What is cultural capital?

Academically, cultural capital is defined as “forms of knowledge, both tangible and intangible, that have value in a given society in relation to status and power.” However, I would like to offer a more practice-oriented definition of cultural capital: the rules for engaging other types of capital (human, economic, social).

Cultural capital defines how people (human) engage each other (social) and their resources (economic). Whether the culture of an organization is good or bad – cultural capital is created when values, traditions, beliefs and language become the currency to leverage other types of capital.

For actionable leaders, cultural capital is the most important type of capital. It is the difference between creating an environment to maintain the status quo or building the foundation for making change.