4.5 Chapter Summary

• Leaders must be aware of how they process information related to culture and their ability to think about this thinking, which is called metacognition.
• Metacognition is an essential core of successful learning, and leaders who lack the basic knowledge about working with cultures will have more challenges in their ability to be culturally intelligent.
• Culturally intelligent leaders create strategies that help them focus on the goal of their cultural interactions. They use feedback from the situation and adapt it to create a new picture, while creating new learning patterns for themselves.
• Strategies that can help leaders build their strategic thinking include peer learning, coaching and mentoring, reflecting on their thinking processes in a journal or book, and being an observer and active listener.
• Strategic thinking techniques address the basic development skills necessary in metacognition: connection of new information to old, intentionally selecting the appropriate strategies necessary for that situation, and planning, monitoring, and evaluating the strategies and one’s progress.