What’s your cultural IQ?

Consider your answers to this cultural IQ test:

What values does another culture embrace?

How do those values compare with those of your culture?

How do people make decisions, conduct relationships and display emotion?

How does this culture treat time and scheduling?

What are social rules and boundaries surrounding gender?

How does this culture display and respect power?

Which authority figures are revered?

How do individuals relate to their employers?

How do employers relate to their employees?

How do people in this culture communicate?

How direct are they in what they say and mean?

What’s your cultural IQ?

There are three levels to cultural information.

Rules: the dos and don’ts often associated with etiquette that intend to reduce or eliminate offenses to another person

General notions: the potential similarities and differences between cultures, where often finding similarities can be a seductive way of creating bonds yet where differences can be definitive in distinguishing essential elements of a culture

Integrated dimension: the ability to empathize and see your world, yourself, your own perspective through the eyes of someone else.