The Cultural Quotient | Ideas, tips and stories for developing Cultural Intelligence
The Cultural Quotient is a podcast focused on developing Cultural Intelligence (CQ), which involves motivation, knowledge, awareness, and skills for adapting to different cultures. Hosts Ting and Dr. Catherine discuss ideas, tips, and stories to help listeners improve their intercultural skills. The show aims to make working and interacting across cultures more interesting and fun.
Episodes
15. The Space In Between: What’s Not Being Said in Cross-Cultural Negotiation with Prof Wendy Adair
What if the biggest breakthroughs in cross-cultural communication aren’t in what’s said but in what’s left unsaid?In this episode of The Cultural Quotient Podcast, Dr. Catherine and Ting sit down with Professor Wendy Adair, director of the Culture at Work Lab at the University of Waterloo, to unpack the “space in between” in intercultural negotiation.From clock-oriented vs. event-oriented time to
14.When Home Feels Foreign: Revisiting Filipino Culture Through Work
When Ting takes on a new project with a Filipino client—only her third in a 15-year global career—she’s surprised by what she learns about her own culture. In this eye-opening episode, Ting and Dr. Catherine explore how working “at home” reveals powerful insights into time, hierarchy, empathy, and digital culture. From late meetings to quiet clients who blossom in the right setting, this conversat
13. Culture Shock in California: Rethinking Identity, Belonging, and Bias
When Ting returned to the U.S. after nearly two decades, she expected to reconnect with old friends. What she didn’t expect was a full-blown identity check. In this deeply personal and thought-provoking episode, Ting and Dr.Catherine explore how migration and culture shape political views, values, and the very definition of “us” vs “them.”From Filipino Trump supporters in Texas to unexpected conve
12. From Cheese Naan to Culture Day: CQ Lessons from Japan
In this lively and heartfelt episode, Ting and Dr. Catherine return with stories from their first-ever trips to Japan—one for work, the other for family vacation. Through reflections on politeness, public bathrooms, service culture, and spicy cheese naan, they unpack rich lessons in cultural intelligence. From Tokyo’s surprising diversity to the invisible skills of multilingual waiters and caregiv
11. Bonus: Leading teams in Asia with Andy Wu
This bonus episode is the very first podcast episode recorded by Dr Catherine long before we started The Cultural Quotient podcast.
We interviewed Andy Wu, Head of Communication for Draeger South East Asia.
Listen to stories of leading sales teams in Northern China, tried-and-tested strategies to build trust with teams in South East Asia, and lessons learned from building a career in a multinatio
10. Culture: Surface vs. deep
Culture is much more than what we can see. Often, it’s the culture that we don’t see that causes the most problems.
In the last episode of season 2, Ting and Dr Catherine explore how your cultural upbringing shapes how you work in teams, why your culture is much more than your nationality, and how you can grow your mental agility to adapt to different cultures like a pro.
Listen to stories from
9. Power and who makes decision
Culture shapes how we relate to power and authority but adapting is also important as professionals navigate different organisations with different cultures.
In this episode, Ting and Dr Catherine discuss power distance, a cultural dimension that affects how people communicate and make decisions.
Listen to the stories of how they met each other as volunteers for a school for migrant workers, Dr.
8. Cross-cultural communication-Interview with Prof Xiao-Ping Chen
What is high context communication?
Why Americans have a negative association with indirect communication?
Can you be comfortable with conflict and avoid open disagreements at the same time?
In this episode, Ting and Dr Catherine speak with Professor Xiao-Ping Chen from the University of Washington in Seattle about different communication behaviors across culture and how to measure your own interc
7. Feedback & culture
In today’s multicultural workplace, being able to adjust our personal communication styles - as quickly as we shift from meeting to meeting - is key to being an effective manager.
In this episode, Ting and Dr Catherine trade ‘war’ stories on the frustrations that inevitably arise from a mismatch in cultures… whether that’s investigating an issue with the team, pushing back on project scopes with
6. A first taste of Europe
Season 2 kicks off its first episode with tales from Ting’s time travelling around Europe.
From boarding the plane at Changi Airport to shopping for presents at a Swiss night market, Ting shares stories about various interactions with locals as Dr Catherine walks her through the cultural concepts that account for her observations and experiences.
Hear about how national culture inevitably shows
5. Cultural Intelligence – Challenges of cultural adaptation
Join Ting and Dr. Catherine as we discuss how organizations and individuals can adapt their behaviors to different cultural environments.
In this episode, we explore strategies to receive feedback in different cultures, how local and global cultures mix and merge in international organizations, why we need to learn new ways of communication and why it can be hard to adopt new communication styles.
4. Cultural Intelligence – Mental habits and cross-cultural strategies
Join Ting and Dr. Catherine as we explore the psychology, mental habits and strategies for interacting with people from other cultures.
In this episode, we discuss why and when culture change, how culture creates habits, strategies to mitigate stereotypes and common intercultural biases, the importance of awareness, how to know when it’s culture and when it’s personality.
3. Cultural intelligence - What is culture
Join Ting and Dr. Catherine as we discuss how culture is formed and how making sense of our cultural experiences inform our cultural intelligence.
In this episode, we talk about culture as solution to problems, how the physical environment of a country shapes its culture, why culture is hard to see, our personal experience of working in teams with little hierarchy, how power can shape commun
2. Cultural Intelligence - The Drive
Join Ting and Dr. Catherine as we explore the topic of motivation and why it is central to developing cultural intelligence.
In this episode, we discuss curiosity, joy and confidence when crossing cultures; what it means to immerse ourselves deeply into new cultures during travel and expatriation; how sometimes even the most cultural intelligent people can feel unsafe in new cultural environ
1. Cultural Intelligence
About Season 1
We have all heard about IQ—intelligence quotient, and EQ—emotional quotient. But do you know about CQ—cultural quotient?
Cultural intelligence or CQ is the capability to be effective in culturally diverse environments.
Specifically, CQ refers to the combination of motivation, knowledge, awareness, and skills that enable individuals to learn and adapt in culturally diverse environmen
