Cultural Intelligence (CQ) has always been valuable, but I believe that we need it now
more than ever. The world is shifting in ways that demand leaders who can navigate
complexity, bridge divides, and bring people together. In organisations and communities
worldwide, leadership that thrives on difference rather than fears it is no longer optional<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
• it\u2019s essential.What is CQ? It is the ability to cross boundaries between cultures and
  thrive while doing it. It\u2019s about working well with people who are not like you – across
  geographies, industries, aspirations, generations beliefs, and backgrounds.
  I see eight major shifts that underscore why the time for CQ has come. There may be
  more, but these eight illustrate why leaders must develop the ability to collaborate
  across boundaries, build trust in diverse environments, and embrace the discomfort that
  comes with real innovation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
  \n
  1. The need for collaboration
     Big problems can no longer – if they ever could – be solved by one person, one sector,
     one culture, one community, one country or even one continent operating alone. So,
     leading across boundaries through collaboration is increasingly crucial. The problems
     faced by organisations require their separate divisions \u2013 production, sales, marketing
     finance – and their leaders to collaborate. Communities need the public, private and not
     for profit sectors to find ways to work more effectively, together, if they have to use their
     resources and assets to best effect. Countries and continents face global problems of
     an order that requires old and new divides to be crossed.
     Leaders who see that the only sustainable route to change is collaboration are having to
     learn to work with people from different cultures and backgrounds, people of different
     ages, people whom they don\u2019t understand or know whether to trust. People who are
     difficult, sensitive, touchy, even hurt. People who can be precious, on occasions rude
     or offensive or simply confused. In many cases people who really really don\u2019t want to
     collaborate at all.
     Such collaboration is not easy because mostly leaders spend the bulk of their time
     operating within the boundaries of their division, their sector or their nation. And this
     effect is compounded because leaders so often respond to the scale and complexity of
     problems around them by retreating into isolation. By operating in parallel universes,
     their collaborations becoming more like ships passing in the night, unable to understand
     each other\u2019s points of reference and vocabulary.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

     To reverse this, we need CQ. Without it, leaders will lead underperforming
     collaborations, where two and two struggle to add up to one. Or collaborations will
     simply never get off the ground as people go their own way. SILO\u2019s will go unbusted,
     sectors will continue to clash, resources will be wasted, divides will deepen, and the big
     problems will simply stay unsolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \n
     1. The reality of networks
        Leaders know they must build networks to cope with the scale of change all around
        them, to avoid their blind spots and to capitalise on the opportunities change presents.
        There will always be a role for networks of people \u2018like me\u2019 to give leaders,
        encouragement reinforcement and support. But \u2018like me\u2019 networks will always be of
        limited value for leaders who want to see what other others see and to cross
        boundaries. Leaders need to develop \u2018turbulent networks\u2019 to give them a
        counterbalancing discomfort, and sometimes even distance.
        Turbulent networks are difficult to create. Generally – and not surprisingly – human
        beings much prefer support networks; we all seek out people like ourselves. And the
        internet has made this ever easier, allowing leaders to create new forms of closed
        clubs, seeking out yet more people \u2018like me\u2019.
        I believe the temptation for leaders to simply increase their homogenous networks,
        needs to be resisted in order to address complex problems and bring people together to
        solve them. Leaders must go further field, and they\u2019ll need to build turbulent networks
        that will challenge and discomfort them and this will require CQ.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
     2. The importance of trust
        In this new less structured world trust has become the greatest of assets. People buy
        brands they trust and listen to sources they trust. And they choose to follow leaders they
        trust. Without trust they don\u2019t give their best. Or worse they eventually simply move on
        to follow someone they do trust.
        I think it\u2019s up to the leader to build up a record over time to become and remain worthy
        of peoples trust. It is one thing for a leader to do this in their own culture, where the
        reference points for trust will be familiar on all sides. It\u2019s much harder to establish
        trustworthiness with people whose frame of reference for trust is very different. This
        also calls for CQ.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
     3. The demands of demographics
        Perhaps it\u2019s a natural precondition of progress that old and young must clash but I
        believe it\u2019s also a precondition of progress that they must connect and particularly in<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        such a rapidly changing world facing such daunting problems. I have heard many times
        variations on \u2018oh they won\u2019t be interested in an old man like me\u2019 or from a young person
        \u2018they don\u2019t want to hear from the youth voice\u2019 the more these words are uttered the
        more self-fulfilling they become.
        I also too often hear the expression \u2018harnessing young talent\u2019. People seem to forget
        just what harnesses are: thick pieces of leather that are strapped around an animal’s
        head to force it to go where it doesn\u2019t want to go or to prevent it from going where it
        does want to go. My instinct says that the established leaders who will succeed will do
        exactly the opposite to this harnessing, they will be the ones young people will choose
        to follow, choose to learn from and choose to throw their energy and ideas behind. But
        it\u2019ll require the leaders to accept the different cultures of different generations, to resist
        the temptation to preach or use excessive control, and instead to back young leaders
        emerging around them.
        It also calls for young leaders to grab the benefits of working with established leaders,
        taking what is good, discarding what is not, and adapting what hasn\u2019t worked yet but
        might just this time. They must avoid either dismissing established leaders or putting
        them on a pedestal or perhaps the worst paying them necessary homage but with ears
        firmly shut.
        Ever more CQ is called for, this time across the generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
        1. The Spark of innovation
           Everywhere you look everyone is crying out for innovation, new ways, new ideas, new
           processes, new technologies, new ventures. I believe the secret to innovation is that it
           comes best from well lead discord. The enemy is group think. Mixed teams led by
           leaders with cultural intelligence see things quite different. People help each other to
           think the unthinkable, they take ideas and turn them on their heads and in the process,
           they break out of group think to create something genuinely new. They start to say
           different things, speak from opposite points of view, argue the unarguable, play with
           crazy ideas, question, challenge, sometimes even offend one another as they prod and
           prompt each other to shift thinking. But this seldom happens if it\u2019s led by people who are
           so frightened of dissonance and discord or saying the wrong thing that they rush to
           close it all down. It calls for leaders with CQ who are not frightened by difference in
           conflict, who are not timid about holding dissonance in the room, who take time to
           understand the different cultures at play, who don\u2019t think it\u2019s polite to ignore those
           differences or pretend they aren\u2019t there.
           Innovation needs leaders who actively seek to encourage difference, who enjoy it and
           thrive in it, even if they secretly know that they have no real idea where it might take
           them, just that it won\u2019t be where they have been before.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        2. The urban magnet
           People are moving as never before, and this will only accelerate as climate change
           dictates the areas of the world where people can live. Cities are growing in size and are
           becoming magnets of talent, coming together from multiple countries and different
           cultures. To be a leader in any of these cities, people will need to have serious CQ.
           They\u2019ll need to be able to set diverse groups alight and not set out to homogenise them,
           instructing them to leave the difference at the door. They will need to create a culture in
           which people know they belong while at the same time being different and to be many
           different things all at the same time.
           These cities will thrive only if they have enough leaders with CQ, and their leaders won’t
           be asking \u2018where are you from?\u2019 expecting a one-word answer (and glaze over when
           they get more than one) because they risk making themselves irrelevant.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        3. Growing world, shrinking leaders
           Leaders are crossing the world almost constantly, physically and remotely.
           My father used to call them the flying dead, people who fly around or reach across the
           world and are expected to deliver with little idea of the cultures they were crossing. My
           father\u2019s fear was that the world would be increasingly run by the flying dead who
           thought that they were running the world simply because they travelled or zoomed
           across it.
           Globalisation has meant that there are more potential flying dead leaders than ever
           before. Many of course would claim to have CQ in abundance. Unfortunately, they
           measure it in air miles or online minutes. Yet with real CQ they could become bridge
           builders who can genuinely connect the world and counterbalance the increasing
           fragmentation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        4. The pressure to focus
           I\u2019ve always thought that leadership journeys look very much like an hourglass. Leaders
           become more and more knowledgeable in a smaller and smaller field. And then
           suddenly they get that next promotion when they need to be broad again and nothing
           has prepared them for it. I think the forces that create the narrowing of the lenses are
           even stronger now because the world has gone through many shocks over the last few<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

           years and history shows us the people react to such shocks by looking inwards and
           building new walls.
           When dangers and pitfalls and opportunities surround you, it\u2019s the job of a leader to spot
           them and ideally anticipate them. Because they can come from unexpected places, in
           unexpected ways, that demand a wider lens at the very point when everything and
           everyone else is pressing you to focus.
           If leaders don\u2019t see context, don\u2019t see what\u2019s coming, whether it\u2019s a problem or a blow
           or a way through or a golden opportunity, I believe that their legitimacy comes into
           question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Eight shifts that call CQ. No, I think they demand CQ. They are shifts that also have the
           potential to pull people apart, it is our role in leading to do the opposite and use our CQ
           to pull people together.
           I\u2019m going to be having a conversation on this on LinkedIn, 2 nd April at 2pm UK time. If
           you\u2019re intrigued join me and let\u2019s explore what CQ really is and why it matters more than
           ever.
           https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/events\/everythingyouneedtoknowaboutcul7308110467602784
           328\/theater\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           About the author: Julia Middleton is the mother of practical CQ and the founder of
           Women Emerging.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

           The world is changing fast, making Cultural Intelligence (CQ) more essential
           \nthan ever. From collaboration and trust to innovation and global leadership,
           \nJulia Middleton highlights eight major shifts that demand leaders who can
           \nnavigate complexity and bring people together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6170,"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6155\/revisions\/6170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upmail.co.in\/women\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}