Gender Intelligence: Breakthrough Strategies for Increasing Diversity and Improving Your Bottom Line

by Barbara Annis, Keith Merron Narrated by Coleen Marlo

Overview

Despite forty years of laws, quotas, diversity training, and legal expenses aimed toward equalizing pay, opportunities, and working conditions between the sexes, the glass ceiling remains firmly intact. For too long, companies have played the "numbers game"-attempting to tackle gender imbalance by forcing affirmative action policies and numeric standards on organizations to increase the representation of women in management. Yet, these efforts have rarely been sustained.



In this groundbreaking comprehensive analysis, based on more than twenty-five years of in-depth surveys involving 100,000 men and women across dozens of Fortune 500 companies, Barbara Annis and Keith Merron provide a deeper understanding of the multiplicity of forces that have combined to create and perpetuate gender inequality. Gender Intelligence exposes common false assumptions that prevent men and women from successfully performing together at work-myths exacerbated by worn-out theories of gender blindness and sameness thinking. It show how a small but growing number of courageous, leading-edge companies have broken through the barriers to successfully advance women, making the remarkable transformation from compliance to choice-from pressure to preference-and show how it can be done in any business.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

03/31/2014
In this study of gender diversity in the workplace, Annis (coauthor of Work with Me: The 8 Blind Spots Between Men and Women in Business) and her colleague Merron reach some startling conclusions based on over 25 years of in-depth surveys involving male and female global managers. They identify several "gender blind spots"—incorrect assumptions that cause misunderstandings—including the false notions that equality means sameness, and the idea that women should think and act like men. Exploring the confluence of these detrimental beliefs, they advocate for adopting gender intelligence in highly successful organizations, pointing to examples such as American Express, where a culture of difference-thinking has been utilized with success. In addition to covering the scientific differences between how men and women think, the authors explore leadership responsibility inherent in instigating such a change in attitudes, and document the five stages through which an organization will evolve into "a gender-intelligent company." The book appropriately focuses on the economic benefits of adopting gender intelligence and shows how to get started, as well as illustrating how and why gender intelligence benefits us all. 17 illus. (May)

From the Publisher

The book appropriately focuses on the economic benefits of adopting gender intelligence and shows how to get started, as well as illustrating how and why gender intelligence benefits us all.” — Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

2014-04-02
Strategies to balance gender inequity at work. Through comprehensive research and data collected over a span of 25 years, Annis (co-author: Work with Me: The 8 Blind Spots Between Men and Women in Business, 2013) and Merron (Inner Freedom: Living Authentically the Life You Were Truly Meant to Live, 2013, etc.) pull back the shades on the question of gender inequality in the business world. Despite years of improved laws and access, women still hold far fewer positions of power than men. Traditionally, the effort to change this imbalance has focused on educating women to "adapt to the world of business, to take charge of their careers as men would, and to advance—no matter how inauthentic and uninviting it felt." They concluded that in order to balance the gender equation, the focus must extend beyond what women should do to include men in the solution. Instead of forcing women to become more like men, the authors recommend embracing the differences they bring to the workplace, which offset and complement the strategies men have found useful and successful. Companies that have adopted this new idea of gender intelligence, the authors write, have found that "gender-blended teams start to create more innovative ideas, operate more effectively, and produce greater profitability." Annis and Merron effectively summarize the science buttressing the effectiveness of gender-blended teams, then move into the economic and personal benefits for companies and individuals who practice this technique. They discuss the role of leadership and the gradual spread of gender-intelligence ideas and practices around the globe. The fact that gender inequality still exists, particularly in economically developing nations, reinforces the authors' contention that these theories desperately need to be put into practice. Practical solutions to an age-old dilemma.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176393194
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	12/08/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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