Iceberg or Beacon? How the Cultural Iceberg Guide Us Toward Greater Inclusion

back of woman looking at icebergs

Over 20 years ago, the blockbuster film Titanic recreated the story of modern history’s deadliest peacetime commercial marine disaster. Whether you’ve seen the film or not, you likely know how the ship once called “unsinkable” met its deadly fate. While the Titanic crew made efforts to maneuver around an iceberg they spotted ahead, the ship collided with what they couldn’t see – the dangerous ice that protruded just below the surface.

Twenty years prior to this, Edward T. Hall developed his version of the icy formation and called it the Cultural Iceberg. This model has been used to help everyone from study abroad students to Peace Corps volunteers understand and engage with cultures outside of their own. Above the water’s surface are the numerous observable characteristics of a group that we see with our eyes such as food, dances, arts ,etc. The reality, however, is that these are merely an external manifestation of the deeper and broader components of culture — the complex ideas and deeply-held preferences and priorities known as attitudes and core values that lies deep below the “water line”.

diagram of the cultural iceberg

What’s Lies Beneath

These core values are primarily learned ideas of what is good, right, desirable, and acceptable as well as what is bad, wrong, undesirable, and unacceptable. In many cases, different cultural groups share similar core values (such as “honesty”, or “respect”, or “family”), but these are often interpreted differently in different situations and incorporated in unique ways into our daily lives. Core values are passed on from generation to generation by numerous factors which surround us and influence us. These formative factors are powerful forces that guide us and teach us throughout our lives. The things our educators and parents teach us, the opinions and ideas we see and hear in the media, the way our laws and social norms structure our world — all these things (and many more) mold us and our cultural values.

What Reaches the Surface

Ultimately, our Interpretations of our core values become visible to the casual observer in the form of Observable Behaviors, such as the words we use, the way we act, the laws we enact, and the ways we communicate with each other. So, like an iceberg, there are things that we can see and describe easily. But there are also many deeply rooted ideas that we can only understand by analyzing values, studying formative factors, and in many cases, reflecting on our own core values.

How the Cultural Iceberg Guides Us Toward Inclusion

Its likely Hall didn’t intend to join two words that tend to make us a little uncomfortable. But just like the crew of the Titanic, in the professional world we tend to steer clear of understanding our own cultural icebergs. Without knowing how to navigate our own and others’ cultures, we tend to blindly collide with the cultural behaviors and values of others. Without this understanding, we can sabotage even our best efforts to be inclusive. We see this time and time again in examples such as when an ad campaign appropriates a certain culture, or a hiring manager rejects a talented candidate’s interview performance based upon their own narrow cultural lens.

But over the past several years, uncomfortable and courageous conversations about race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and a whole host of cultural differences have only become more common – and they will continue to flourish in the future. This is where an intercultural mindset will become imperative to moving the needle on diversity and inclusion. In a business context, this means understanding the similarities and the differences present on our teams, in our organizations, and across our customer base. It requires understanding our own lenses, and also taking on other lenses to broaden the range of alternatives before us. This way we can foresee where there is likely to be tension, and where there is opportunity for cultural connection synergy.

Diverse and inclusive environments cannot survive without exploring what is above or below the surface of our own and others’ cultural icebergs. Building intercultural competence is a journey that truly never ends, yet we can make substantial progress and notably increase skills and improve outcomes by moving toward the cultural iceberg instead of maneuvering around it.


The cultural iceberg is an excellent way to visual the hidden aspects of diversity and cultural differences that we tend to ignore or not understand in society. there is so much that is misunderstand about other cultures unless we ask the uncomfortable questions and take the time to look beneath the surface.

This reminds me when I learned about the Muslim religion as a Christian I know what it is important to me but I didn’t really know what was important to a Muslim. Conversation with a friend bridged that gap and gave me understanding of the Muslim faith.

I would have never considered many of the factors that Edward T. Hall explains through his model of the cultural iceberg. In the model he explains very thoroughly of the hidden message when it comes to explaining cultural differences and diversity. In my opinion we tend to value more our own values than recognizing others and misunderstanding where others might be coming from. The model was a clearer picture when it comes to cultural differences and diversity.

I think that this should be required learning! Given that we are global citizens and more connected than ever before, it is so important that we explore not only our own cultural icebergs, but those of the people we teach, work and live with.

Diversity and cultural differences will continue to be just at the suffice as we learn to navigate the water. There will always be things to discover under the water and it will always be changing and growing. I like the visual.

This world today is made up of different cultural backgrounds, I think this should be taught in every school as an introduction to students and their different backgrounds .

In our public school system the diversity keeps increasing and we need to be better prepared on how to best help them succeed.

it is always hard to understand ones’ perspective without being willing to submit to learn or inquire their background and that’s exactly what the iceberg analogy brings to our understanding.

Laura Bucci

I absolutely love this metaphor! When people try to avoid the iceberg that they see, only to realize it’s underneath them as well, so there is no avoiding it!!!! We must become open to others’ beliefs and viewpoints and sensitive to their culture! Also we must become humble, open to the idea that not everything we believe is “the only right way”! We have to embrace others.

I recently read a book that was set in Wyoming around 1900. I don’t know many specifics of my own Ancestry, but I recognized that the immigrant culture described in the story was my grandfather’s culture. The story’s time and place felt a part of me. I identified with one character especially. The story introduced me to a new facet of myself and as a result, gave me a fuller, more relaxed confidence in who I am. I am a descendant of poor, but proud European immigrants. Why would I look down -or up – on another culture? America was once filled by the descendants of poor, brave European immigrants. Appreciating about some of my own previously-submerged culture helps me to appreciate other cultures. The book was by Willa Cather.

Every culture has its own music, dance, food, and many other visual qualities, but it is only through encounter that we realize the real values of a culture. what is underneath, and it is not visible but it stops the minds of others are the true value of a culture. The physical aspects can be modified and change over time, but the core values ar passed on from generation to generation.

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