Knowing How People Think — As a Business Tool

Creative Logical

Hardly anyone is right brain or left brain only. Some of us lean heavily one way or the other.The side favored by most people is the left-brain. It’s also the side that schools spend time developing. Most of us, however, use both sides of our brain when we need them.

Here are some interesting facts about the brains of men and women.

• Men have more brain cells than women–about 4% and 100 grams more.
• Women have more dendritic connections between their brain cells.
• Women have a larger corpus collusum, which is the organic network between the left and right brain hemispheres.This means women have a faster data transfer pipeline between the two sides.
• For most men, the left side is their dominate side.
• For most men, language skills are only in their dominate side. However, more women seem to develop language skills on both sides.

Different not better is the key here.

Knowing about Thinking

We all have brains. It’s easy to assume that all brains workthe same like legs and arms do, but that’s just not so. Still we tend to think that people who think the way we do are smart . . . and those who don’t, well, they’re not.

Ever been called difficult when you were trying just to understand what people are talking about? Yeah, I have too. That’s what it feels like when you’re in a room of folks who don’t process the same as you do, and they don’t know that brains can work differently. It’s not fun. Is it?

Thinking is an important business tool. Knowing about thinking is even more important.

Knowing how my mind works is useful. Knowing that others don’t think as I do is more useful than that. It’s true. Some folks see things first. Some have to talk them through. Some need to think before they talk about ideas. Some need to build a model and look at it to describe what they’re thinking. Knowing that opens me up to a wealth of new perspectives and skills.

Extroverts think introverts aren’t smart because they don’t talk right away.
Introverts think extroverts aren’t smart because they don’t think before they talk.

Once we find out that other folks process differently — they get so much nicer. They magically stop being difficult, quit trying to thwart us at every turn. That opens up miles of room for discussion where cramped corners of controversy and conflict once stood.

Understanding that everyone processes in their own way is good personal branding. It’s the calling card of a leader and a great manager. More than that it’s a sign of a decent human being.

Imagine what might happen if that variety of thinking skills got channeled in one direction, and the humanity that allowed them to coexist actually caught on.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to:
Male-Female Brain Differences
Do women make better managers?

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Right Brain Creative? Business Needs You