Culturally Intelligent Leadership: Essential Concepts to Leading and Managing Intercultural Interactions

The purpose of this book is to outline the important ideas of cultural intelligence and the steps that must be considered and then practiced to become a culturally intelligent leader. The most important aspect covered within this book is that cultural intelligence is both a strategy and a tool towards cultural competency and proficiency. This book outlines the importance of understanding culture and its impact on organizations, the strategic value of cultural intelligence, and the significance of integrating and practicing cultural intelligence in everyday business life. When all these aspects are properly integrated and applied in the leadership and management process, organizations are more innovative and adaptable to respond to cultural changes.

Mai Moua is the founder and president of Leadership Paradigms, Inc., a consulting firm which specializes in leadership and organizational development and training. She is Hmong-American and came to the United States in 1979 as a refugee from Thailand. She received her Ph.D. in leadership studies from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. She has presented her research and conducted workshops on leadership and organizational effectiveness to an internationally diverse audience consisting of leadership scholars and academics, executives and directors, practitioners, and students on a national and international level including the Middle East, Europe, and Canada.