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Episode Description:

In this fifth episode of the Cultural Intelligence series, Julia Middleton pauses to answer the questions you’ve been sending in. After four episodes unpacking the Core and Flex model and exploring what happens when cultures collide, both between people and within individuals, this episode dives into real-world dilemmas, confusions, and curiosities.
“Almost everybody you meet will have a different culture from you,” says Julia. “CQ is about interfacing with cultures that aren’t your own. Way beyond just race.”

Julia responds to questions such as:

Does your Core ever change?
Can organisations have Core and Flex?
Do you always have to stand up for cultural intolerance?
How do you find your knots, your biases, and what do you do about them?

She shares personal stories. Choosing whether or not to cover up in Jeddah. Picking a sari for her son’s wedding in Bangalore. Moments that show how her own Core and Flex have evolved.

Listen to this episode to reflect on your own Core and Flex, learn why self-awareness is key to leading across cultures and discover how CQ is not about perfection, it is about staying curious, courageous, and committed to growing.

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.

In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.

Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.