LEADING with CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE the Real Secret to Success
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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 New York • Atlanta • Brussels • Chicago • Mexico City • San Francisco Shanghai • Tokyo • Toronto • Washington, D.C. Bulk discounts available. For details visit: www.amacombooks.org/go/specialsales Or contact special sales: Phone: 800-250-5308 Email: [email protected] View all the AMACOM titles at: www.amacombooks.org American Management Association: www.amanet.org This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. CQ is a trademark of the Cultural Intelligence Center, LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 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. 2. Organizational behavior—Cross-cultural studies. 3. Management—Cross-cultural studies. 4. Intercultural communication. 5. Cross-cultural orientation. I. Title. HD57.7.L589 2015 658.4’092—dc23 2014030865 © 2015 David Livermore All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. The scanning, uploading, or distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the express permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions of this work and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials, electronically or otherwise. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. About AMA American Management Association (www.amanet.org) is a world leader in talent development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business success. Our mission is to support the goals of individuals and organizations through a complete range of products and services, including classroom and virtual seminars, webcasts, webinars, podcasts, conferences, corporate and government solutions, business books, and research. AMA’s approach to improving performance combines experiential learning—learning through doing—with opportunities for ongoing professional growth at every step of one’s career journey. Printing Number 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Linda . my ultimate soul mate, fellow sojourner, and love. 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. 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 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, 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 person- ally and professionally? How do you effectively lead a culturally di- verse 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 com- ing 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, I was intrigued by the differences my family would encounter on our trips across the border to visit our relatives in Canada. The 3 Leading with Cultural Intelligence 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 gradu- ate 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 I offended a group of ethnically different colleagues because I spent too much time complimenting them. I’m a better leader, teacher, 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 under- stand 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 rep- ertoire and perspective that can be applied to myriad cultural situations. It’s an approach that includes four different capabilities, 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 influ- ence this project? 3. CQ Strategy: How will you plan in light of the cultural dif- ferences? 4 Culture Matters: Why You Need Cultural Intelligence 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 intel- ligence and how to develop it, we need to spend a few minutes understanding its relevance to leadership. From West Michigan to West Africa It’s the day before I fly to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. Liberia, a small country on the coast of West Africa, isn’t a place I ever planned to visit. But given that the university where I was working had formed a partnership there, it became a regular destination for me. I’ve spent far more time working in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, much more familiar destinations to me than West Africa, which still feels very foreign. Yet the flattened world of globaliza- tion makes even the most foreign places seem oddly familiar in some strange way.