Four capabilities that work together
Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is a person’s capability to function effectively in a variety of cultural contexts, both internationally and domestically. CQ is not a personality trait. It is made up of four capabilities that support each other, and you can develop each one.
Why the order matters
The four capabilities are often listed in this order (CQ Drive, CQ Knowledge, CQ Strategy, and CQ Action). CQ Drive leads you to pay attention to differences; CQ Knowledge tells you what to look for; CQ Strategy turns what you notice into a plan; and CQ Action is how you carry out that plan. This order (CQ Drive, CQ Knowledge, CQ Strategy, and CQ Action) is one useful way to think about developing your CQ, but this is not the only approach. Alternatively, you could focus on a current cultural challenge you are facing and identify one CQ capability that you think is especially relevant to your challenge.
Your profile in summary
Every score in this report is a percentile that compares your self-ratings with the worldwide norms. A score of 42 means that about 42% of people scored at or below you. It is not a grade out of 100.
Distance from the center shows the percentile
Expanding into Germany, Brazil, and Japan while managing an existing North American portfolio puts real pressure on all four CQ capabilities at once — and your profile shows them working unevenly. CQ Knowledge stands well above the rest, meaning you carry a detailed, transferable picture of how cultures differ; the question is whether CQ Drive is consistently fuelling the effort needed to put that understanding to work when interactions get ambiguous or costly.
Written for you by AI from your scores and answers. It may contain errors — treat it as a starting point.
In brief: your strongest capabilities are CQ Knowledge (89) and CQ Strategy (59). Your weakest capabilities are CQ Drive (48) and CQ Action (50). This means you have the largest opportunity to grow (enhance) these capabilities. Your sub-dimension scores range from Checking (30) to Cultural Systems (95), a difference of 65 points. The sections below explain each capability.
CQ Drive
The extent to which you are energized and persistent in your approach to multicultural situations. CQ Drive includes your self-confidence in your abilities as well as your sense of the benefits you will gain from multicultural interactions.
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Your intrinsic interest result sits near the midpoint of your Drive sub-dimensions, suggesting that genuine curiosity about cultural difference is present but not yet a strong enough pull to carry you through interactions that feel unfamiliar or unrewarding on their own terms.
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Your extrinsic interest result is the lowest of your three Drive sub-dimensions, which means the tangible professional rewards of cross-cultural effectiveness — deal outcomes, stronger partnerships, expanded accounts — are not yet reliably amplifying your motivation in the way they might. This is worth paying attention to given how directly your work ties performance to international results.
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Your self-efficacy result is the highest of your Drive sub-dimensions, sitting just above the midpoint, which suggests a baseline confidence in your ability to function across cultural contexts — though that confidence does not yet feel settled enough to sustain effort when situations become genuinely uncertain.
What high CQ Drive looks like
Individuals with high CQ Drive are motivated to learn and adapt to new and diverse cultural settings. Their confidence in their adaptive abilities influences the way they perform in multicultural situations.
Your engagement with cross-cultural situations tends to be conditional rather than automatic — it holds when the context feels rewarding or familiar, and thins when the path is uncertain or the payoff is less obvious. That pattern means the motivation is real but not yet self-sustaining; it depends more on circumstances than on an internal pull that stays constant regardless of how an interaction is going.
Written for you by AI from your scores and answers. It may contain errors — treat it as a starting point.
Before your first interaction with a new account in Germany, Brazil, or Japan, identify one specific professional outcome — not a general goal — that success in that market directly enables for you. Return to it when an interaction feels costly or stalls unexpectedly, using it as a concrete reason to stay engaged rather than pull back.
Why do many people start developing their Cultural Intelligence with CQ Drive?
CQ Knowledge
The degree to which you understand how culture influences how people think and behave as well as your familiarity with how cultures are similar and different.
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Your cultural systems result is the highest across all Knowledge sub-dimensions, indicating a particularly strong grasp of how economic, legal, and institutional structures vary across contexts — the kind of knowledge that helps you anticipate the rules of engagement in a new market before you encounter them directly.
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Your values and norms result is strong, though it sits somewhat below your cultural systems and sociolinguistics scores. You understand how social expectations and interaction patterns differ across cultures, even if the application of that understanding to specific relationship dynamics may still benefit from deliberate attention in newer markets.
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Your sociolinguistics result matches your cultural systems score as the highest in the Knowledge profile, reflecting a sophisticated understanding of how language and communication conventions vary — including what goes unsaid, how register shifts across contexts, and where indirect signals carry meaning that direct language would miss.
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Your leadership knowledge result is strong, and while it sits slightly below your cultural systems and sociolinguistics scores, it reflects a solid understanding of how authority, influence, and relationship-building operate differently across cultural settings — relevant territory given the decision-making dynamics you have noticed varying across your accounts.
What high CQ Knowledge looks like
Individuals with high CQ Knowledge have a rich, well-organized understanding of culture and how it affects the way people think and behave. They possess a broad repertoire of knowledge of how cultures are similar and how they are different. They understand how culture shapes behavior.
The picture of cultural difference you can draw on is detailed and specific rather than impressionistic — across economic and legal systems, communication norms, and leadership patterns, your understanding is among the strongest the assessment measures. That means when you do engage deliberately with a new context, you are working from genuinely transferable knowledge rather than filling gaps with assumption.
Written for you by AI from your scores and answers. It may contain errors — treat it as a starting point.
Your knowledge is detailed enough to carry further; the productive move now is to test it against specifics. For one of your incoming accounts — Germany, Brazil, or Japan — map out in writing how you expect decisions to be made and trust to be established, then treat what you observe in early interactions as data that either confirms or revises that map.
Which statement shows CQ Knowledge rather than a stereotype?
CQ Strategy
The extent to which you are aware of what’s going on in multicultural situations and the extent to which you plan and check accordingly.
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Your planning result is the highest of your three Strategy sub-dimensions and sits in High territory, meaning you reliably invest thought before cross-cultural interactions. That deliberate preparation is a genuine and usable asset — it puts you ahead of where most people enter unfamiliar situations.
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Your awareness result sits at a moderate level and falls between your planning and checking scores. You pick up on what is happening in cross-cultural interactions to a meaningful degree, though the signal is not always strong enough to prompt a real-time adjustment before the moment passes.
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Your checking result is the lowest of your Strategy sub-dimensions and the most consequential gap in the profile. It reflects a tendency to stay with an initial read of a situation even when something in the interaction suggests that read may need updating — which is likely part of what sits behind the stalled deals you described not seeing coming.
What high CQ Strategy looks like
Individuals with high CQ Strategy think about multicultural interactions before, during, and after they occur. They plan ahead, check their assumptions and expectations during interactions, and reflect on experiences later. This refines their mental maps and enhances strategies for effective interactions.
You do invest thought before entering cross-cultural situations, and that preparation is a genuine asset. Where the profile points to a gap is in what happens once the interaction is underway — catching a misread as it forms, rather than recognising it afterward. You noted that deals have stalled in ways you did not see coming, which is consistent with real-time recalibration happening less readily than the upfront preparation that precedes it.
Written for you by AI from your scores and answers. It may contain errors — treat it as a starting point.
Before each interaction with a new account, write down one assumption you are making about how that client builds trust or signals agreement. At the end of the interaction, return to that assumption and note specifically what confirmed it, what contradicted it, or what you simply could not read. Do this for the first three interactions with each new market.
Which CQ Strategy sub-dimension is about preparing before a culturally diverse interaction?
CQ Action
The extent to which you act appropriately in multicultural situations. CQ Action includes your flexibility in verbal and nonverbal behaviors and your ability to adapt to different cultural norms.
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Your speech acts result sits at the midpoint of your Action sub-dimensions, indicating a moderate capacity to shift how directly or indirectly you frame what you want to communicate. In contexts where indirectness or formality carry relational weight — as they do in several of your incoming markets — there is room to extend that range further.
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Your verbal result is the lowest of your Action sub-dimensions, sitting below both speech acts and nonverbal. This suggests that adjustments to tone, pace, and spoken register are less readily available to you than other kinds of adaptation — and in trust-building contexts where the manner of delivery signals respect, that is a meaningful constraint.
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Your nonverbal result sits at the midpoint of your Action profile, in line with your overall Action result. The capacity to adjust gesture, expression, and physical presence across contexts is present but not yet reliably or consciously deployed — worth developing deliberately given how much nonverbal cues communicate in high-context interactions.
What high CQ Action looks like
Individuals with high CQ Action translate their CQ Drive, CQ Knowledge, and CQ Strategy capabilities into action. They possess a broad repertoire of verbal behaviors, nonverbal behaviors, and speech acts, which they apply to fit a specific context. They know when to adapt and when not to adapt.
You have a working range of approaches in how you engage across cultural contexts, and you can shift register to some degree when the situation calls for it. The profile suggests, though, that your default manner — the pace, directness, and relational style you carry in most comfortably — tends to travel further into new situations than it probably should, with adjustments arriving after the interaction rather than within it.
Written for you by AI from your scores and answers. It may contain errors — treat it as a starting point.
In your next cross-cultural interaction, choose one specific verbal adjustment to practise — slowing your pace, reducing filler language, or increasing silence after a key question — and hold it for the full interaction. After, note whether the other person’s response changed in any way that seemed connected to that shift.
People with high CQ Action know when to adapt and when not to adapt. Why does that matter?
All 18 scores in one place
Here are all your scores in one place: four capabilities, 13 sub-dimensions, and overall CQ. The range within a capability matters as much as its score. A capability with one very high and one very low sub-dimension works differently from one with similar sub-dimension scores. Take a few minutes to study your profile summary and notice where scores are similar and where they differ.
Your CQ development plan
The plan has four stages: reflect on where you are, understand what your scores show, plan how to develop one skill, and share your plan with someone. Everything you type saves automatically.
Write quickly and specifically
A plan is only as useful as its details. “Communicate better” is vague and won't guide you. More specific actions are more useful. As an example, “Ask one clarifying question before I respond in Thursday’s vendor call” is specific. If you need help with a question, consider other ways to think about specific action steps.
Reflect
Where you are now, in your own words
Describe your CQ scores in your own words
Focus on your reaction to the scores, not a summary of the numbers.
What multicultural challenges are you currently facing?
For example, you may encounter misunderstandings when working with someone who has different preferences. Sometimes teams do not work well together. Have you encountered these experiences?
What multicultural or global opportunities do you want to pursue?
For example, global leadership, a diverse client base, projects across borders, or teaching a diverse group of students.
Understand
What your strongest and weakest capabilities show
CQ Knowledge and CQ Strategy
Write down one example of how you have used CQ Knowledge or CQ Strategy in the last six months
Describe a specific moment, not a general habit.
Go deeper: your highest sub-dimensions and one more questionHide sub-dimension detail
Your highest sub-dimensions across all capabilities:
- 95Cultural Systems Knowledge about economic and legal systems.
- 95Sociolinguistics Knowledge about language and communication norms.
- 86Leadership Knowledge about managing people and relationships across cultures (context specific).
How, if at all, does your current role let you use your strongest sub-dimensions?
CQ Drive and CQ Action
Write down one example of how CQ Drive or CQ Action made a situation harder for you in the last six months
Go deeper: your lowest sub-dimensions and one more questionHide sub-dimension detail
Your weakest sub-dimensions across all capabilities:
- 30Checking Checking assumptions and adjusting mental maps when experiences differ from expectations.
- 43Extrinsic Interest Gaining benefits from culturally diverse experiences.
- 44Verbal Modifying verbal behaviors (e.g., accent, tone).
How might these sub-dimensions be limiting your effectiveness in culturally diverse situations?
Plan
One skill, two tracks, and target dates
Name one specific multicultural skill you want to improve over the next year
Consider the challenges and opportunities you named in Reflect. For example, leading a diverse team, understanding indirect communication, or adapting how you express disagreement.
Using your CQ Knowledge or CQ Strategy
Specific actions that use one of your top two capabilities.
| Specific action steps | Target date |
|---|---|
| Next 4 weeks | |
| Next 8 weeks | |
Improving your CQ Drive or CQ Action
Specific actions to develop one of your bottom two capabilities.
| Specific action steps | Target date |
|---|---|
| Next 4 weeks | |
| Next 8 weeks | |
How will you use a strength to support a capability you want to develop?
Many effective development plans build on something you already do well.
What is most likely to get in the way?
Naming an obstacle now lets you plan around it.
How will you know it is working?
Describe what someone else would observe, not how you would feel.
Commit
Share your plan
Who will you share this plan with in the next two weeks, and what will you ask them to do?
For example, following up with you, checking your progress, or giving honest feedback after a specific meeting.
Before your preferences, a note on culture
Culture is a shared pattern of beliefs, values, assumptions, and behaviors that distinguishes one group from another. More simply, it is “the way we do things around here.” Culture includes national and ethnic cultures, and also cultures based on profession, age group, gender, function, and organization.
Cultural identity
Your sense of belonging to a specific group, such as a nationality, ethnicity, gender, age group, or profession. Most people belong to several groups, and some of these identities matter more to them than others.
Your own preferences are not neutral
Your own preferences can feel like common sense, which makes them hard to notice. Naming them helps you see a difficult interaction as a difference in preferences rather than a problem with the other person.
Which of your cultural identities are especially important to you?
Consider which groups you would feel protective of if someone criticized them. Those identities often matter most.
Your 10 behavioral preferences
These are not scores, and neither end of a continuum is better. The marker shows where your responses placed you. Compare your placement with the people you work with most often. Expand any preference to see how it shows up at work, where differences can cause misunderstandings, and how to flex.
Reading the marker
Each continuum is divided into thirds. A placement in either outer third shows a clear preference for that side. A placement in the middle third shows a preference for a moderate approach between the two sides. No placement is better than another.
Individualism
Emphasis on individual goals and individual rights
Collectivism
Emphasis on group goals and personal relationships
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. Whether people focus first on individual goals or group goals. It affects how credit is shared, how decisions are made, and how disagreement is received.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. People who prefer Individualism may see group-first colleagues as slow to decide or reluctant to disagree. People who prefer Collectivism may see individual-first colleagues as self-promoting or careless with relationships.
To flex toward Individualism: Recognize individual contributions by name. Say clearly that disagreement in meetings is welcome.
To flex toward Collectivism: Credit the team before yourself in updates. Talk with people privately before you raise an issue in a group.
Low Power Distance
Emphasis on equality; shared decision-making
High Power Distance
Emphasis on differences in status; superiors make decisions
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. How much status and hierarchy shape who speaks, who decides, and how disagreement is expressed. It often explains why some colleagues share their views openly and others do not.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. People who prefer Low Power Distance may see deference as disengagement. People who prefer High Power Distance may see an informal culture, where anyone can challenge a leader, as disorganized or risky.
To flex toward Low Power Distance: Tell your team you want to hear disagreement, and show it by changing your view when someone offers a better idea. Ask for input in writing as well as in meetings.
To flex toward High Power Distance: Send requests through the person’s manager first. Use titles until you are invited not to, and avoid asking junior colleagues to disagree with senior colleagues in public.
Low Uncertainty Avoidance
Emphasis on flexibility and adaptability
High Uncertainty Avoidance
Emphasis on planning and predictability
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. How comfortable you are with open questions, missing details, and changing plans. It affects how much process, documentation, and notice you want before you act.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. People who prefer Low Uncertainty Avoidance may see detailed process as slow and bureaucratic. People who prefer High Uncertainty Avoidance may see improvisation as careless or as disrespectful of others’ time.
To flex toward Low Uncertainty Avoidance: Share an early draft and label it as a draft. Set a decision date, and decide with the information you have on that date.
To flex toward High Uncertainty Avoidance: Send agendas and background materials in advance. State your assumptions clearly, and give more notice than you think you need.
Cooperative
Emphasis on collaboration, nurturing, and family
Competitive
Emphasis on competition, assertiveness, and achievement
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. Whether people approach work as a shared effort or as a competition. It affects how targets are set, how feedback is given, and what motivates people.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. People who prefer Cooperative approaches may find competitive framing aggressive or discouraging. People who prefer Competitive approaches may find cooperative framing unclear or too relaxed about standards.
To flex toward Cooperative: Ask about the person before the task. Present goals as shared, and recognize effort as well as results.
To flex toward Competitive: State standards and consequences directly. Talk openly about ambition and achievement.
Short-Term Time Orientation
Emphasis on immediate outcomes (success now)
Long-Term Time Orientation
Emphasis on long-term planning (success later)
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. Which time frame feels most important. It affects whether a three-month project feels long or short, and whether a delayed fix feels acceptable.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. People with a Short-Term Time Orientation may see long-term planners as slow to deliver. People with a Long-Term Time Orientation may see short-term colleagues as trading future benefits for quick results.
To flex toward Short-Term Time Orientation: Break long-term goals into near-term milestones, and report progress in weeks rather than years.
To flex toward Long-Term Time Orientation: Explain the long-term consequences of a decision. Ask what a choice will mean for the team in three years.
Low Context/Direct
Emphasis on explicit communication (words)
High Context/Indirect
Emphasis on indirect communication (tone, context)
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. How much of a message is carried by the words, and how much by the situation, the relationship, pauses, and what is left unsaid. Many misunderstandings in multicultural interactions happen here.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. Direct communicators may see indirect communication as unclear or evasive. Indirect communicators may see direct communication as blunt, or as causing someone to lose face in front of others.
To flex toward Low Context/Direct: State your main point in the first sentence. Put decisions in writing, and say no clearly rather than expecting people to infer it.
To flex toward High Context/Indirect: Notice hesitation and follow up privately. Give people a respectful way to decline, and notice the difference between enthusiastic and polite agreement.
Being
Emphasis on contemplative time and relationship building
Doing
Emphasis on being busy and meeting goals
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. How much time people expect to spend building relationships before they start on tasks. It affects how meetings begin and when work feels ready to start.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. Being-oriented people may see task-first colleagues as transactional. Doing-oriented people may see relationship-first colleagues as using time inefficiently.
To flex toward Being: Begin meetings with time for conversation that is not about the agenda.
To flex toward Doing: State the outcome you need at the start of the meeting, and keep enough time to reach it.
Universalism
Emphasis on rules; standards that apply to everyone
Particularism
Emphasis on specifics; unique standards based on relationships
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. Whether rules or relationships come first when the two conflict. It affects how exceptions are made and whether an exception seems fair.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. People who prefer Universalism may see exceptions as inconsistent or unfair. People who prefer Particularism may see strict rule-following as ignoring the specific situation and the people involved.
To flex toward Universalism: Apply policies the same way for everyone, and explain your reasons. Share the standard before it is needed.
To flex toward Particularism: Before you apply a rule, ask what is different about this case. Consider how a strict decision might affect the relationship.
Non-Expressive/Neutral
Emphasis on non-emotional communication; hiding feelings
Expressive/Affective
Emphasis on expressive communication; sharing feelings
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. How much emotion people expect to show at work, and whether visible emotion signals commitment or a loss of control.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. People who prefer Neutral expression may see expressiveness as unprofessional. People who prefer Affective expression may see neutrality as cold or distant.
To flex toward Non-Expressive/Neutral: Lower your volume and use fewer gestures. Let your reasoning carry your message.
To flex toward Expressive/Affective: Say how you feel rather than expecting others to notice it. Check in directly, because a neutral expression may not show agreement or disagreement.
Monochronic
Emphasis on one thing at a time; punctuality
Polychronic
Emphasis on multitasking; interruptions OK
What this looks like at work
How it shows up. Whether people prefer to do one thing at a time or several things at once. It affects punctuality, interruptions, and whether an agenda is a firm plan or a guide.
Where differences can cause misunderstandings. Monochronic people may see interruptions and changing topics as disrespectful. Polychronic people may see strict schedules as valuing the calendar over the people involved.
To flex toward Monochronic: Start and end meetings on time. Finish one topic before you start another.
To flex toward Polychronic: Leave extra time in your schedule, and expect that important conversations may happen outside the agenda.
Preference action plan
Knowing your preferences is the first step, and flexing your behavior is the skill. This section helps you choose two specific things to practice.
Personal preferences
Which preferences matter most to you
Which of your behavioral preferences are especially important to you personally?
Which of your preferences are most similar to those of the people you interact with frequently?
Which of your preferences are most different from those of the people you interact with frequently?
Potential biases
Where a preference can turn into a judgment
Which preference difference creates the most frustration for you, and why?
What is one strategy you can use to address that frustration?
Improved effectiveness
Two preferences, two time frames
Your two flex targets
Chosen in the preferences section above.
List two things you can do in the next month to improve your flexibility on these two preferences
List two things you can do in the next three months to improve your flexibility on these two preferences
The research behind CQ
CQ is based on Sternberg and Detterman’s multiple loci theory of intelligence. The four capabilities represent different aspects of functioning effectively in culturally diverse settings.
Malleable, not fixed
CQ can be developed through multicultural experiences, training, self-awareness programs, travel, and education. Your development plan is built on this finding.
Distinct from personality
Personality describes what a person typically does across time and situations. CQ is a capability that can be developed, separate from personality.
Distinct from emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EQ) concerns emotional capability in general. CQ focuses specifically on capabilities in multicultural contexts.
Predictive validity
CQ predicts outcomes over and above demographics, personality, general mental ability, emotional intelligence, cross-cultural adaptability, rhetorical sensitivity, cross-cultural experience, and social desirability.
Psychometric quality
The factor structure of the scale is stable across samples, time, and cultures. Self-ratings are positively related to observer ratings, and multi-trait multi-method analysis supports the validity of the scales. Reliabilities for the four capabilities and their sub-dimensions exceed the standard .70 cut-off.
What it predicts
CQ predicts adjustment, well-being, cultural judgment and decision-making, and task performance in culturally diverse settings.
Learn more at culturalQ.com/research.
Your plan
Everything you wrote, in one place. Print it, download it, or send it to your accountability partner.