Revisiting the best way to Bridge Building: Cultural intelligence

In 1957 an American entrepreneur named Russel Simmons was quoted saying “If we are open and we prepare for promoting dialogue and love, and a better understanding of each other, and tolerance and so forth, that’s what the world will become, a more tolerant, loving place”. There has always been an irony in finding quotations of great people, thinkers, leaders, entrepreneurs from decades ago, and we shall continue to find great quotations as we move forward. These quotations are near ideal and reflect how we, as citizens of the world should be living our lives and the actions, we need to take in order to create a prosperous, safe, just, and sustainable future.

Having said that, and being a millennial, I put on my pessimistic hat and believe that words have a life of their own and are completely hollow if it's not followed with actions. This is not to say that famous entrepreneurs, leaders, politicians, thinkers have not followed up on their actions. But in retrospect, in modern history, famous entrepreneurs, thinkers, leaders, politicians have caused far more damage in our society than good, and their disconnect between words and actions overshadows any good they or their peers may have done. A lot of critics would retaliate or argue against this by answering with typical rhetoric’s like “that’s how the world is” or “stop being so negative” and or “look at the positives”.

Granted these criticisms are welcome and important to have meaningful discussions however, I merely want to provide everyone with an alternative view on how we can be leaders, build bridges and collectively make the world a better place to live in.

Why do most leaders contradict between their words and actions

Before suggesting the alternative view it's important to shed light on some of the reasons that can explain why we are in the current predicament or how did we get there in the first place.