How many people actually know their IQ (intelligence quotient) or their EQ (emotional quotient)? What about their CQ?
If you do any traveling internationally for either work or pleasure, or work with individuals from different cultural backgrounds, it’s more important than ever to develop your cultural quotient (CQ), or cultural intelligence.
In the book
Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World by David Livermore, Ph.D., the author suggests the one predictor of your success in the business world today is not your résumé or expertise, but your CQ.
So what exactly is your CQ? Livermore defines it as “the capability to function effectively in a variety of cultural contexts— including national, ethnic, organizational, and generational.” In Cultural Intelligence, Livermore’s approach is thorough and enlightening.
According to Livermore, part of CQ is learning how to convey respect when talking and working with people from different cultural backgrounds. This can be tricky if you don’t have knowledge of specific cultures. You want to be respectful and not insult anyone, even by accident.
Cultural Intelligence is informative from the start. Chapter 1 covers the basics of how your CQ helps you to succeed. In Chapter 2, Livermore gives you an overview, including the research and origins of the CQ concept. Chapters 3-6 provide a handful of strategies for improving your CQ. Finally, Chapter 7 discusses the key strengths of your CQ. It includes inspirational stories from individuals developing their own CQs and examines the outcomes.
Of course, we may all believe we already have some level of expertise or high CQ. Livermore provides an assessment when you purchase the book. This will allow you to see where improvement is possible and focus on the information that speaks to the area you would like to develop.
The assessment covers four capability areas in depth:
- CQ Drive (motivation)
- CQ Knowledge (cognition)
- CQ Strategy (mega-cognition)
- CQ Action (behavior)
Livermore includes a rating scale from CQ 1.0 (low) to CQ 5.0 (high) and explains the scale really well so you know where you fall.
What benefits can you look forward to by increasing your CQ? Livermore suggests an increased CQ can lead to superior cross-cultural adjustment, improved job performance, enhanced personal well-being, and greater profitability.
If you’ve ever wanted to increase your flexibility, reading
Cultural Intelligence and putting the book’s fundamentals to work will help get you there.
With an integrated view of the world, we can appreciate where we and others belong in the grand scheme of things. To do this takes knowledge, and this book provides it. It also provides a way to share your newly improved awareness with your team and organization.
Increasing your cultural intelligence is a goal that will serve your career and perhaps your personal life as well.