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What is Culture?
Culture in general is concerned with beliefs and values on
the basis of which people interpret experiences and behave, individually and
in groups.
Broadly and simply put, "culture" refers to a group or community with which
you share common experiences that shape the way you understand the world.
The same person, thus, can belong to several different cultures depending on
his or her birthplace; nationality; ethnicity; family status; gender; age;
language; education; physical condition; sexual orientation; religion; profession; place of work and its
corporate culture.
Culture is the "lens" through which you view the world. It is central to
what you see, how you make sense of what you see, and how you express
yourself.
The Wheel of Life:
Eastern vs. Western View
Cultural
Intelligence
Defined
Cultural
intelligence (CQ) is your capability to grow personally through
continuous learning and good
understanding of diverse cultural heritage, wisdom
and values, and to deal effectively with people from different cultural
background and understanding.
Buddha's Path To Liberation
From right understanding proceeds right
thought;
from right thought proceeds right
speech;
from right speech proceeds right
action...
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The Wheel of Life in Buddhism
Buddha
about Conquering
Conquer the angry man by
love...
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Why Cultural
Intelligence?
Cultural
Intelligence (CQ) – a new domain of intelligence that has immense relevance
to the increasingly global and diverse workplace.
Some aspects of culture are easy to see, the obvious things
like art and music and behavior. However, the significant and most
challenging parts of other cultures are hidden. These might include our
beliefs, values, expectations,
attitudes, and assumptions. "Our cultural
programming in these areas shapes everything we do. Most importantly they
help us to decide what is ‘normal’ in our eyes. It is the perceived
deviation by other cultures from our version of normality that causes the
problems. In short, ‘us’ and ‘them’ lives on."1
Cultural intelligence will help you
manage effectively cross-cultural
differences, in particular:
-
lower the cultural barriers caused by ‘us’ and ‘them’ and to allow
you to predict what ‘they’ are thinking and how they will react to your
behavior patterns
-
harness the power of cultural diversity.
In today's globalizing world, cultural
intelligence is a necessary tool for every manager who deals with diverse
teams of employees, customers, partners, competitors, government, and other
business players.

Manager's
Worldly
Mindset
People tend to think of the world as an increasingly
homogenous place but it is really a collection of worlds within worlds, with
definite boundaries and edges. Just because a company sells products
globally it may not take into account how those products are perceived and
used in different cultures.
Managers with a worldly mindset spend time in places where products are
made, customers served, and environment threatened.2
6 Attributes of
Successful CEOs
-
The Cultural Fit. A candidate for a top job might look
great on paper, but must be culturally compatible in order to
build relationships and add true value.
Often, hiring managers
or boards emphasize the need to challenge old thinking and move
in new directions. But if an executive is too far out of step
with an organization, the resulting culture clash can overwhelm
the benefits...
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9 Signs of a Losing Organization
-
Discouraging Culture:
no shared
values; lack of trust;
blame culture; focus on problems, not opportunities; diversity is not
celebrated; failures are not tolerated; people lose confidence in their
leaders and systems...
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Corporate Culture
In six words,
corporate culture is "How we do
things around here."
Corporate culture is the collective behavior of
people using common
corporate vision,
goals,
shared values,
beliefs,
habits, working language, systems, and symbols. It is interwoven with
processes, technologies, learning and
significant events. In addition,
different individuals bring to the workplace their own uniqueness,
knowledge, and
ethnic culture. So corporate culture
encompasses moral, social, and behavioral norms of your organization based
on the values, beliefs, attitudes, and priorities of its members...
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Inspiring Culture
Do you want to encourage extraordinary
performance from your people? Do you want them to do great things? If yes, then you must create an
inspiring
corporate culture
to
inspire and
energize them...
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Inspiring
Culture: 5 Elements
10 Roles of an
Inspirational Leader
-
Build teams and promote and teamwork,
leverage diversity.
Teamwork is essential for competing in today's global arena.
Build a star team, not a team of stars.
Diversity of thought,
perception, background and experience enhance the creativity and
innovation. A team should not just be diverse; it has to make the
most of it. Involve everyone, facilitate
cross-pollination of ideas, build and empower
cross-functional teams if you wish to
harness the power of diversity. Challenge people from different
disciplines and cultures to come up with something better together
and achieve
creative breakthroughs...
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Cultural Intelligence
and
Innovation
One advantage of
cultural
diversity is the potential for
innovation arising from the
presence of multiple perspectives. Yet, it is clear that not all
multicultural teams/organizations are able to harness this benefit. Cultural
intelligence (CQ) may enhance the likelihood of innovation success in
culturally diverse teams/organizations. CQ facilitates the reconciliation of
differences and conflict, and enhances the probability of arriving at
culturally synergistic solution that embraces the
ideas or interests of various parties.
The Tao of Business Success
The
Tao helps you achieve much more with much
less effort. This effortless skill comes from being in accord with reality.
You can't tell the singer from the song. You can't tell the dancer from the
dance. When you are in harmony with the Tao, when you go with its current
of energy, your innate intelligence takes over, and the right action happens
by itself.
The Tao of Business Success
helps you achieve much more with much
less effort. It gives you advice that imparts perspective and
balance.
It applies equally well to
the managing
of a large corporation or the running of a small business...
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Modern Management: 12 Breakthrough Ideas for the New Economy
Source: Harvard Economic Review
Executive summary by Anastasia Bibikova.
The best ideas related to the practice of management. If you
know somebody has used them, don’t try to repeat. Simply consider them,
debate them and let them inspire your own thinking!
1. Creativity Index:
It was proved that every nation has it’s own
creativity index – i.e.
there are natural limits for creativity for every nation...
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Suggestion Systems: American-style vs.
Japanese-style
The American-style suggestion system stresses
the suggestion's economic benefits and provides economic incentives.
The Japanese-style suggestion system stresses
the morale boosting benefits of positive employee participation...
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Managing
Cross-Cultural
Differences
Culture is often at the root of communication challenges. Exploring
historical experiences and the ways
in which various cultural groups have related to each other is key to
opening channels for cross-cultural communication.
Becoming more aware of
cultural differences, as well as exploring cultural similarities, can help
you communicate with others more effectively. Next time you find yourself in
a confusing situation, ask yourself how culture may be shaping your own
reactions, and try to see the world from the other's point of view...
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Discovering Opportunities:
"Why? What If?"
Questions
Case in Point
Izmocars
San Francisco-based Izmocars – a provider of Internet tools
to the automotive industry – suffered through multiple
customer relationship management (CRM)
failures before undertaking a successful effort, which was based on Siebel's
OnDemand hosted sales force automation software. Izmocars blamed a variety
of technical and cultural problems for its failed CRM efforts.
The documentation and user input are
the key to successful use of the new CRM system. Many smaller companies
don't document their sales processes.
Creating a Culture for Innovation
Virtually all companies recognize
intellectually that
innovation and culture are both important to
success. Yet few have explicitly defined strategies for linking and
influencing culture and innovation to achieve specific business goals.
Most companies have default innovation cultures in which various values,
norms, assumptions and beliefs all compete for influence over employees’
actual behavior. The dominant ones that win out ultimately shape the
culture.
The question for leaders today isn’t if
culture is important for success but how culture can drive successful
innovation – and what, specifically, leaders can do to influence the
kind of culture that leads to behavior that’s truly innovative...
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Confucius about Knowledge and Learning
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I
understand.
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
They must often change who would be constant in
happiness
or wisdom...
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