if he was sim-
ply adapting to how he perceived a North American would want to
interact. I wanted to test this a bit further so I responded, “Dinner
is on me tonight. Please order whatever you like.” He immediately
replied, “I don’t mean dinner. I mean if we bring you in to speak
at this conference and if your center helps us with the planning
and promotion.” I decided to check one more time whether this
was truly his preferred way of doing business, so I said, “We can
certainly talk about that. But my goal tonight was to finally meet in
person so we can get to know each other. And then we can figure
out if and how to make this conference work.” Then he retorted,
“Well, it’s wonderful to finally meet you, but if I don’t have an idea
of what kind of finances are involved, there’s really no sense in
discussing this any further.”
I had developed my culturally intelligent plan based on my
understanding of Filipino culture: Build relationships and allow

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the business transaction to flow from that. When I began to receive

cues that my Filipino guest wanted a different approach, I checked
my interpretation a couple more times. But by this point, it was
clear that the Filipino norms didn’t apply to this guy, at least not
in this situation. I changed direction and we got down to business.
Six months later I was honored to speak at a phenomenal confer-
ence he put together.
Checking, the final dimension of CQ Strategy, is looping back
to reconsider whether the plan we have developed for a particular
situation works. I often talk with midlevel Asian leaders working
for Western multinational companies who perceive they can’t
break through the glass ceiling into upper levels of management.
The reason they often cite is that they are perceived as lacking the
confidence needed to be in senior leadership. Most of the Asian
leaders who do break through have developed a plan for how to
speak up more than they might typically do, given the value that
many Western executives place on individual initiative for those
promoted into senior leadership positions. On the other side,
Western leaders need to be aware of when and how to speak up
during meetings with Asians. Those with high CQ Strategy will
observe the interactions and communication style of their Asian
counterparts, such as turn taking, and will plan how and what to
say before speaking up. Once they do so, they will work hard to
monitor how their input is being received.5 Whatever direction
you adjust, when you gain the ability and confidence to function
at this high level of cognitive processing, it’s highly rewarding and
results in some of the best intercultural practice. The three-part
process of being aware, planning, and checking often happens
almost simultaneously. The goal is to get more and more adept at
planning ahead of time and remaining aware of what’s going on in
yourself and others as you interact, and to monitor whether your
strategy is working.

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Leading with Cultural Intelligence

In this process, it’s really important for us to expect to misun-

derstand some things that happen as well as remain confused about
others. At the very least, even a leader with extremely high CQ will
encounter specific events and behaviors in a new cultural context
that will not be immediately understood. In such cases, the leader
delays judgment by suspending assumptions and sits with the un-
comfortable state of not knowing. CQ Strategy includes accepting
confusion and maintaining a willingness to not know something,
which will lead to a better evaluation of the situation. That, in turn,
will lead to eventual, and more accurate, understanding.6 When
we have that kind of understanding and strategy, we’re poised for
a level of culturally intelligent behavior that offers a competitive
edge beyond what typically happens in the management of cultur-
ally diverse leaders—simply doing “business as usual” and leading
from the gut. Though my way of getting information about Dr.
Jones in Liberia was flawed, the input from my colleague Moses,
combined with the intentional time I spent reflecting on the in-
teraction and planning an alternative strategy, moved me beyond
my initial impasse. My subsequent conversation was more planned
and simultaneously monitored how the Liberian leader I was ques-
tioning responded to my approach and questions. In many regards,
it made the difference between my trip being a waste of time and
actually accomplishing one of my primary objectives.
Given the vast number of intercultural encounters experienced
by most of us, it’s unrealistic to know precisely what’s going on at
the deepest level of the iceberg for most of the individuals we en-
counter. That’s a difficult process even with our intimate others. As
the only male in my house, I regularly misunderstand what’s going
on around me with my own family. But at the very least, putting
out our antenna to monitor the appropriateness of our assumptions
and plan will enhance our cross-cultural leadership. Checking helps
us confirm or disconfirm whether our interpretations are true and
whether our subsequent plans are effective and strategic.

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 CQ Strategy: Don’t Trust Your Gut

Conclusion

We ended up not partnering with Dr. Jones and Madison College

in Monrovia, and I recently heard that Dr. Harris resigned from
his teaching role at the college. I am, however, still using insights
I learned from that situation. I’m currently in the midst of devel-
oping a strategic partnership with a few different organizations
across China. We’ve received conflicting counsel about a particular
Chinese leader and his business. Some advisers say we can’t move
forward in this region without this leader’s involvement. Others
caution us against any kind of partnership with him. Doing this
kind of due diligence never becomes easy, but CQ Strategy is as-
sisting me in developing a plan for how to get the information we
need. China and Liberia are vastly different places. But some of the
strategies I learned from my work in Liberia can be adapted for
this current challenge in China.
Once you learn the skills for CQ Strategy, you can apply them
to all kinds of relationships and situations. You can even look at
a Goth teenager and ask yourself, What’s behind the black clothes,
piercings, tattoos, and music? rather than jump to conclusions about
Goth teenagers in general or about that individual. Or you can ask
yourself, What’s behind the response I get when I use that same joke
in that context as compared to when I use it at the home office?
CQ Strategy is critical for a number of reasons. First, the con-
scious planning of your approach for a different context invokes
creativity and innovation rather than simply relying on the same
old practices that work in your familiar context. Second, the con-
scious attempt to be aware promotes active thinking about whether
your plan was appropriate for a particular situation. And checking
helps you continually revise and innovate as you monitor the ef-
fectiveness of what you’re doing.

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Leading with Cultural Intelligence

CQ STRATEGY PRACTICES

1. Practice the “Why, Why, Why?” strategy. By repeatedly

asking ourselves “Why?” (five is a good rule of thumb),
we get to the deeper levels of an issue.7 It might look
something like this:
• We still don’t have a contract from Japan. Why?
• They wouldn’t sign it before we left. Why?
• They’re uncomfortable that Susan is no longer manag-
ing the account. Why?
• Trust among Japanese leaders takes a long time. Why?
• Because trust is built on relationships, not just signed
documents. Why?
Beware of asking others the “why” question because it
can make them defensive. But using it personally can be
very effective.
2. Keep a journal of your intercultural reflections. It can be
as basic as writing and checking your explanations for
something like the picture in Figure 6-1. Or it can be a
matter of describing your cross-cultural interactions and
listing the corresponding questions and insights. Go
back later and reread what you wrote. Do this with some
of your colleagues and discuss the insights together.8
3. Examine cross-cultural situations in what you see and
read. When reading professional journals and newspa-
pers or simply watching a movie, observe intercultural
scenarios and think of ways you would work through
those situations. Don’t try to resolve them too quickly but
practice becoming aware, developing a plan, and then
finding ways to check the appropriateness of your plans.
4. Engage in active planning. When you take on a new
assignment that involves a high level of intercultural en-
gagement, think about how your approach will differ from
how you would do this assignment with people from your
own culture. Find someone to run this by who can offer
informed input.

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 CQ Strategy: Don’t Trust Your Gut

5. Find cultural guides. When working extensively with a

particular culture, find someone to be your coach. Select
guides carefully. Some things to look for are as follows:
• Can they distinguish what’s different about this culture
from others?
• Do they demonstrate self-awareness? Other-aware-
ness?
• Are they familiar with your culture, including your na-
tional culture and your vocational culture (e.g., engi-
neering or health care)?
• Have they worked across numerous cultures them-
selves?
• Do they ask lots of questions or simply “tell” you?
• Can they articulate what kinds of personalities often get
most frustrated in this culture?
A cultural guide with a good measure of multicultural
awareness will serve you well. One of the greatest things
a guide can do is help you know what kinds of questions
you should ask of yourself and others as you move into
an assignment.

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Livermore, David A., 1967-

Leading with cultural intelligence : the real secret to success / David Livermore ; foreword by
Soon Ang, Ph.D., and Linn Van Dyne, Ph.D.—Second edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8144-4917-2 (hardcover)—ISBN 0-8144-4917-4 (hardcover)—ISBN 978-0-
8144-4918-9 (ebook)—ISBN 0-8144-4918-2 (ebook) 1. Leadership—Cross-cultural studies.
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4. Intercultural communication. 5. Cross-cultural orientation. I. Title.
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