Men 'Rest,' Women Run Off Topic - Business Meetings and Gender Differences

I once had a friend who became a well-known TV home repair guru because she could never rely on her husband. A hard-working attorney, on weekends he'd frequently crash on their leather couch where he'd watch TV and often fall asleep.

According to Forbes magazine, he may be hard-wired to behave that way.

In an article on gender science, Matthew Kirdahy looks at research from the soon-to-be released Leadership and the Sexes: Using Gender Science to Create Success in Business, written by Michael Gurian and Barbara Annis. Here's an excerpt, with a line that's been bolded by me because it's just too, too funny:

Forget about individuals for a second, and observe everyone just as male or female on the job.

According to the book, due out in August, men are more apt to zone out in a meeting since their brains are designed to enter a "rest state" more easily than women. In that same meeting, women may run off topic before returning to the task at hand because they're born multi-taskers.

Okay, I'm the queen of tangential discussions - I go off topic all the time. (Lately I try very hard to leave something like mental breadcrumbs so I can find my way back to the main discussion after sidetracking to make a point.) So the 'multi-tasker' label got me nodding in agreement. But the idea that men's brains are "designed to enter a 'rest state' more easily than women"? HA! But here I am, going off topic again. Just like I'm hard-wired to do.

This tidbit is just one of many interesting 'we suspected it already but it's good to know there's a study and a book that proves it' facts. Here's another: women read facial cues better than men.

If you could see the grin on my face right now, you'd probably know what I'm thinking...if you were female.