Western Sydney author, entrepreneur and cultural intelligence advocate Anu Bedi has launched two new books examining the changing relationship between culture, identity, leadership and belonging in contemporary Australia.
Bedi unveiled SHIFT! The CQ Advantage – Why Cultural Intelligence is the New Leadership Superpower and Beyond Monoculture: Oneness Without Sameness at the Future of Leadership Forum at Western Sydney University on 8 September 2026. The event brought together more than 200 people from business, government, academia and the community.
The two books approach the question of cultural difference from complementary perspectives. While SHIFT! focuses on cultural intelligence and its role in leadership, Beyond Monoculture examines multiculturalism, identity and the meaning of belonging in an increasingly diverse Australia.
For Bedi, the subject is also deeply personal. Having migrated from India to Australia at the age of 13, she has spent decades navigating different cultural environments through her work across government, business and community leadership. Her experiences have shaped the ideas explored throughout both books.
Bedi argues that conversations about diversity need to move beyond simply ensuring that people from different backgrounds are represented. She believes the more complex challenge begins after diverse voices have entered the same space, when organisations and communities must learn how to understand and work across different perspectives and cultural experiences.
“Representation is only the beginning. The real question is what happens once different people are actually in the room,” Bedi said.
In SHIFT! The CQ Advantage, Bedi presents cultural intelligence as a practical leadership capability. The book encourages leaders to move beyond basic cultural awareness and develop the ability to navigate different behaviours, perspectives and cultural environments in meaningful ways.
The second book, Beyond Monoculture: Oneness Without Sameness, expands the discussion into questions of identity and belonging. Bedi examines how people can maintain their cultural differences while still developing a shared sense of connection and community.
At the centre of the book is Bedi’s proposition that belonging does not require people to become identical. As she puts it, “Oneness isn’t sameness. It’s the ability to belong together without having to become alike.” She describes this as part of what she sees as the promise of multicultural Australia.
The Western Sydney University launch also opened a broader discussion about the future of culture, leadership and technology. Professor Amanda Third helped establish the context for the evening before drawing on passages from Bedi’s books and concluding with an excerpt from Bedi’s Letter to Australia.
The presentation added an intergenerational dimension to the event, connecting the themes explored in the books with wider questions about how Australia understands its changing social and cultural identity.
Bedi said the response to the launch had extended beyond book sales, with attendees remaining after the formal programme to exchange experiences and discuss the issues raised during the evening. For her, those conversations demonstrate an appetite for deeper discussion about culture and belonging.
“The response since the launch has been extraordinary,” Bedi said. “What has meant the most to me is not simply that people bought the books, but that they stayed, talked, questioned and shared their own experiences.”
The author sees the September launch as the starting point for a wider conversation rather than the conclusion of one. Her work seeks to encourage greater curiosity about cultural difference and to position that curiosity as an important part of developing cultural intelligence.
“Curiosity is the first step to cultural intelligence. We don’t have to become the same to belong together,” Bedi said.
Through the two publications, Bedi brings together her personal experience as an Indian migrant, her professional background and her interest in cultural intelligence to examine how Australians can approach difference without allowing it to become a barrier to shared belonging.
