Customer Reviews

Leadership and the Sexes: Using Gender Science to Create Success in Business (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)

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I am a professor of Cognitive Science who specialized in brain imaging at a major research University. I write this review having been disgusted to recently read some quotes from this book in a paper by a student. This book makes baldly false claims. It is worthless from a scientific point of view. Gender differences in the brain are subtle, and so far it has proven hard to identify any reliable brain differences that translate through to behavioral differences. I often look for such differences in my research on social and scientific reasoning, and to date I have found them too small to be significant. This is not to say that there are no biological gender differences. There are small behavioral differences (e.g. on mental rotation), and some small biological differences (see work by Larry Cahill). However cultural effects of gender stereotype are also very strong - the current evidence would suggest they are far stronger than any genuine biological differences. Self-report measures show clear differences, because those measures assess people's self-concept, but neither objective behavior nor neural measures show such clear differences.
Books like this one play loose with scientific facts in the service of reinforcing social stereotypes. These stereotypes tend to be heavily internalized by men and women, so that they actually influence their performance on tests, causing them to perform less well than they might otherwise. This phenomenon is called stereotype threat - you can google it. Because of stereoptype threat, we can't even be sure the small differences we see between genders on objective performance tests reflect genuine differences in potential, or are merely reflections of social sterotypes.
I hope this makes it clear that a book like this not just scientifically inaccurate, it is also socially dangerous.
Those who want to read a scientifically respectable, well-informed, and balanced book about gender differences in the brain should read Lise Eliot's book "Pink Brain, Blue Brain".

Gender has become such an important topic in companies and organizations that senior leaders and line executives will lose effectiveness if they don't have the latest scientific brain research straightforwardly described in this book.

Most valuable, this book also includes some practical, easy to use tools and approaches that I applied in my work (and home) -- immediately.

From Michael Gurian we finally have a serious, business-oriented, fact-based, value/politics free knowledgebase and resources for moving to the next generation of gender effectiveness and mobilizing the special skills and capabilities of women and men.

So much of the current "gender diversity" approaches and rhetoric, presentations and training programs are based on feel-good ideology and anecdotes. For example, trying to make guys more like women or women less "aggressive." I've been involved in a lot of these and everybody's eyes just glaze over now.

I've been buying this book for my friends and it has made a difference in their work right away.

Oh, how this book has already changed the way we do business -- from listening to clients to negotiating with potential clients -- we have embraced and incorporated the many lessons Michael Gurian and Barbara Annis have to teach (we were extremely lucky to get an advance reading copy so have a two month jump on our competition). Michael's parenting books have always described my son, and helped me so tremendously with his learning issues. But this crossover into the corporate world is pure genius. From every budding entrepreneur to every CEO, from the smallest local businesses to the largest global conglomerate, every one in business needs to read this book.

Aargh!! I just heard the numbers in this book parroted on the CBS Early Show. How can any rational person believe a book that says "Men have approximately six and a half times more gray matter related to cognition and intelligence than women have, and women have nearly ten times more white matter related to cognition and intelligence than men have.." That means 650% more gray matter, folks! (And 1000% more white matter!)

To think that this self-styled "philosopher," WITHOUT ANY MEDICAL OR SCIENTIFIC TRAINING, could go on publishing this junk!! Someone must put a stop to Michael Gurian and his absurd "brain-based" claims about gender differences. The real data on sex differences in the human brain are much more subtle and of no known behavioral signficance.

If women have trouble as leaders it is because our society still unconsciously associates the word "leader" with "male." So women need to sidestep in all these careful ways to get their point across and encourage others to follow them without appearing pushy or unfeminine.

Ah, but if we tell people it's all "hardwired," then we don't have to change our stereotypes--or our power structure!

In the 1990's Time magazine ran a cover story featuring "new research" that found that men and women - were different. As "shocking" as that particular cover story tried to be, it only confirmed what most people already knew. Perhaps a more shocking revelation revolves around the conscious and unconscious behaviors we demonstrate in the presence of gender differences as well as the resulting impact on an organization's performance. The book Leadership and the Sexes shows how gender-different styles, modes of operating and leadership skills all interact to produce a cumulative effect on a company. It further notes that any corporation that positively leverages those differences puts itself at a distinct advantage to its competition. The compelling case that's built around this insight earns this book a rousing Soundview recommendation. Leadership and the Sexes seamlessly integrates jarring gender-study brain scan results from researcher Michael Gurian with compelling business examples gleaned from the gender issues consultancy work of Barbara Annis into a fascinating read. Additionally, the authors provide five field-tested GenderTools to help spur communication and cooperation while minimizing conflict. Bottom line, this book is worthwhile for anyone who works with or manages a member of the opposite sex.

This book was a great help to me in changing some things I do at work with colleagues; things run smoother and the job is more satisfying now.

Finally, a practical book about how to work best with the opposite sex--at work! Michael Gurian brings his best thinking about gender differences and the brain to the corporate conference room. This book is full of insights about how and why men and women "work differently," and it is chock full of ideas about how individual leaders, managers--as well as the teams they lead--can understand these differences and use them to grow bigger, better, more effective organizations.

It goes far beyond the Mars/Venus approach to gender because it links men and women to science. It's highly readable, and yet it goes deep into who we are and what makes us tick. I'm a Human Resources Specialist, and I'm very glad to have this book for my team.

Book arrived on time and is in excellent condition. I am very satisfied with the purchase.

This pleasant book is easy to read and easy to apply. What's enjoyable about the book, beyond the clarity of the writing, is the positive tone Michael Gurian and Barbara Annis strike. As they note, too often gender discussions are fraught with tension, and many workplaces markedly favor one sex over the other. However, the authors not only communicate the benefits of developing "gender intelligence," they sound completely convinced that businesspeople can improve their gender understanding and relationships almost immediately, and they provide tools for doing so. That said, while the authors are careful to speak in terms of gender tendencies and not absolutes, they sometimes do generalize in ways that might excuse specific actions as biological male or female behavior. That issue aside, getAbstract recommends this book to managers, human resource personnel and anyone interested in understanding gender issues and proclivities.