Intelligence Isn't Enough

Chapter 4

Developing your cultural intelligence

Would you ever go to someone else’s house and say, ‘We put our feet on the table at my house, so I’m going to do the same at your house’? You would never. You would sit back, observe how your hosts conduct themselves and adjust your behaviour. Out of courtesy to your hosts, and out of respect for their rules and guidelines, you’ll try to adapt to your new environment (within reason, of course). The same principle applies when you’re a new employee at an organisation. Your company is someone else’s house and you have just arrived. So why don’t we bring this attitude to our places of work?

Cultural intelligence (or cultural quotient, CQ) is a person’s ability to interpret, understand, become comfortable ...