Another Determinant—Cultural Intelligence

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Beyond emotional and social intelligence, there is another intelligence that has emerged as important for leadership success in today’s world: cultural intelligence. The capacity for cultural intelligence is the ability “to function effectively across national, ethnic, and organizational cultures” (Livermore, 2015, p. 4). This type of intelligence addresses the multicultural and global nature of work and leadership, as many organizations now employ and attract diverse workforces and operate within diverse markets.

For example, Livermore (2015) said that Coca-Cola sells more of its products in Japan than the United States. How can you as a leader be effective, adapt, and excel in such a global marketplace? How can your cross-cultural interactions be successful? How can cultural intelligence be used regardless of whether you are traveling abroad or having your daily interactions at work? How can cultural intelligence enable organizations to be profitable?

As discussed before, cultural intelligence has implications for individuals and leaders, and contributes to whether organizations succeed or fail. In some ways, cultural intelligence can be thought of as an extension of emotional and social intelligence, allowing individuals, leaders, and organizations to succeed in the environmental context of changing cultural demands.

For this course, cultural intelligence will be measured using the CQ Pro assessment created by the Cultural Intelligence Center (n.d.), which you will have the opportunity to take in this course.