Discussion Thread: CQ Assessment, March, 2026

Overall, my CQ score all across board was 81st percentile. This score of 81st percentile breaks down as follows:

1.     CQ Drive: 75th percentile

2.     CQ Knowledge: 87th percentile

3.     CQ Strategy: 84th percentile

4.     CQ Action: 79th percentile.

If look in depth, on CQ Drive assessment, Intrinsic Interest scored 61st percentile. Extrinsic interest scored 81st percentile whereas Self-Efficacy scored 83rd bringing overall CQ Drive Score to 75th percentile.

On CG Knowledge assessment subtest, I scored 90th percentile on Cultural Systems, 71^st  percentile on Values & Norms, 95th percentile on Socio-linguistic, and 92nd percentile on Leadership bringing the overall CG Knowledge score to 87^th percentile.

On CQ Strategy assessment subtest, I score 84th on Planning,  81st on Awareness, and 86th on Checking bringing my overall CQ Strategy score to 84th percentile.

On CQ Action assessment subtest, I scored 91st percentile on Speech & Acts, 70th percentile on Verbal, and 77th percentile on Nonverbal bringing the overall CQ Action score to 79th percentile.

Overall, my Top Two Self-Rated CQ capabilities are CQ Knowledge (87th percentile) and CQ Strategy (84th percentile): my highest self-rated subdimensions are Sociolinguistics (95^th  percentile), Leadership (92nd), and Speech Acts (91st).

My weakest CQ capabilities are CQ Drive (75th percentile) and CQ Action (79th percentile): lowest self-rated subdimensions are Intrinsic Interest (61st), Verbal (70th) and Values & Norms (71st).

As I close the summary of my CQ Assessment test, I cannot deny that I am a byproduct of both my conscious and unconscious cultural upbringing, background, educational & professional experiences, life experiences, both positive and negative, which have shaped and formed the kind of a person that I am culturally with all the obvious commendable attributes and certain weaker areas of CQ where I would need to work harder to be better at. As the author David Livermore writes, “Some leaders have high CQ, and others don’t, but almost everyone can become more culturally intelligent. Cultural intelligence is uniquely suited for the barrage of culturally complex situations facing us as leaders. But it’s more than that. At its core, cultural intelligence is about how we connect with one another as humans. We have to move beyond artificial approaches where we pretend to be respectful simply to achieve an end and move toward becoming leaders who genuinely respect and value people with different backgrounds, values, and beliefs….But leading effectively in today’s world means leading everyone with respect and dignity.”[1] Absolutely: I concur.

What is interesting, puzzling/nettling at times from personal observations over the years is that where we so-called Christians should behave culturally admirably and possess high cultural intelligence, that has not always been the case: even among the leadership at the very top of hierarchy at a significant organization/groups/institution CQ lacks severely. How to cope and make amends with such a glaring observable deficiency where the Two Greatest Commandments given in Scripture are unnegotiable for the Lord’s discipleship? Surely, one would assume that when we love someone truthfully as we love God, the due full respect and honor must be entitled bilaterally from one person to another as logic would naturally dictate.

As I watched the video of <Avoiding Cultural Faux Pas for Nonnative Speakers>, it took me back to a time(s) when I/we got embarrassed at a public place (restaurant, eatery, subway train, public square/park or any governmental offices and what not) by our own 1^st generation immigrants parents, spouse, friends or other siblings or members of distant family who weren’t quite tuned in to the culture, language, customs, and mannerisms of native American citizens. Well, mostly viewed and judged through the predominant/majority Anglo-Saxon cultural lenses anyhow. The end result is that the culturally sensitive, sophisticated? or refined group whose direction the offense or insult did seemingly fly frowned, squinted or smirked back at us/our direction at our cultural fax pas. Real good ones pretend as if they saw or heard nothing showing no facial expression. As a rule, we immigrants should do better though: we should learn and speak the English fluently and be well accustomed to the mannerisms and customs of this great country of America.

But, then it is all relative, you know: I will probably forever be viewed as a perpetual foreigner in this country as a non-native English speaker, no matter what, and  unfortunately as a consequence I might be a  “cultural faux pas ticking bomb waiting to happen” at any moment, I am afraid. Immutable and unavoidable? Perhaps.

To much relief of permanent and notorious cultural sensitivity offenders like myself, nonetheless, there is a remedy and structured regiment where we can get better at when employ them fully as Livermore writes, “A great deal of research supports the premise that a leader’s self-efficacy determine the outcomes of their leadership. This applies to our confidence in how effectively we can be inclusive, culturally intelligent leaders. Self-efficacy is an important predictor of success in leading diverse groups.”[2] And plenty of self-confidence (no sense of feeling threatened or victimized nor harboring an  inferior complex) would help. Tremendously.  

Personally, I have found that no matter what cultural background a person might be of when he is the beneficiary of steady constant love shown to him through both materialistic and mental capacities over an extended period of time, then that person more often that not shows genuine kindness, considerateness, respect, and love and care to his neighbors in return. Even (abused) animals recover and do that in the same manner upon administration of persistent show of deep care and love. Ultimately, we Christians all should heed and obey the Commandments which strictly command  us to exactly do that to our neighbors of diverse cultural background. The problem is we don’t, and that is why I am/we are here.

*My replay to someone named Jonathan:

Dear Jonathan,

I appreciate your honest and well-thought-out post. I’d just like to make a couple of comments in response:

your comment on “Where I saw the biggest need for growth was in CQ Drive (44th percentile) and CQ Knowledge (48th percentile). That was helpful (and a little humbling). I enjoy engaging with different people and cultures, but I don’t always pursue these interactions intentionally. I guess I don’t always feel confident navigating those situations. On the knowledge side, I realized I tend to trust "my gut", wit, and experience more than on actually understanding cultural systems and frameworks.”: in contrast my scores on CQ Drive and CQ Knowledge were 75^th and 87^th percentiles, respectively. I can only attribute my rather relatively significantly higher scores on these two areas to 1)my lifetime curiosity on other cultures, history of other various nations, and desire to know something about them. And I actually do something about it proactively like regularly visiting the museums displaying cultural artifacts of various cultures when I get a chance.

I also have proactively reached out and made friends from various cultures and tongues over the years. I am not sure why it is so, but as a “fresh off the boat” immigrant, I have always gravitated towards other immigrants from various countries/nations and wanted to know more about them on personal levels. Not that I have anything against native Americans (hailing from various regions) since I also get along fine with people; 2)my personality being friendly, gregarious and sociable. Period. Most likely. But I have to admit that outside people of same common interest it has not been all that easy to make friends as I have gotten older as it would be for anyone due to time constraints, busy professional schedule and so on. As the author Livermore writes, “the first step for handling diminished motivation in  ourselves or others is to be honest about some of the internal barriers we may face...”[3] Livermore further goes on to note, “Over the last decade, there’s been a surge in the emphasis on unconscious bias, which is an important aspect of thinking about our CQ Drive. Implicit biases stem from our early socialization, and our brains are wired to view certain groups as “foes.” The activation in the brain is automatic. But the key is whether we act on those biases and uniformly apply them to anyone from a group. By honestly acknowledging and understanding them, we can better control and moderate their influence on our interactions.”[4]

As I look back the past 5 years or so, I can relate to Livermore’s quotation at many different levels including being on the receiving end, more often than not. Not that I myself don’t bear any subconscious or unconscious bias towards a certain group(s), God forbid, but as you and I have done, we have taken the first right step toward fixing/improving our CQ Drive and CQ Knowledge moving forward by acknowledging our shortcomings by confronting it head-on. “Honest is the best policy” as they say, and king Solomon concurs, “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.” May the paths we both take in this journey of Intercultural Communication be a secure and an honorable one.

As you noted on your own post, “This seems to fit well with what David Livermore argues, that cultural intelligence requires not just awareness, but intentional growth in motivation, knowledge, and behavior. In a similar way, Geert Hofstede’s work shows that cultural differences are often deeper than what we see on the surface and need to be understood, not just observed.”: I couldn’t have agreed more. Where there are an intentionality and earnest desire to achieve something, a good thing is bound to happen.

Take care. Blessings.

Joo won

*My replay to someone named James:

Dear James,

I enjoyed reading your post: I’d just like to say a few things in response:

Firstly, as for myself I scored 75th percentile (CQ Drive), 87^th percentile on CQ Knowledge, 84^th percentile on CQ Strategy, and 79^th percentile on CQ Action Vs. your own “CQ Drive percentage of 44, a CQ Knowledge percentage of 67, a CQ Strategy percentage of 68, and a CQ Action percentage of 79.” I explained on other thread that I naturally have had curious, inquisitive mind wanting to know about other “ancient”, “various”, “foreign” cultures and history pretty much all throughout my lifetime. I can still recall the time back in 7^th grade in World History class when I got up and made some comments about the “Hyksos” (not the “Hittites”): everyone looked at me strangely as all the rest of kids in class had no clues. And the teacher was impressed.

Overall, as you can see, I think that I do have relatively higher scores all across the board for someone who has never been outside the country all that much other than several times when I went on 10 days to 2 weeks “business trips” in my 20s and early 40s to countries of S. Korea and Chile. I have never been a missionary in other country(-ies) for sure. But I have engaged and made personal friends with diverse cultural backgrounds in this great melting pot of America, from Hindu/Pakistani, UAE Arabic, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Cuban, Venezuelan, Ethiopian, US Virgina Island black native, American Greek, Samoan, etc.; I am sure that I have left out quite a few more.

Your CQ Action score and my own are dead even, and you contributed the high score of yours to the professionally related works which you’d have to get engaged in yourself hands on, which makes a perfect sense to me. Here was the interesting thing for me to read: “because I have such a strong sense of home-grown southern American culture that I do not derive temporal enjoyment in experiences outside my normal context. Still, I love global missions.” To be frank, that sounds somewhat problematic to me for a mission pastor in the field, but what do I know. I myself am stuck somewhere between American and Korean cultures, and I can say that outside those two cultures I’d probably find myself somewhat uncomfortable and out of place for sure as  well. To be honest, the older I get, I find myself feeling more comfortable and enjoying my time socially more in the company of those with whom I can share the common culture and ethnic  interests more than others outside.

The thing is that you seem convicted and satisfied in your own line of works in very positive ways as you are quite good, and you seemingly derive  a great joy out of it while glorifying God and expanding His church as you said, “I love missions mobilization and raising awareness in the American church of the global need to reach the unreached, to go short-term, to have children who are global missionaries, but I have no desire to go long-term in a cross-cultural context myself.” Amen. Hallelujah!

Secondly, your comment on “One way I plan to do this is by learning more from my son, who is a cross-cultural missionary in a restricted country and must also create and run a business in that context for visa purposes, as well as build a platform for the Gospel.  It’s one thing to be a missionary in a foreign context; it’s another to create and run a business effectively that employs people in that context, which requires confidence in a diverse cultural context that I want to learn more about.”: that sounds awesome. The latest intel/report is that more young people are turning to Jesus and flock to church these days. They are talented, knowledgeable, and high-tech savvy unlike our older generation. Much to learn from them even regarding how they carry out international missionary works in foreign countries, I bet.

As a last word, I think that if I did not get myself in some trouble, then I did not certainly endear myself to a certain missiology professor at some school years ago when I voiced the following: “the report is that the locals dislike American missionaries who seem far above them, and live like whereas people welcome S. Korean missionaries who are more accessible because they live down to the levels of locals.” Well, it was true for a while, but now I am not so sure that is the case anymore since S. Korea became an affluent country for a while, which meant that the missionaries sent out were used to getting things their way without much inhibition. Well, the global economic stagflation has hit everyone hard, and as a result, I am not so sure what is exactly going on anymore to be honest.

In closing, as Livermore writes, “Understanding governmental policies, history, trade agreements, sanctions, and political stability affect our ability to operate in a particular region or market. Not only does understanding these issues build our credibility, it also directly influences our ability to handle things like logistic disruption and legal compliance,”[5] I am sure that you along with all other field missionaries get educated on these very critical facts/material, but relating to the levels of locals, their sentiments, understanding their preferences/taboos, prejudices and what not, seems to me like probably half battle already one before uttering any word of the Good News of gospel in eventually leading an unbeliever to Christ one day.

I also long to be exactly this as apostle Peter encourages us all, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” (1 Peter 1:5-7 KJV).

Take care James. Blessings to you, your son and family,

Joo Won

[1] David Livermore, Leading with Cultural Intelligence, (New York, NY: Harper Collins Leadership, 2024), 46.

[2] Ibid., 58.

[3] David Livermore, Leading with Cultural Intelligence, (New York, NY: Harper Collins Leadership, 2024), 54.

[4] Ibid., 56.

[5] David Livermore, Leading with Cultural Intelligence, (New York, NY: Harper Collins Leadership, 2024), 86.