Cultural intelligence, or cultural quotient (CQ), isreferred to as the ability to relate to others and interact effectively across cultures, it requires placing the interests, feelings and cultures of other people into context (Indeed Editorial team, 2023). As e-commerce and globalization evolve, the business environment has become more intricate. Managers now need to effectively use the elements of cultural intelligence to increase performance in an environment with a variety of cultural settings. The Cultural intelligent framework focuses on
four aspects: Knowledge, strategic thinking, motivation, and behaviors. It can be further classified as the ABCs of cultural intelligence: acquire (knowledge), build (strategic thinking), contemplate (motivation), and do (behavior) (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). In this discussion I will elaborate on the elements of ABC’s of cultural intelligence, and the difference between cultural intelligence and emotional and social intelligence.
Acquire
The acquisition of knowledge is an essential element of inter-and-cross-cultural interactions. It is important that Leaders understand how cultures are created, interpreted, shared. They also need recognize and understand how cultural symbols and interpretations affects individuals’ attitudes and behavior (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
Build
Build is the second aspect in the Abc’s, once knowledge of cultural intelligence is acquired leaders must be able to utilize this knowledge strategically across cultures. Building strategic thinking aids leaders in creating and environment where individual from diverse cultural background and with differing attitudes can collaborate and function cohesively (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
Contemplate
