#366 Why Cultural Intelligence Is the Hidden Advantage in Global Business and AI

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (0:00)
Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation. Before we dive in, I wanted to personally thank you for listening. Many of the ideas we discuss on this show inspired my new book, AI Augmented Teams. If you're looking for practical ways to combine human expertise and AI to achieve better outcomes, I think you'll find it valuable. Learn more at paidar.ai/books. That is paidar.ai/books.
Now, let's get started with the show.

**Laura Krista** (0:30)
And what I know now that I didn't know then, and what I think listeners, it can help them to understand this, is that cultural differences, whether they are found when you go on a plane and travel thousands of miles or even within your own business, where the different departments or different generations, cultural differences are inevitable and predictable.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (0:56)
Here's why this matters. Today's organizations are more connected than ever, but it doesn't automatically mean that they're effective at working together. If you're collaborating across departments, countries, continents, whatever the case may be, culture has a big play in how things are done effectively. And you throw artificial intelligence in the mix, and it just magnifies those cultural differences. So on today's episode, we get to talk to Laura, who brings her experience of dealing with cultures over the last 30 or 40 years. And cultural intelligence is no longer a nice to have. It's becoming a defining leadership capability in this AI augmented era.
Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation, where we explore how people process policy and technology, drive effective change. This is Dr. Darren, Chief Enterprise Architect, educator, author, and most importantly, your host.
On this episode, why cultural intelligence is the hidden advantage in global business and AI with Laura Kriska, cross-cultural relations expert and creator of the Web-Building Framework. Laura, welcome to the show.

**Laura Krista** (2:15)
Thanks for inviting me, Darren.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (2:17)
Hey, I was really intrigued by your background and what we're going to talk about today around cultural differences. Both, and I think we even talked, there's cultural differences in business here in the United States.
And then you can add that to their countries and all that. There's a lot to talk about today. But before we do, everyone that listens to my show knows that I only have superheroes on the show, and every superhero has a background story. Every superhero has their origin story. And you've got a fascinating one. So Laura, tell my audience your fascinating origin story.

**Laura Krista** (2:57)
I love the way you positioned that question, the superhero origin story.
My superhero origin story starts with nihon ni umarimashita oyawa senkyoushi deshita kara desu. Which is to say, I was born in Japan. My mom and dad were missionaries. So that really does feel to me like a superpower because it has informed my entire life. So for anyone looking at me right now to hear me speak in Japanese and see my face, it might be like, wait, what?
Because I don't look Japanese. I am not Japanese by ancestry, but I have spent a lot of my life in Japan. Japan is a country and culture that's very important to me and my family. But that's where it all started out. I was two years old when my parents returned to the United States, and I grew up in Columbus, Ohio.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (4:00)
Big difference between Japan and Columbus, Ohio.

**Laura Krista** (4:04)
At the time, there was very little Japanese influence in Columbus. In fact, my parents loved Japanese food. They still love Japanese food. And my mom wanted to buy Japanese food, and she ended up going to a market that wasn't really Japanese food. I still remember it was called Crestview Market, and it had a very specific smell of Asian foods and we would go there.
And this was before Honda and other Japanese manufacturers started locating in Ohio. So this was in the late 70s, a lot of Japanese industries, specifically Honda, came into Ohio. But this is before that. And so there were very few, if any, Japanese restaurants. And so it was a very big culture gap for my parents to return to Columbus. Where there was no influence of Japan. And that has completely changed compared to now.

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (5:12)
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely. I live in Folsom, California, and I can swing a bat and hit a grocery store from anywhere in the world. Because it's just the supply chains are so much easier, and there's more movement of people across country boundaries today than there was.

**Laura Krista** (5:33)
Do you mind if I ask you a question?

**Dr. Darren Pulsipher** (5:35)
Yeah, go for it.

**Laura Krista** (5:36)