In order for us to align business practices with human nature–the way we process information, make decisions, etc.–we must first understand how humans are wired to operate. One area that people tend to shy away from are the differences between men and women. This is a touchy subject for any number of reasons, but we risk misaligning our business practices in ways that hurt men, or women, or both, when we fail to take into account that gender differences do exist.

Louann Brizendine, MD, in her books, The Female Brain, and The Male Brain, illustrates the neuroanatomical differences between men and women. In other words, there are male brains and female brains. The change occurs at the eight-week mark while male babies are in the womb. Notice, I did not include women in this statement because, as it turns out, the default position of the brain is female. Men and women begin life with “a female brain.” Yes, the cells of men have a Y-chromosome, so their brains are fundamentally different, but the structures of the brain are pretty much the same.  This changes at the eight-week mark when “the tiny male testicles begin to produce enough testosterone to marinate the brain and fundamentally alter its structure.”  Louann Brizendine, MD, The Male Brain (New York: Harmony Books,  2010), p. 2.

Among the structural changes: the Medial Preoptic Area (MPOA) of the male hypothalamus grows 2.5 times larger than the female’s MPOA. This area regulates sexual pursuit. That explains a lot, doesn’t it? Another area that is larger in males than in females, and also part of the hypothalamus, is the Dorsal Premamillary Nucleus that “contains the circuitry for a male’s instinctive one-upmanship, territorial defense, fear and aggression.” (Brizendine, p. xv).

This work correlates well with Susan Tannen’s work in sociolinguistics where she illustrates how men tend to have hierarchical relationships and their speech, or lack of it, reflects this. They always want to be “one-up,” in her wording, and not “one-down.” Women, on the other hand, operate in a more horizontal fashion, seeking to preserve the group harmony and consensus at the expense of staying at the top of a hierarchical ladder.

These finding correlate well with the Myers-Briggs world of Type. Around 3/4 of women tested are “Feeling” types that are more concerned with maintaining group harmony and dislike confrontation, unlike the other side of this dichotomy, the “Thinking” type.

All of this impacts communication, among other things. As Tannen famously noted, men don’t like to ask for directions because it places them in a “one-down” position. The person who may, or may not, possess the information being sought is now one-up.

Without an understanding of human nature we can make the most basic skills–e.g., communication–less functional than it should be. And this is just one small area, with a huge impact across all areas, where an understanding of how we tick can improve our performance.

Sales is an area that I am most familiar with and the way many salespeople, if not most, work against human nature instead of with it is astounding. I’ve consulted with European and American sales forces; some have had PhDs as salespeople, but education and intellect did not change the fact that their approach worked against human nature instead of with it. My volunteer work coaching the unemployed reveals the same issue. People, for example, interview in a way that is contrary to success. But once they align their interviewing, or selling, or communicating, with human nature, the results are much better and the chances of a successful outcome are greatly enhanced.