I guess I would be like the truck driver that's lives completely out of mainstream. "Even your credit score will someday be controlled by how much people like you." Sounds horrible. That is the opposite of the future that I want.
Maybe some people don't work well with others. Has society already deemed these people unproductive/unnecessary? Social influence is just like any other magnanimous recognition; few and far between.
It seems like there is this trend where LinkedIn bloggers pick out the 7 best attributes from their role models and suddenly everyone has to adopt that mindset or you are shamed out of your "influential" position. Just because Arianna Huffington did it, doesn't mean we all have to.
What is "cross-cultural competency"? Does that mean I have to give up my office with a window so my Muslim co-worker can pray before he eats his lunch alone every day? Or does that mean it is OK to be late for meetings like in many Asian cultures? Buzzword bingo.
As for cross-cultural competency it is a matter of the being competent for the cultures you actually cross.