The Female Business Brain
What does it take to motivate a woman to succeed in the business world? Surprisingly it doesn’t take much.
The business world is a male model of brain processessing – organized, linear structure, direct goal oriented and competitive drive to succeed at being the biggest, the best, and the most respected or feared. While more women have entered the territory and garnered positions and respect, they are still not proportionately representative of the workforce. The women, who have achieved success status report having had to work twice as hard, have at times to accept less pay than their male counterparts and having to think like a man.
There has been some argument among researchers that the female brain has a slightly larger corpus callosum. This is the bridge tissue between the right and left brain hemispheres, and it’s a possible explanation of why women are able to move more easily back and forth between the two hemispheres than men. Men in general operate from their logical, linear left hemisphere and women in general use the creative, intuitive side of their right hemisphere. While this is a generality description, both genders switch between both hemispheres but each favors one hemisphere over the other for their dominant thinking process.
It seems that in terms of business, women who take on a success track switch more to left brain processing. But, what happens to competent business women who don’t feel comfortable being in the driving competitive mode all the time? If competition isn’t going to motivate them, like it does their male coworkers, what will?
The female brain is wired to respond to feedback. Women in business respond well to having some sort of confirmation they are on track. They will either be self-analyzing or looking for recognition or praise for achievements.
On the other hand, the male brain responds best to outcome. Men are looking for recognition after they have achieved and will use their ego belief about themselves as their motivating force.
The female brain thrives on the recognition of achieving what it set out to accomplish.
The male brain thrives on the accomplishment but wants recognition in the form of a title, a parking space with their name on it, or keys to the executive restroom.
So, the easiest way to motivate the female business brain is to:
- Observe male business colleagues and use what works for you and forget the rest
- Develop a good feedback system that keeps you on track
- Develop and capitalize on your right brain skills for creativity and intuition. (Men hate it when your right and it’s not logical.)
By Joyce Hansen
