Today's workplaces are more multicultural than ever, with employees from many different places and backgrounds. Cultural intelligence (CQ) is your edge in today’s AI-driven, global landscape. It’s more than cultural awareness—it’s the skill to connect, adapt, and thrive across cultures. With CQ, you’ll harness cultural differences to fuel innovation and create smarter solutions.
According to research published by School for CEOs, 76% of senior business leaders lack cultural intelligence – hindering their chances of creating a greater sense of belonging and inclusion within their teams.
Owing to its impact on team building and diversity of opinion, CQ is becoming an increasingly important skill in business. CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE, or CQ, is a globally recognised way of assessing and improving effectiveness in culturally diverse situations. It’s rooted in rigorous, academic research conducted across more than 100 countries.
In culturally diverse situations, CQ predicts…
Personal adjustment and adaptability
Judgment and decision making
Negotiation effectiveness
Trust, idea sharing, and innovation
Leadership effectiveness
Profitability and cost-savings
Cultural Intelligence has attracted worldwide research and study since its introduction by two researchers, Christopher Earley and Soon Ang in their 2003 book Cultural Intelligence: individual interactions across cultures.
As General Manager of the Cultural Intelligence Center, Iva Jablan brings a wealth of international experience to her role in advancing cultural intelligence across diverse global settings. Her career, spanning four countries and encompassing collaborations with Dutch, Japanese, Canadian, French, and U.S. organisations, provides her with a comprehensive understanding of cross-cultural business dynamics. A CQ Certified Facilitator, Iva combines practical expertise with academic insights gained from her studies at Bocconi University and Skema Business School.
We caught up with her for our exclusive Fair Cultures interviews to dive deeper into her work on equipping organisations with the necessary tools and insights to succeed in an increasingly diverse global business environment. Here's the conversation, here are the highlights.
1.Why is CQ important and why should organisations integrate it into everyday leadership practices?
Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is essential because it allows leaders to navigate diverse cultural contexts effectively. It improves communication and decision-making and fosters innovation by embracing different perspectives. Importantly, CQ recognises all forms of diversity, whether nationality, generation, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or other dimensions, making it a comprehensive tool for inclusivity. Leaders with high CQ build stronger relationships, enhance team collaboration, negotiate more effectively, foster environments of trust and idea sharing, and drive engagement in a multicultural workforce.
As businesses globalise, CQ helps leaders adapt, resolve conflicts, and manage international operations smoothly. Integrating CQ into everyday leadership practices creates a more inclusive and competitive organization, ensuring success in today’s diverse business landscape.
2.Which of the four capabilities of CQ (Drive, Knowledge, Strategy, Action) do you find most challenging for today's leaders to develop?
I believe every capability is equally easy and difficult to develop, and equally important. If I have to choose, I think CQ Strategy is the most challenging capability for today's leaders to develop. While many leaders have the motivation (CQ Drive) and can learn about different cultures (CQ Knowledge), applying that understanding strategically is often difficult. CQ Strategy involves being aware of cultural differences in real-time and adjusting your approach accordingly, which requires reflection, planning, and mental flexibility, skills that can be hard to master in fast-paced environments.
3.What changes are the most significant from one work culture to another?
The beauty of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is that it equips us with a skillset that can be applied across any cultural context, making it universally adaptable. Each culture has its own unique preferences, especially in terms of behavioural norms and expectations. As part of the CQ model, we emphasise Behavioural Preferences, which are key to how individuals from different cultures interact and work.
4. How important do you see CQC becoming in the near future for remote and distributed organisations?
Cultural Intelligence (CQ) will be crucial for remote and distributed organisations in the near future, given the increasingly global and diverse nature of workforces. As teams become more dispersed across different countries and cultures, the ability to understand, respect, and effectively collaborate across cultural boundaries will be essential.
CQ will not only enhance communication and reduce misunderstandings but also foster innovation and creativity by leveraging diverse perspectives. In distributed settings, where physical interactions are limited, having high cultural intelligence will help build trust, ensure inclusivity, and strengthen relationships within remote teams. This is particularly important for maintaining a cohesive company culture, driving productivity, and retaining top talent in a competitive global marketplace.
Organisations that prioritise CQ will be better equipped to navigate cultural complexities, manage diverse teams effectively, and ultimately gain a strategic advantage in an interconnected world.
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