[kictanet] FYI - Who make better managers?

[Alex Gakuru]

Allow me to request that we deliberately choose to avoid posting
provocative messages to all list at this moment in time. If we now
engage in genders warfares while surviving/recovering from the crisis,
surely then we would only be starting fresh new wars,if not causing
extra, uncessary anxieties.

Bobby, please try non-confrontation seeking or suggestive postings.

Regards,

Alex

On Jan 26, 2008 3:25 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> This is an interesting article on who makes better managers and I felt it
> might best explain the increase in women among top mangement and not by
> affirmative action but their own effort.
>
> Maybe former President Moi knew more than most of us when he rejected the
> concept on affirmative action, nature has already given women the edge.
>
> Its time the male of the species looked for alternative past times, the
> corporate world is not home anymore.
>
> Regards
>
>
>
>  Why companies need female managers
>  By Tim Weber
>  Business editor, BBC News website, in Davos
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  When Helen Fisher speaks, the politically correct members of her audience
> are likely to flinch.
>
>  Declaring that she's "definitely not a feminist," the American
> anthropologist from Rutgers University dissects the differences between men
> and women.
>
>  Men are more analytical; women are better long-term planners.
>
>  Each gender has a different way of falling in love.
>
>  And the invention of the plough did more to set back gender equality than
> anything else since.
>
>  What Ms Fisher says is not psychobabble. She bases her findings on
> archaeological evidence, MRI brain scans, genetics and large-scale surveys
> of how men and women behave.
>
>  And understanding that male and female brains develop and behave
> differently is important not just if you are in the dating game.
>
>  It also helps us to hire the right people, improve teamwork and can - to
> quote part of the title of her talk at the World Economic Forum in Davos -
> grow a company's bottomline.
>
>  Once upon a time
>
>  Double-income families are not an invention of modern times.
>
>
>
>
>  "In prehistoric times, double-income families were the norm, and women
> provided 60-80% of the evening meal," says Ms Fisher.
>
>  But following the invention of the plough and with the resulting need for
> hard manual labour, the power balance shifted.
>
>  Only since World War I are women re-entering the workforce and regaining
> their status in society.
>
>  But there are much more fundamental differences between men and women, says
> Ms Fisher, that have been shaped over millennia of evolution.
>
>  For starters, men and women are thinking differently. Brain scans prove it,
> as does plenty of other research.
>
>  On average, women gather more data, consider the context, are intuitive,
> have a sympathising mind and think more long-term. Ms Fisher calls it "web
> thinking".
>
>  Men, on the other hand, are more focused, think linear, focus on rules and
> the short-term - "step thinking".
>
>  The culprit
>
>  Blame testosterone for the difference. From the moment the embryo's brain
> develops in the mother's womb, high testosterone levels will make you focus
> on details in later life.
>
>
>
>
>  Now lift your hand and look at your palm. Is the ring finger longer than
> your index finger? Then you were the recipient of high levels of
> testosterone.
>
>  Chances are that you are an analytical thinker (or very musical),
> regardless of gender, while a shorter ring finger suggests you have a more
> sympathising mind. And men tend to grow up on lots of testosterone.
>
>  You want proof? Research shows that film scripts written by women are more
> complex and have more ambiguous endings than those written by men.
>
>  Male doctors focus on the illness and its treatment, while female doctors
> take a more holistic approach.
>
>  The long-term thinking of women makes them better investors.
>
>  It's even true in the bedroom, says Ms Fisher. Men tend to focus more on
> what they are doing, while women are easily distracted, she says to slightly
> embarrassed laughter from her audience.
>
>  And when men get older and their testosterone levels sink, their brain
> starts to work differently - they become more sympathetic to the plight of
> others.
>
>  But why the difference? Well, over the ages men tended to be the hunters
> and needed to focus.
>
>  Women, in contrast, had much more diverse tasks, like bringing up children
> (which Ms Fisher also believes may be the reason why women are better
> talkers: language is the key tool to control children).
>
>  The business case
>
>  So what does all this mean for business leaders?
>
>  Combine the long-term thinking of women with the short-term focus of men.
>
>  And bear in mind that different thinking also results in very different
> behaviour.
>
>  Men think more in terms of status and rank. Women prefer flat hierarchies.
>
>  Men can have tunnel vision, women may fail to get to the point.
>
>  Women find it difficult to counter aggression. When men push back, it earns
> them the respect of other men.
>
>  When women apologise, they are not really sorry. For men it's a serious
> affair, a perceived weakening of their status.
>
>  Ms Fisher's list goes on and on, but her message is clear.
>
>  Managers, says Ms Fisher, have to realise that men and women act
> differently, and that they complement each other.
>
>  Having only men or women on your team would be like hopping on one foot
> instead of walking.
>
>  As the status of women is on the rise again, says Ms Fisher, we "move
> forward to a lifestyle we had a million years ago".
>
>
>  Story from BBC NEWS:
>  http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7209353.stm
>
>  Published: 2008/01/26 00:09:17 GMT
>
>  (c) BBC MMVIII
>
>  Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> KEnya
>
> Tel: +254722511225
>
>
>  ________________________________
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