 A question from one of our supporters, well it wasn't a question, he sponsored the show. He wanted to sponsor a show on cultural intelligence. We started this discussion a few weeks ago, but we never really got into it because we got distracted by a bunch of other things. Sam, thank you for the support, really appreciate it. So let's jump in on cultural intelligence and then after we finish our discussion we'll wrap up with some talk about abortion and of course I will be answering your super chat question. So what is cultural intelligence? I mean cultural intelligence is a popular common term out there, it's related to emotional intelligence, emotional intelligence, is the ability of a human being to sense or to get a sense, to understand and respond to the emotions being projected by people on the other side. So some people are very sensitive to the emotional state the person they are talking to is in and that they can adjust how they present material, how they present context to that person given that they sense the particular emotional state. I'm very, I'm not very good at I guess this what they call the emotional, now let me just say none of this is intelligence, right? Intelligence is how you respond. I don't know exactly what it is, this is your ability to tell from body language, from the way somebody talks, from the way they move, from the way they express themselves. They're emotional states and I don't know, I mean that doesn't strike me as related to one's ability to do calculus or one's ability to strategize or think strategically. So I don't really have a good sense of where exactly that comes from. Some people are very good at this and some people are not. Some people are very good at it, but then don't know how to respond to it. Some people are very good at it and know how to respond to it. The response site is where there's more cognition. Thank you Jennifer, really appreciate that. And cultural intelligence is similar in the sense that some people are very good or learn to be good at picking up on cultural cues on adapting to that culture or finding ways to deal with the culture in a productive win-win kind of ability or attitude. Now, cultural here does not just mean different cultures geographically, that is different countries with different cultures. It could also mean different, for example, corporate cultures and a lot of this cultural intelligence has to do with business. I mean it almost all is related to the issue of business. Some of it's diplomacy, but it's not just diplomacy. It's one's ability to adapt to maybe a different culture than you used to in business. Company A takes over company B and the two companies might have a completely different way of dealing with issues. For example, company A, one company might be very open very aggressive, very ambitious, encourage that in people, encourage that in the employees. Another culture might be less open. Criticizing other people is less acceptable, more polite. It could be that one culture compensates sales based on the number of deals, the number of dollars you bring in. Another culture might not give a lot of bonuses, but emphasize more salary. I mean there might be a lot of different ways in which, depending on seniors' managers' preferences, thank you Watchtek. I really appreciate the support. Depending on senior managers and CEO and people at the top's attitudes and preferences, they might have just developed different. I mean a simple one might be one company, I don't know Silicon Valley company, might be casual all week. And another company, let's say New York might not even have casual fighters. That is, it's suit and tie every single day. I think there are fewer and fewer such companies in the world today suit and tie, but they are. And if company A buys company B, one of the challenges, indeed one of the major challenges in being successful in a merger is being able to integrate cultures, in being able to understand the cultural differences, understand people's different expectations, find ways to communicate, bridge them and bring them all together. One of Freeman says IBM, IBM used to have a culture of was a blue suit, white tie, sorry, blue suit, white shirt, black tie or red tie, I can't remember. But that used to be, if you went back to the 60s and 70s and 80s, that was the stick at IBM. And IBM almost went back up to the 1980s and it had to change. And it had to change many things about the way it did business. It basically completely changed its business model instead of being primarily a producer of hardware. It became a service company, became a consulting and service IT company. And the dress of people changed in order to be able to attract talent, in order to be able to fit into the environment of Silicon Valley, it completely changed. It brought in a CEO, if I remember right, didn't it bring in a CEO from the tobacco industry? And he completely saved IBM. I mean, he completely did a streak about face, completely changed the business model and saved IBM basically from extinction. You could have a company by, I mean, Scott said something about walking, she could buy a company that has a woke culture where everybody talks politics and all day long and they're all the same way. And if you bought a company like that, it would be very difficult. One of the reasons I think that kind of woke culture actually reduces the value of these companies, makes them less appealing to suit us, to people who want to buy them. An American company, buying a British company, not only do you have these kind of attitudes, for example, with regard to dress, but you would have all kinds of differences the way people greet each other. Americans are much more friendly, emotional, capable of hugging the coworkers. The Brits don't do that. It seems strange, it seems weird. On the other hand, the French hug you and kiss you on both cheeks. And some cultures hug you and kiss you on three cheeks, one, two, and then the cheek again, so there's no actual three cheeks. And it's kind of strange and comfortable, weird. So this idea that culture matters in this sense, and culture here, I mean, I mean, not in the sense of high culture, not in the sense of the achievements of a particular people or a particular country, but here, I mean the behaviors, the mannerisms, the habits of a particular group of people. It could be within a business. The way in which a business is run. And you know, you could say as a rationalist objectivist would say, no, no, no, no, no. There's only one truth. There's only one way to run a company. There's only one appropriate rational object, whatever culture, but that's just not true. People are different. People relate to one another different. People are incentivized in different ways and sometimes the founder of a company hires people to fit into a particular vision that he has of a particular culture that he wants to establish. And that you might have two different companies with two different cultures, because they have two different personalities heading them, and they could both be unbelievably successful. So there is no cultural issues. No, Scott, that was not what I was arguing with Mackie, really weird. So cultures are different because the people who start companies and the people who run companies and the people who manage companies are different. They have different attitudes, different emphases, different focuses, different sets of values. Now, if they're publicly run companies, they should all be maximizing shareholder wealth. That's their purpose. That's their reason for existence. That's what I was arguing with Mackie about, Scott. But how they get there, they have a variety of different paths on how to get there. If you're a publicly traded company, your fiduciary legal moral obligation is to place shareholders first and to maximize their wealth. That is true, but there are lots of different ways to do that. And the best way to do that at the end of the day, at the end of the day, the God comments sometimes distract me. Having a culture that is appropriate to senior managers' values and focus is going to be wealth maximizing, is going to drive to maximize shareholder wealth. Having a culture that is inappropriate to managers is going to do the opposite. So, culture matters. And when there are cultural clashes, they matter. Most mergers, most large mergers fail. Most mergers land up being money losing propositions. And the reason for that is not that the synergies on paper don't actually exist. They usually do. It usually has to do with the inability to integrate the two businesses, not in theory, not from the perspective of being able to see how the businesses fit and how they reinforce each other. But almost all business mergers fail because the inability to integrate cultures, because one culture rejects the other, because people can't work well together, because they don't understand each other, they can't communicate with one another, because they resent one another for a variety of reasons, because the incentive structures are not aligned or people are used to different incentive structures. And you can see, you can go back into the history of mergers and acquisitions, and you can see how few mergers have been overwhelming successes, very few, very, very few. And that's reflected often in stock prices, stock prices. Now, this is true even within the same country. But it's also true, even more so true across borders. One of the reasons companies often don't buy companies overseas, but rather subcontract with companies overseas, is because it's much easier to let, I don't know, Chinese managers manage Chinese people, create the right kind of culture and incentives for them. Same with Japanese or Koreans or Germans or British or French. But we live in a world which is becoming more and more and more connected, or at least was until recently. And connection is incredibly powerful. The more we're connected, the more leverage there is. The more there is the potential for good ideas to arise. The more minds there are to bounce ideas off. The more people there are to innovate, to take ideas to the next step, to collaborate with. I mean, the globe has opened up for collaboration, for trade, for innovation, for progress, for ingenuity. So connection, the ability to communicate, the ability to work with people all over the world is a massive competitive advantage today. Supply chains, you know, the iPhone, this iPhone, is made of, I can't remember, I think it's 60 something different countries. Companies in different countries produce stuff that goes into this. There's certain minerals from Africa, there's chips from Taiwan and Korea, stuff from China, technologies from Europe, all are integrated because of the world in which we live, which is amazingly integrated, integrated through trade, but integrated through the internet, integrated through telecommunications. And therefore, we have this amazing ability to leverage the resources of people all over the world. People will sometimes never meet, often will never meet. And as a consequence, to be successful in business requires more and more communication with, cutting deals with, cooperating with, working with people from, you know, all over the world. People will have vastly different ways of doing things than we do. Just, you know, different habits, different expressions, different ways of dealing with the world. So it's important. It's important to figure out, it's important to figure out how to deal with that. If you come out there, if you approach it as, there's only one way to do things, it's my way. And I'm gonna ignore the other person's culture. You're just not gonna get very far. You're not gonna be successful. You're not gonna be able to take advantage of the immense potential that exists because of connection, because of the connectivity, the global connectivity that exists today. If you're offended by the way other people behave, even when it's not meant to offend, it just, it doesn't make, again, you have a competitive, a comparative disadvantage. So being able to work across cultures, being able to communicate across cultures, being able to find common ground with people who are very different than you, is a comparative advantage in business. Now, it might ultimately be that your way is the right way. But the way to, the way to move forward with that is to teach people. It's educate people. It's to help them see that their ways are wrong. So this idea of being able to communicate and collaborate is not some form of multiculturalism that asserts that all cultures are equal. All cultures are not equal. Some cultures are better. Some cultures are worse. Certainly from the perspective of human flourishing, but also in business. Some CEOs are brilliant at creating profitable cultures, cultures that produce results, cultures that are creative, cultures that promote innovation, entrepreneurship, promote making money, and others are not. Some cultures are around the world, promote honesty and integrity and make a deal on a handshake. Other cultures, you know that the most loyal contract will not help you. They're going to take you for all you want. And in all those cases, you need to know that. You might sit in a meeting with a bunch of Israelis and they'll criticize you like hell, they'll tell you you're full of shit. And a lot of people get super insulted. But they're just, this is how, this is how we grow up. We argue. We tell people what we think. We actually debate. We don't whitewash. We don't say when we don't like something. You know Americans deal with not wanting something when they don't like something. What do Americans say when they don't like something? What do you guys think? What do Americans typically say in a conversation when they were, you ask them what do you think and they don't really like it? What do they say? Do you usually say it's interesting? Whenever an American says something's interesting, you know, it's not. Not always, but often. Israelis say it sucks. It's nonsense. It's no good. Other cultures won't say anything. Yeah, interesting is ambiguous, purposefully ambiguous. They won't tell you because they don't want to say a negative. So you just say something ambiguous. They don't want to lie in saying something positive when they think it's negative. So they say something ambiguous. Other cultures don't. So different cultures deal with that differently. And it's important for you to know because say you're not surprised. Say you know what to expect. Say you know whether you're getting the truth from somebody. And a lot of that is going to be dictated by the cultural norms where they live. You know, Americans are super warm and they go to Scandinavia and everybody's super cold. And you might think, oh, they don't like me. They don't agree with me. They don't know. It's just the way they are. Just the way they are. Thanks, Kevin. Really appreciate it. In, you know, there's a huge difference, for example, between how the Japanese deal with things and how the Chinese deal with it. Chinese are much more like Israelis. They'll yell at you and tell you what they want. The Japanese are much more, they're polite. They'll listen. They'll, and then they'll tell you in a very polite way what they actually think. Jennifer asks, can there be a way to say it sucks in a tactful way? Yeah. I mean, there's always a way to say it. But sometimes, you know, you also have to consider how important is tack to you. So I don't think it's very good. It doesn't serve the purpose that we intended for it. I just don't see it. What's the point of this exact? I don't know. It depends on the exact thing. But yes, there's always a way. I mean, it sucks is, you know, not exactly a tactful way to say things, but there are ways to say it tactfully. Some, again, some people in some cultures don't use that, but then you have to see it not as being rude, not as them attacking you. First of all, generally in life, you have to be able to separate criticism from you. Somebody's criticizing a work, a thing, even something you did doesn't mean they're criticizing you. Right? You might be wrong. I've said this before. My attitude towards criticism is if you criticize me, if you're right, thank you. And if you're wrong, that's your problem. Why is it mine? So you can't let criticism derail you. Casperanza, thank you. Really appreciate the support. Wow. We've got somebody here in Batikal. He says, I love your work. I used to be a Vash guy. Yes. Made my day. Thank you. That's terrific. We've converted somebody from the other side. That's great. That's what we do this for. So I don't like the term cultural intelligence, but it's capturing something real. I've also seen different websites. They give different tools and given criteria. I mean, my view is you've got to read up a little bit on a culture before you engage with it. You've got to learn it and then you've got to be sensitive when you're there to how they're behaving and what they're doing. I don't think it's helpful to categorize them all, to put them into boxes and to pretend. You've got to be you. And some of us are better at adapting. Some of us are not as good, but you've got to at least make an effort to understand what is going on on the other side, to understand the extent of which what they're saying, you understand what it is exactly that they're saying, what message they're actually conveying to you. So it's important to be objective. That is, look at the facts within the context of the situation, in the context of where you are, who you're talking to. And as a consequence, you've got to study up a little bit in advance before you go somewhere. And that's good to do as a tourist as well, because you only encounter all kinds of things, you want to understand it. And yeah, you can judge them. You can say, in China, corruption is rampant. And partially it's because of the revolution out of communism. Partially it's because it's a culture of pragmatism. And a cultural pragmatism is a culture that says, anything goes, anything goes. As long as I get my aim, everything's allowed. Don't let moral ideals stop you from getting where you want to be. So for them, lying, cheating, and corruption can be legit. And they do it. And you have to be aware of that. And you have to deal with it and find ways to protect yourself from it. And do it without being, you know, what is it? Just treating them as bromides, because they're going to be exceptions. They're obviously exceptions. Successful businessmen in China don't lie, steal, and cheat. It doesn't work long term, even in China. So you have to be able to adapt. You have to be willing to adapt, able to adapt, sensitive to the need to adapt, sensitive to the circumstances, the context in which you find yourself. You know, just as simple in India, my understanding is, I mean, Indians are bad. When they say, when they want to say yes, they shake their head. And it's like, it's completely disorient. Because they're saying yes, but they're doing no with their head. And when they go like this, it might mean no, it might mean it's just very confusing. And if you're just encountering that, you don't know what to expect, and you're just going there for the first time and trying to do business there, it's very confusing. This is what I'd suggest to young people entering business. You've got to be sensitive to the culture of the place where you're working. What are the expectations? What do they want from you? And if you find it rational, you adapt. If you find it irrational, you probably should leave. But adapt. Fit in. Fit in, I mean, within the culture in terms of that's how you be successful in the organization. If it's a culture that is bad, then leave. Don't stay in a business where the culture is terrible. It'll eat you up. It'll destroy you from the inside. It will make it impossible for you to be successful. And as you interact with other companies, don't assume they have the same culture you do. Be adaptable. Be mindful of the fact that other people have different ways of doing things. And that is certainly true as you venture overseas. Be mindful. Educate yourself. Think. And be alert. Be alert to differences. Be alert to signals that they might not be understanding you right, that you might have to say it differently or again, overpeach yourself. So this idea of cultural intelligence, why, well, again, I don't like to determine why I think a lot of the articles I've read about it seem to be a little shallow and maybe, or not shallow, they consultants, business consultants like to put things in little boxes. What is it? Maya's breaks. Everything has to be in a box. You have four characteristics. Everything about you is defined by four characteristics. And we just fit you into these four characteristics. So it's definitely necessary to be sensitive to these things. What we need today, what I call the new intellectual would be any man or woman who is willing to think. Meaning any man or woman who knows that man's life must be guided by reason, by the intellect, not by feelings, wishes, whims or mystic revelations. Any man or woman who values his life and who does not want to give in to today's cult of despair, cynicism and impotence, and does not intend to give up the world to the dark ages and to the role of the collectivist roads. All right. Before we go on, reminder, please like the show. We've got 163 live listeners right now. 30 likes. That should be at least 100. I think at least 100 of you actually like the show. Maybe they're like 60 of the Matthews out there who hate it. But at least the people who are liking it, I want to see a thumbs up. There you go. Start liking it. I want to see that go to 100. All it takes is a click of a click of a thing, whether you're looking at this. And you know the likes matter. It's not an issue of my ego. It's an issue of the algorithm. The more you like something, the more the algorithm likes it. So, you know, and if you don't like the show, give it a thumbs down. Let's see your actual views being reflected in the likes. 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