In any organizational setting, leaders are best off keeping their cool and avoiding big swings — in mood and in direction. This goes tenfold for the Western leader in China, where there's much more than the standard fare to knock you off your game.

In this environment, equanimity is crucial. Despite cultural breakdowns all around — miscommunication, ruffled feathers, unmet expectations, and plain old prejudice — the culture-savvy leader remains above it all. She expects strong emotions, so she's not prone to overreacting. Instead of falling back on her heels, she leads from the balls of her feet: solid, stable, grounded, balanced. Her empathy helps her in this: able to see things from many perspectives, she doesn't take any one view too seriously — including her own. She trusts her instincts, but she's not wedded to any single idea or way of doing things.

From the outside it might look easy, but it's anything but. Like any human, she has internal reactions, including those based on her own prejudices. Those reactions are particularly charged. What she's mastered, though, is the art of identifying her reactions, getting a handle on them, and moving forward toward solutions. She's got passion and fire, but knows how to have them work for her, rather than vice versa. Her equanimity provides an anchor for her organization to do what it came to do.

Equanimity comes more naturally to some than to others. It is an absolutely essential quality of the culture-savvy leader. Thankfully it can be learned and practiced, like any skill. Do an honest assessment of your equanimity, preferably with the help of others close to you, and be sure to fill in the gaps before setting off for China.