Martin Luther King, Jr. and Cultural Intelligence

Today, as Americans, we celebrate the accomplishments and honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. the great civil rights activist and social change maker. This was a man who understood the importance of cultural intelligence as a way to discovering our humanity and shared one-ness. He was a man who recognized the power of the present moment in shaping the future.

MLK once said, “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Working in a global community means that leaders must have faith in bridging cultural differences, one step at a time. Too often in intercultural interactions we want to see the entire staircase before we make our move. Or, we rush to the end without paying attention to what each step reveals to us. What we don’t understand is that intercultural work and understanding does not operate this way. To be culturally intelligent is to have faith that each step represents a door of opportunity, that when opened, leads you towards your own cultural awareness and understanding. The end you seek is within. If we can stay present, stay focused and on course, and have faith that each step will reveal itself in time, we can learn to be better culturally intelligent leaders.

To help you take your first steps, here are some lessons I’ve learned from my work with culturally intelligent leaders:

1. Understand cultural differences and their manifestations. Throughout the course of my work in diversity and leadership, I meet leaders who encounter challenges, big and small, related to cultural differences. The ones I found to effectively lead through the differences were those who took the initiative to understand differences and how they played out among individuals, team members, and organizations. For example, John, the chief of police for a city in Alabama, told me that one thing he helps his employees to understand is the pervasiveness of culture. He constantly reminds them that a person’s individual culture can impact the entire culture of a team and organization.

2. Be able to transfer cultural knowledge from one culture to another. I find that culturally intelligent leaders are those that take the time to know about a culture. They look for opportunities to learn about the cultural facts, the music, the history, the language, and the behaviors of people within the culture.

3. Recognize their biases, assumptions, and cultural frameworks. When leaders are able to identify and recognize their cultural biases and assumptions, it helps them to let go of preconceived ideas. The ability to do this helps leaders to identify the elements of their thinking that get in the way of culturally intelligent behaviors. I learned that culturally intelligent leaders take the time to reflect on their biases and assumptions; they use mistakes and failures as opportunities to improve.

4. Be motivated and committed to working through cultural conflicts. Intercultural conflicts are extremely challenging but not impossible to work through. The times I found success in conflict resolution among team members or a manager and employee were when both parties were willing and motivated to discuss the conflict, even when it seemed that the process was at a standstill.

5. Be willing to adapt and learn to live and work with different cultures. I am always amazed at the ability of human and organizational systems to be adaptive and resilient. A leader’s positive attitude toward change and flexibility propels him or her further along the cultural intelligence continuum than a negative one.

We have an opportunity to identify and clarify our interpretation of the world, one step at a time. We can seize this chance through our faith in ourselves. All along the way, we will uncover who we are and build a monumental staircase that is uniquely our own creation.