A bit on cultural sensitivity

“Who Am I?” – such a profound multi-dimensional question! The quality, and the timing, of the answer are directly proportional to worldly and spiritual success.

When answered sincerely at the end of a profound meditation, it creates moksha. When answered correctly, during preparation of college admission essays or job interviews , it helps make smart decisions and achieve career success. Interviewers are always trying to gauge the candidate’s persona and genuineness through their questions. When introspected before a social gathering, it could lead to interesting conversations and new friends.

Yet, it is a hard hard question to answer. How do we arrive at the answer? A rare few individuals manage to answer this question on the basis of pure insight. Most of us discover the answer by scanning people around us. Ok so that guy is tall, which means I am short. That guy is poor which means I am rich. That girl scored 75% while I scored 90%, which means I am smart. Obviously, we have certain dreams of how we want our lives to be, things that would make us happy. Now, wise men say that happiness is a choice – but the devious mind calls for confirmation and proof to trust oneself and others and be content. Either one can trust that he/she is capable of facing the challenges in life, or he/she can face the challenges, succeed and then trust that this is possible. The two often form a circle, with trust leading to accomplishment leading to more trust and bigger challenges.

I read a wonderful article recently from the Harvard Business Review on how to adapt to cultures and work with people. Titled “Cultural Intelligence” , Earley and Mosakowski, HBR October 2004, this paper indicates two kinds of intelligences – emotional intelligence, which allows us to define who we are and how we are different from others, and cultural intelligence, which is understanding the values and beliefs that drive different groups. Meditation helps develop both – a keen awareness of who I am and going beyond the emotions, and a sharp perception to discern what works and does not work with people. One need not be a football of anyone’s culture, but being sensitive is important. There are three ways of doing this – through the head, through the heart or through the body. Training through the head involves understanding the beliefs, customs, and taboos of new cultures. Learning form the body involves mimicking small gestures the way others do it – it could be a simple way of shaking hands or small mannerisms. A Michigan professor found that candidates who were perceived to be culturally more similar to recruiters often had better chances of landing the job. Learning from the heart involves being strong to face setbacks and failures and keep moving. People can do that if they believe in their own efficacy. If they persevered in the face of challenging situations in the past, their confidence grew. Confidence is always rooted in mastery of a particular task or set of circumstances. This is where seva is so important, it teaches one to persist, to redefine their limitations and to break them, and to keep moving ahead.