The Benefits of Cultural Intelligence

The Benefits of Cultural Intelligence

Have you ever noticed that some individuals seem to have a knack for relating well to people from different cultures? Some researchers have labeled this skill cultural intelligence, which is an outsider’s natural ability to interpret an individual’s unfamiliar gestures and behaviors in the same way that others from the individual’s culture would. Cultural intelligence is important because when conducting business with people from different cultures, misunderstandings can often occur, and as a result, cooperation and productivity may suffer.
Consider the following example. An American manager was meeting with his fellow design team engineers, two of whom were German. As ideas floated around the table, his German colleagues quickly rejected them. The American thought the feedback was harsh and concluded that his German colleagues were rude. However, they were merely critiquing the ideas, not the individual—a distinction that the American was unable to make, perhaps due to a lack of cultural intelligence. As a result, the American became wary of contributing potentially good ideas. Had the American been more culturally intelligent, he likely would have recognized the true motives behind his colleagues’ remarks and thus may have been able to use those remarks to improve his ideas.
It is unclear whether the notion of cultural intelligence is separate from other forms of intelligence, such as emotional intelligence, and even whether cultural intelligence is different from cognitive ability. However, it is clear that the ability to interact well with individuals from different cultures is a key asset in today’s global business environment.

Source: Based on C. Earley and E. Mosakowski, “Cultural Intelligence,” Harvard Business Review, October 2004, pp. 139–146.