Men and Women are Different!

Over the years there has been much speculation about the different ways men and women think and what they’re better at doing. Depending on your bias and experience, you believe they think completely differently or there is little difference. Ragini Verma, Associate Professor Radiology at Pereleman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, has now used a new technology, diffusion tensor imaging, for mapping the way the brain works and so has added facts to the debate.

The research she and her colleagues have recently published in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences has discovered clear differences in the way brains of men and women function. Below is a picture of the connections, men in blue, women in orange. Visit Brain Connectivity Study for a better view and more information about the study.

It turns out in men the dominant connections are within each of the two brain hemispheres. In women the dominant connections are between hemispheres. The differences in connections have major impact on the way men’s and women’s brains process information and the behavior and skills this leads to. Neither is better or worse, they’re just different. For our purposes, the important thing is to realize that you need both ways of thinking for greatest success.

While there is variation, Verma’s research begins to explain why women tend to have better memories and be more able multitaskers while men tend to be more monomaniacal and have better motor and spatial abilities. Their brains operate in different ways, connecting different parts of the brain more strongly which leads to these differences.

What does this mean for business? All kinds of things. To name a few areas of impact, there are implications for management, team composition, coaching, training, and communication. Think about how advertisers have used these differences to great effect.

Unfortunately this goes against the idea that we all should be treated exactly the same way. It seems we each need different things. Luckily these two ideas of equality and difference can both be accommodated, if you keep them in mind.

As a manager you need to ensure that you accommodate all ways of thinking. Your style, your communication, your actions need to incorporate messages that address all types of people. To the extent that you are able to speak to everyone, that you view variety of style as a strength and use it well, that you accommodate different needs and ways of thinking, you build an engaged passionate organization able to work together to realize your big vision.