Business communication pedagogy continues to debate the ways in which professional experience and theoretical training shape cross-cultural negotiation competencies. This study compares cultural intelligence (CQ) self-assessments and live simulation performance among 55 executive education participants and 79 university students from Mexico and Germany. Participants completed a CQ instrument before a multicultural HQ–subsidiary negotiation simulation. Students reported higher metacognitive, cognitive, and behavioral CQ but not motivational CQ. HQ teams outperformed subsidiary teams, and bilateral negotiations generated stronger performance than did presentations. The findings suggest that the simulation architecture influences which communication competencies are observable and rewarded.