5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "must read" for anyone working cross-culturally., September 16, 2009
This review is from: Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World (Youth, Family, and Culture) (Paperback)
Daivd Livermore, in Cultural Intelligence uses the phrase "Improving your CQ to engage our multicultural world." And that's what this book is about - engagement. If you plan on reading the book in your easy chair without having to ever meet, work with, or be challenged by those unlike ourselves, it's a nice read. But if you plan to "engage" with others different than yourself or with those who have different world views, and if you want to be challenged in your thinking and stretched in how you see the world, then this book needs to be in your library.
Having lived and worked as an overseas missionary, an international marketer in the corporate world and now as a missions pastor in the US, I can say that nothing is more important than understanding one's own culture as well as the culture of the group or people with whom you are engaging.
This book presents the tools to understand and improve on how we process seeing through the lens of others who are different than "us."
I especially felt the chapter on Attribution theory and the bounded and centered sets was excellent in showing that how we view salvation and church are influenced by our cultural worldviews. The chapter that speaks to "flexing and not flexing" reminds those going overseas as long-term missionaries of where to draw the line regarding understanding culture and going "native."
A great read that pushes the bounds and reminds us that what is best for the "Other" is sometimes not what we think.
Phil Smart
Missions Pastor - KCC
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent, pithy book, February 23, 2009
This review is from: Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World (Youth, Family, and Culture) (Paperback)
dave livermore, the author of the button-pushing, excellent book "serving with eyes wide open", has a new book out in the baker academic line. it's the 2nd book in chap clark's series of academic books for youth ministry. but, really, it's only loosely about youth ministry (some of the examples are about youth ministry). anyone interested in cross-cultural ministry should read this book.
and, livermore talks uses the term `cross cultural' very broadly, suggesting CQ when working with different age groups in our church, when working in different parts of our own country that have differing values, assumptions and norms, as well as when we interact with people in our own context from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
livermore takes us through the various aspects of developing a "cultural intelligence" (akin to IQ and the recently buzzy EQ - emotional intelligence). the uniqueness, he says, of CQ is that it can be learned (which is not true of IQ, and less true of EQ). so while this is an academic book, it's also a practical book that patiently reveals the process by which we can grow in our CQ (which, by the way, is way more than being culturally sensitive).
i got to read the book early, as i was asked for an endorsement. here's the "official" endorsement i wrote:
In an era of drive-by short term missions, selfish service projects, and ugly Americans, Dave Livermore brings reconstruction. He doesn't merely suggest cultural sensitivity; he helps us deconstruct and build something new - a pathway to cultural intelligence that can guide us be citizens of the Kingdom of God while being proactively engaged as neighbors in the world.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Old Days of Sorority Life Conformity Have Finally Passed On -- Thank God, July 21, 2011
So I remember the days of sorority sisterhood back in the mid 1960s. We sisters of Gamma Phi all had cute, short haircuts, wore the same camel-colored mohair blazers and pretty much dated very similar young men from the same fraternities, especially sisters who were of higher status, members of Greek Council.
While our sorority house was known to be less conforming (some people called us the "zoo") than other more popular houses at the University of Nevada, Reno, we still had a sense of safety in our ability to toe the acceptable conformity line, most of the time.
And when we finally graduated, leaving college and the safety of sisterhood to enter the workforce, what we encountered was really not much different from the institution we just left. The workplace of that era was certainly not as diverse as today; it was not even close. Nearly all co-workers were of the same ethnicity as us (white, Germanic or Irish heritage) and we closely conformed to the accepted dress norms, if we wanted to keep our jobs. Actually, one of my friends was fired from a major pharmaceutical company because he wore loafers with tassles. No kidding.
Today, many of us work with colleagues and customers from around the globe, people who may dress, talk and behave much differently from our former, cookie-cutter sorority sisters and fraternity brothers. To succeed in today's world of business, author David Livermore believes we need cultural intelligence, or CQ. A consultant, Livermore came to this conclusion because he moved from Canada to New York when he was a child. However, he made regular trips back to visit relatives, remaining fascinated by Canada's culture - the different money and way of saying things, the foods and other significant things that keep Canadians being Canadians.
Now a grownup and highly respected author on this topic, Dr. Livermore still enjoys navigating between different cultures, using CQ - "the ability to function effectively in a variety of cultural contexts, including national, ethnic, organizational, and generational."
Livermore tells us that CQ is the primary predictor of your success in today's borderless world. "It's more important than IQ or, the current darling, EQ (emotional intelligence)," he asserts.
"EQ is a strong predictor of your success when you're working with people who come from the same culture as you, but your CQ is a much better predictor of how you'll do working with people from different cultural backgrounds - the inevitable reality for all of us over the next decade," Livermore writes in The Cultural Intelligence Difference.
He clearly explains that our cultural intelligence is comprised of four different capabilities based on our motivation, knowledge, strategy and ability to adapt our behavior appropriately for different cultures.
While it might seem quite difficult to change one's CQ, this author gives specific advice making the task appear less tenuous. Most important, he tells us we must face our biases:
"Explore which subcultures really push your hot buttons, encourage your defences or just make you uncomfortable. Any time you meet someone new, make an effort to connect on a human level as early as possible rather than just seeing him or her in light of cultural context. Another approach is to explore your hobbies and pastimes - be it art, sports, or food - in new cultures."
Livermore gives us many more specific ways to become better at operating in and around cultures that are new or different. For instance, he suggests that we "Discreetly watch people from other cultures when you're in public places." Or that we "Attend celebrations of other cultures in your city; eat their foods and attend their music and events. When travelling, visit public markets, shopping districts, museums and art galleries. Increase your global awareness by visiting BBC news online and reading The Economist, for example, or by plunging into novels and movies that immerse you in different cultures. Learn about different cultural values in other countries, how they may differ in terms of factors such as individualism, avoidance of uncertainty, co-cooperativeness, and orientation to time."
Livermore's book is an excellent guide to gaining or increasing cultural intelligence as he points out some of the research and concepts; highlighting some of the critical differences between countries and spelling out specific ideas about how to improve one's CQ.
"It won't transform you overnight, but will alert you to important factors and help you along the path to fitting in beyond your traditional culture," blogger Harvey Schachter advises his followers. (I learned about this book from Harvey.)
And I am going to agree with Schachter, going a step further. Livermore's book is a must read for anyone who wants to survive (and succeed) in today's world of diversity. This means learning how to work well with older people, gay people, transgendered people and just about any people who are not the same as us (whatever this means). Is this important? Ask the CEOs of major corporations who by now should be sick and tired of being sued because an employee called an older worker an "old fogey." Or because a supervisor demanded a female remove the scarf she wears for religious reasons. Happens every day. Don't kid yourself.
This book is especially critical for those who might have just escaped a cookie-cutter world of most educational institutions and are ready and waiting to face reality. For anyone who went to private schools that specialize in all white kids, especially -- my advice, pick up a copy now.
Don't leave home (for work) without it.
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