Coffee Chat with Eric #22: Live from London, Talking CQ to Grow Global Rewards
- Eric Thiegs
- Jul 3
- 1 min read
July 4, 2025
I’m in the UK this week visiting our Head of UK and Euro Accounts, Kelly Hinds, and catching the buzz at MAD//FEST. But the topic for this week’s coffee chat is about our team training at NeoCurrency on CQ (Cultural Intelligence)—led by our summer intern, Parker -- as a way to talk about and help grow our global rewards business.
As a company supporting incentives in 52 global reward currencies with clients all over the world, understanding how to connect across cultures is mission-critical.
Cultural intelligence was developed by researchers P. Christopher Earley (London Business School) and Soon Ang Parker (Nanyang Business School). In our company session, Parker walked us through the four pillars of CQ (Drive, Knowledge, Strategy, Action), reminded us that 55% of communication is non-verbal, and sparked a sincere conversation about showing up with curiosity instead of assumptions.
Because here’s the risk: Ethnocentrism—the belief that your way is the way—is a killer of global connection. Cultural intelligence, on the other hand, opens doors, builds trust, and helps us relate across borders, generations, time zones, states, ethnicities, and more.
Grab your coffee ☕ and take a listen...
