Observing a scene play out between a waitress and an Indian family gives rise to reflections about emotions as a doorway to social and cultural intelligence.

 

 Emotional Social and Cultural Intelligence @ Indian [7:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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This week 300 Americans from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra entered North Korea to play a concert for an audience of dignitaries. This is the first and largest group of Americans to visit North Korea since the war in the early 50’s. The flags of the United States and North Korea, two countries locked in animosity for more than half a century, hung from poles at opposite ends of the stage at the East Pyongyang Concert Hall.

The crowd of about 2,000 North Korean dignitaries attending the New York Philharmonic concert Tuesday night mostly sat with their hands neatly folded. The men all wore dark suits with lapel pins bearing the image of the late North Korean leader Kim II Sung, and the women wore formal Korean gowns.

Some audience members appeared misty-eyed when the orchestra played its encore, “Arirang,” a lilting folk song emblematic of the Korean people. By the time the orchestra was taking its final bows, the North Koreans were on their feet, applauding and waving at the musicians.

Unsure what to do, the musicians stood and waved back.

“We felt such a connection with these people,” cellist Jeanne LeBlanc said. “They didn’t want us to leave the stage and we didn’t want to leave either. Some of us were crying we were so moved.”

I was especially touched by this story. Here we have 2 countries who have struggled with issues of disarmament for many years. And yet when faced with an emotion filled experience they were able to share a connection through the music and the deep feelings generated.

What does this say about the power and depth of our emotional connection? What would it be like to truly connect with our “enemies” by reaching first with empathy & compassion? We may not be able to solve the world’s problems and yet I feel that we can “set the stage” by making a softer entrance. The image of this incredible event fills me with hope & optimism.

Continuing on David’s theme about happiness… I completely agree that we’ve got “happiness-seeking-run-amok” and that sadness is good too! Does real “happiness” mean the absence of sorrow? I suspect it means “being more alive.” It certainly doesn’t seem to come from ease.

I haven’t read it, but thought the premise of this book sounds right on! The Economics of Happiness. Have you read it? Please comment!

Why, in spite of increasing economic prosperity over the past 50 years, are many conditions of well-being in decline and rates of happiness largely unchanged since the 1950s?

It seems we have so much to be happy about - but not the happiness! I remember as a teen visiting my sis and bro-in-law who were teaching in rural Kenya. We walked around the village where they worked and people had next to nothing, but seemed so happy. At the time I though it a strange paradox then, but moved quickly onto the pressing matters of growing up.

Now I see there’s some essential secret we’ve missed, and I wonder if we can get it back?

I have had a couple of times lately that tears have welled up in my eyes. As I watch and listen to the events surrounding the presidential campaign, I am really amazed about those citizens who are attempting to become President of the United States. Diversity is such an important value of mine and I am just in awe that we as a nation have made some changes. I would not be foolhearty enough to think that we have made major strides in becoming inclusive, but I am hopeful.

My husband has been thinking that I have become obsessed with the presidential compaign, because I am always listening to the debates, watching CNN, MSNBC, NPR, etc. How can I miss out on this historical campaign? I also find myself listening for clarity, sincerity, authenticity, optimism, and hope in the messages of those candidates. I am fascinated!

We have always talked about the United States as a country of immigrants. I am hopeful that this campaign will just be a start of having those in power reflect who we really are. Dr. King would be pleased. Yes..times they are a changing.

Crossing the Cultural Divide with Emotional Intelligence
Joshua Freedman
Published March 2007

A few excerpts…

Is there a way to cut across cultural difference and understand one another at a human level? If we access the intelligence of emotions, are we just using another cultural filter, or does universality exist? Are some aspects of emotional intelligence (EQ) more or less influenced by culture? And how do we use this concept to improve performance?

One of the areas with the greatest difference is optimism. Because optimism is linked closely with performance, this finding has important implications for performance management. When people from the Americas and Asia work together, they often assess risk differently. Those from the Americas are more likely to see possible solutions and have an expectation they can affect the outcome. Coupled with research indicating optimism scores predict performance scores, this finding suggests managers from the Americas might under-evaluate the performance of their Asian team members. Conversely, it suggests Asians who want to excel in a multinational company will benefit by developing this learnable skill.

The cross-cultural aspect of emotional intelligence is of particular importance in a global economy. To the extent that emotions are a universal language and that people in all cultures and places share a similar view of traits such as integrity and authenticity, the ability to “read and write the language of emotions” is an invaluable asset.