5 things in business that women do better than men.
Venus Envy. WHEN IT COMES TO BUSINESS, WHY MEN ARE THE WEAKER SEX.
I am privileged to have spent almost all my career in advertising and marketing until now, working for women. Now I work for myself and I try to apply the observations I have made over the years. The following missive attempts to capture some of these.
I didn’t sleep well last night because I was too warm which in the current climate was of considerable annoyance to another of the inspirational women in my time who thought it was too cold:
My wife.
She works full time as a portfolio GP as well as looking after our home and our three children. Ah three more inspirational young ladies. Now I get to see what happens from the start. I fear for my sanity as I write.
On a business level four other women have also had a key influence on me in my career:
• Carol Reay was Managing Director of Reay Keating Hamer, an agency I joined in 1994 years ago becoming Mellors Reay in the latter stages.
• Amanda Walsh, Managing Director of Walsh Trott Chick Smith at the time. She really gave me my wings and had a great way of keeping them clipped too.
• Gillian Robinson , one of the founders of the agency I now own. A career agency girl who worked in a male dominated world from a very young age right up to her retirement at the age of 62.
• And finally, Jane Campbell Garrett at O&M. Head of training and personnel when I left. She provided me with the desire to extend my knowledge and indeed passed on a desire to share that knowledge to others without conditions.
And it is here that I start my ramble on some of differences between men and women. Brought into relief by the book men are from mars, women are from Venus. You may need a Mars Bar to get through this one!
If my inspiration is to come from Venus then the topic of the article is what five things do I envy that women seem to do better than men in a business world:
1. Women appear not to be obsessed by being successful.
2. Women get to the point quickly
3. Women can multitask
4. Women can operate without the influence of sex
5. Women are able to be emotional.
I’d like to consider each of these in turn. They are by no means exhaustive as a list but for me are amongst the key factors that potentially make me a member of the weaker sex.
1. WOMEN APPEAR NOT TO BE OBSESSED BY BEING SUCCESSFUL.
Women are great networkers. The use of word of mouth is a natural way for them to network, to help each other and thereby help themselves.
Can you imagine a men’s club that would do this. Sure there are plenty of men’s clubs but they are to see who is doing better than any one else. Can I drink more, play sport better, drive a faster, bigger car. Is my football team doing better than yours? Am I considerably more successful than you?
Women just get on with it. They don’t think about where it will get them. All they focus on is doing a good job. Success follows.
For men it’s different. We spend our time worrying about who thinks what, where, when and how do we get there.
“It’s hard work you know but if I get it right then whether I know what I’m doing is almost irrelevant because I’ve been clever enough and no-one will find out”.
Another example is in graduate interviews today. Ask a girl what she wants to be doing in five years time and she says ‘a good job and to enjoy it’ whereas the bloke would say ‘ your job or Managing Director’ We’re taught to say that.
There is a real sense even at this level that Women have a choice and so when committed to any particular course they give it their all.
Men today only have their jobs. We can’t have babies and our inclination to stay at home and househusband is just not there yet.
As such there is a hidden threat to men from the fact that there are now more working women than men.
Me I’m obsessed about where I’m going so I have to politic. Women are less inclined to play this game.
Talking of games.
2. WOMEN GET TO THE POINT QUICKLY.
Now lets be serious here. You can’t open a meeting by telling everyone what we’re all there for. I mean it leaves no opportunity to discuss last nights football results, or let me tell you about my new car, or tell you a joke that I heard down the pub last night, or chat about anything at all that has no bearing on the meeting at all.
Now of course we know why we’re supposed to be in the meeting but do we really have to be so direct and just get on with it ?
I mean we need to get a bit of posturing in, spread our plumage, establish who fits in where.
I guess it links with my first point. Women just don’t seem to need to do that. Women make meetings efficient by providing clarity. It may even mean that women become better communicators because they start with the point, stick to the point and leave everyone involved clear on where they stand.
Now I draw on nature in my defence.
When working on a farm in the Cotswolds as a student I got a chance to work with the herdsman for a week.
One day we transferred a cow from one herd to another. As we loaded the cow into the trailer the rest of the cows who been happily munching grass all started running around and butting each other. I thought little of it given they weren’t to know they weren’t next. But when we placed the cow in the new field where all the cows were happily munching grass they all went crazy.
The herdsman guessed what I was thinking and said.
‘Them’s cows be steady in fours hours’
Four hours later we passed both fields and sure enough happily munching grass.
The explanation from the herdsman was a simple one. The introduction and indeed the removal of the cow meant the hierarchy of the field was disturbed and this needed to be re-established with the new cow in it’s rightful place in that hierarchy.
That’s what men are like - they need to establish their hierarchy in a group situation by banter and faffing. Women seem to know where they are and just get on with it.
I certainly admire this and wish they could as well.
I’m not sure that is something I get right every time.
3. WOMEN CAN MULTITASK.
“Sorry I can’t do that at the moment, in fact I can’t even think about it at the moment. I’ll get back to you.” A typical male response.
Now I don’t get that from the women I have worked with and it inspires confidence that the job is getting done.
Men are linear. Do one thing then another. That’s why fixing engines, kicking a ball, playing golf , watching television are things men can do really well.
In work the effect is that men are easily overloaded by too many things going on at once. Women don’t seem to have that problem.
I’ve tried to work out why but I think nature is at work again.
You see since my three daughters have arrived I’ve come to realise that you have to learn how to multi task and bloody quickly.
For example when you are changing the babies nappy you can guarantee that the older child will role off the chair and bump their head on the ground. Now that never happens with my wife. Forget that the toast is burning, the bloke at the front door has been waiting for five minutes and the telephone has just rung off.
Working in our industry is like that. You rarely know what lies in store for you in a given day. Women are geared up right from the start to handle the many streams of info that fly at them at any given time.
It is a thing I admire about my female colleagues.
Just don’t ask me to do more than one thing at a time !!!!!
4. WOMEN CAN OPERATE WITHOUT THE INFLUENCE OF SEX.
This is the most difficult of differences to describe. Indeed when talking it over with my wife the conversation did not go well.
In a work environment men rarely , if ever, feel threatened by the gaze of a female colleague but I know that this is not always true the other way around. Women are able to take their colleagues as colleagues. If you do a good job then you the relationship blossoms.
The problem for men is that no meeting lasts less than 6 seconds, which I am told is the average time between one sexual thought and another. This means that as women enter the workforce there are more and more distractions.
Now I have seen some women use this to gain advantage in any given situation but beware the foolish male because undoubtedly he will get caught out.
I recall a meeting with a Unilever company in the early 90’s. My then management supervisor was an American lady who traded on her longs legs and flowing blond hair. She arrived at a meeting with the chairman of that company and was late. Also as she had come by car, had the art bag. The rest of us were already present and we were about to present a whole launch strategy for a new product.
As she entered the room , you could see the chairman staring as she placed the art bag on the ground etc. etc. I am convinced to this day she knew exactly what she was doing. The chairman shuffled in his seat and turned to me and gave a knowing wink. I felt sick.
Once settled she then ran the meeting and he never got a look in. We sold the campaign and as I recall it worked well.
Fortunately I see much less of that nowadays thank goodness but it goes to highlight how fickle men can really be. We can deal with Maggie Thatcher ‘cos she’s like us but everyone else puts us on our guard.
Finally
5. WOMEN HAVE THE CAPACITY TO BE EMOTIONAL
Now big boys don’t cry, my mother would say. And now I can’t.
Women can communicate better than men because they can do it with emotion so that the Client feels the point not just listens to it. Also because women are searching for the emotional element they make good listeners.
Men are much more left brain and logical and need to package things in boxes and this shapes all their discussions. Women can be more right brain and receptive to new ideas.
Men need the solution. Women find the solution simply by working with a problem.
It does lead to different language:
A MAN’s view is
:
A man is: A woman is:
Authoritative Bossy
Strong Tough
Leader Aggressive
Sensitive Emotional
I know that this annoys the hell out of most women and in the end they can’t be bothered with it all.
So where does that leave us . Near the end fortunately.
As the world changes and more women break into the higher ranks of the business world I look forward to learning the value of:
• Doing a job well
• Clarity and direction
• Increased awareness of everything around us
• Perceiving everyone equally
• Adding heart to mind.
Now if we could package that and put it into every piece of communication we created we would be touching the consumer more effectively than ever be they Clients or punters on the street.
That aside these things have proven to be the inspiration for me and have manifested themselves mostly amongst the women I have worked with.
Until such time as everyone is like this, I remain at your service as the weaker sex.
Thank you.
Barnaby Wynter
December 2007
|