Culturally intelligent innovation begins with changing our impulse from Why can't you see it like I do? to Help me see what I might be missing!

Natural light consistently fosters innovation, as does the avoidance of disturbances from noise and extreme temperatures.

Clashing expectations are what most consistently derail any team, and especially a culturally diverse team. So if you take the time to "define" the goal carefully upfront, you've addressed one of the most difficult and important parts of the innovative process.

The more diverse your team, the better you'll be at identifying what a diversity of users perceive as problems.

The most important part of aligning various expectations is to clearly describe the problem you are trying to solve and identify at least three different ways diverse users experience this problem. The more diverse your team, the better you'll be at doing this.

Perspective taking is taking on the perspective of others. It's what we do anytime we buy a gift for someone else ("What would they like?"). So it means breaking the golden rule ("Treat others the way you want to be treated") and instead, acknowledges that others may not want what you want.

Even an organization that doesn't do much work internationally will benefit from a culturally intelligent strategy to innovation. Working across different generations, business units, regions, and functions are all factors that can also influence the innovation process.