Cultural Intelligence

Surviving and Thriving in the Global Village

By: David C. Thomas, Kerr C. Inkson

Narrated by: Dave Clark

Globalization means that we need to be prepared to interact with people from a wide range of cultures. But it's impossible to learn the particular customs and traits of every culture you might regularly come into contact with. Cultural Intelligence teaches techniques and people skills that will allow you to function effectively in any culture. Instead of providing a laundry list of culturally specific dos and don'ts, Thomas and Inkson show how to disable your "cultural cruise control" and pay attention in a mindful and creative way to cues in cross-cultural situations. Over time, you'll develop a repertoire of skills appropriate to different intercultural settings and be able to choose the right ones for any given interaction - the authors call this ability CQ, or cultural intelligence.

This third edition has been updated throughout and broadens the focus beyond business to include organizations of all kinds - nonprofits, governments, educational institutions, and more. It places a greater emphasis on the active development of CQ and includes a new scale for measuring your CQ level.

©2017 David C. Thomas and Kerr Inkson (P)2017 David C. Thomas and Kerr Inkson

A good introduction

A real eye opener on the topic with relatable anecdotes. Unfortunately, there is no method to improve given, other than be mindful and try living abroad. There are many textbooks available with more constructive advice, although they are dense.

Good read to increase CQ

This is a good starting point to support the notion of increasing cultural intelligence. I like the concept of mindfulness and it’s use to promote awareness and awakening of cultural differences.