Video and slides synchronized, mp3 and slide download available at URL http://bit.ly/1PpvABJ. Daniel Seltzer discusses what intellectual skills are needed to be able to build and lead a successful group. This requires a new set of capabilities that aren’t taught in school and don’t come from certification programs. Daniel focuses on a concrete set of skills that you can and should develop for your own benefit and that of any group of people you come to lead. Filmed at qconnewyork.com. Daniel Seltzer is a 30-year veteran of creating innovative products and services for companies across Finance, Education, Media, and Health. He's worked at the intersection of emerging technologies and new models for business to engage customers and markets as an entrepreneur, executive, and adviser to over 100 companies from startups to Fortune 100 multi-nationals.

1. Developing
Cultural
Intelligence
Daniel Seltzer
June 2015

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Watch the video with slide
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3. Presented at QCon New York
www.qconnewyork.com
Purpose of QCon
- to empower software development by facilitating the spread of
knowledge and innovation
Strategy
- practitioner-driven conference designed for YOU: influencers of
change and innovation in your teams
- speakers and topics driving the evolution and innovation
- connecting and catalyzing the influencers and innovators
Highlights
- attended by more than 12,000 delegates since 2007
- held in 9 cities worldwide

4. +
Me: 33 years of creating software
products at dozens of companies

5. What you care about as a
Technologist
Making things

6. +
You care about
n Making good systems
n Making it scale
n Making good choices about leaders and teams
n Making money
n Making Hacker News
n Making it out alive

7. +
We’re not logical, Mr. Spock
n Behavioral decision making research: deep cognitive biases
n Good software is still a lot of art
n No one picks only great, successful teams
n It’s about people, trying to work together
n Or kill each other
n Read Kahneman and Tversky

8. It’s all about People
So how do you develop that?

9. +
Why Culture matters
n Culture is what shapes how people work together
n Culture is what makes companies great
n Culture is to blame when people aren’t doing the right things
anymore
n Culture is a powerful tool that offers new solutions
n Read “It’sYour Ship” by Abrashoff

10. What is Culture in our
context?
Shared expectations for behavior

11. +
Cultural Intelligence
n Can’t RTFM; it’s rarely written out
n So learn to recognize, reason about, and affect culture
around you
n In time, gain the confidence to create your own culture

12. Culture is event-driven
It’s all in how you handle it

13. +
Culture happens in real-time
n At the boundaries between people, between groups
n Unexpected challenges
n Discovering what the rules are
n Rituals that reinforce
n Human interest: fear, anger, surprise, punishment, reward
n Stories are repeated

14. +
Leaders set culture
n As social animals, we look to our leaders first
n Leadership controls the crude rewards -- hiring and
firing
n But if you set the culture, people look to you as a
leader, even if you don’t have that control

15. Learn to Recognize the
Components of Culture
Elements of a language

16. +
API Attributes and Values
Attribute Default Value Upper Bound
Control Centralized Distributed
Information Private Shared
Emotion Ego Empathy
Responsibility Avoidance Ownership
Dissent Unacceptable Encouraged
Motivation Extrinsic Intrinsic

17. +
There are many more…
n Planning: wish-based vs. reality-based
n Humor: serious vs. playful
n Recognition: taking credit vs. giving credit
n Org structure: static vs. dynamic
n Collaboration: fraught vs. effective
n Risks: avoid vs. engage actively
n Truth to power: dangerous vs. supported

18. So?

19. +
Make culture choices
n Figure out what culture matters to you -- what is your
personal culture?
n When you interview for a job, ask questions about
cultural elements
n Choose positive culture over other rewards
n Read Drucker’s “Managing Oneself”

20. +
Learn to influence culture
n Develop the confidence to speak when group culture
conflicts with personal
n Have the courage to try and improve where you are
n Have the courage to leave when it’s unhealthy

21. +
Learn to create culture
n Choose people for their cultural fit
n Teach by modeling the values you want to establish
n Be clear – ambiguity sets a cultural value
n Doing the right thing when it’s hard is what makes
you a leader, and makes people willing to follow you

22. +
Reach me
dseltzer@h2co3.com
@danielseltzer
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielseltzer

23. Watch the video with slide synchronization on
InfoQ.com!
http://www.infoq.com/presentations/cultural-
intelligence