The Only Woman in the Room

For most of my business career I’ve been the only woman in the room.  When I started selling mainframes back in the day – I was the only woman sales rep in my company.  When I moved into marketing, I was the only woman in the team. When I started my own consulting business in the late ‘80s, I was the only woman in the executive team meetings or the boardroom for my clients.  It was a man’s world and I learned how to live in it.

Fast forward to today. I’m still usually the only woman in the room.

Some folks say women are discriminated against in managerial and executive positions. Personally I’ve rarely felt that was true.  Sure, a few people have been less than respectful to me, but that’s true outside of business as well. In my 30+ year career, I’ve usually been treated with respect as my clients trust me to drive revenue growth for their businesses.

Some folks say women are discriminated against in managerial and executive positions. Personally I’ve rarely felt that was true.

Yep, I’m one of those rare women in the boardroom. I choose to be there as an executive consultant. To this day I enjoy working in those male dominated rooms. I suppose I’m somewhat of an exception.

Most women choose to simply move on.

Why Do Women Leave?
Some women leave the work force to have families. They choose to stay home and raise their kids. Then they find other ways to create business opportunities for themselves. Some of us, like me, leave to start our own businesses. I did just that when I was 27 years old.  I wanted the freedom of being my own boss.  But then I came back, on my own terms. Some women get frustrated with the corporate politics and leave.  Some don’t see an opportunity for advancement and so they leave.  Regardless of the reason we women leave, the majority of us do leave.

When we leave, it’s the corporations that suffer. Here’s why.

The Diversity of the Female and Male Brain
In her brilliant books, Dr Louann Brizendine* paints a detailed picture of the differences between the female and male brain. Here’s a summary of how those differences begin.

• Every brain is female in utero until 8 weeks. Female is nature’s default setting. At 8 weeks, if a burst of testosterone occurs, the brain will become male.  If it’s doesn’t happen, the brain remains female.

• That burst of testosterone dramatically changes the makeup of the now male brain.  That testosterone kills off cells in the communication and emotional centers and grows more cells in the sex and aggression centers.

• A female brain continues to grow a significantly larger communication and emotional center than the male brain, fueling empathy, intuition and more.

When we leave, it’s the corporations that suffer.

Because of our larger communication and emotional centers, females read facial expressions, hear vocal nuances, sense what’s happening in individuals and groups and create strong one-on-one social relationships.

Male brains are wired by their aggression and sexual brain centers to focus on making things happen, getting to the goal, defense of territory, physical strength and general domination of those around them.

That certainly explains a lot, now doesn’t it?

It’s the Business That Loses
I think we need both the male and the female brain’s wiring to create a balanced culture that drives business success. As women leave the corporate world for their own pursuits I have to ask:

Does communication play a key part in business success? Team success? Market success?

Is empathy important in creating customer loyalty? Employee loyalty? Team collaboration?

Is seeing the reality of a situation, sensing the unspoken truth, important in business?

I believe the answer is “YES!” to all of the above. Which is why I’ll keep on being the only woman in the room. And asking other women to join me there. Now more than ever, corporations, businesses and our modern world need the skills we bring with our oh-so female brains.

* I highly recommend you read both The Female Brain and The Male Brain. These books are amazing studies for ourselves, our kids, our teams and more.  Click here to learn more.


Photo Credit from Flickr
Rebel Brown (4 Posts)A masterful agent of change, for over 25 years Rebel has inspired, coached and empowered over 250 global organizations to ultimate performance and profitable market advantage. Rebel blends the power of neurosciences with her deep business expertise to guide executive and corporate clients to unleash their ultimate performance potential. She has been featured in First Business TV, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Business Insider and Business Week. Her best selling business book, Defy Gravity, is any leaders’ guide to breakout growth. Rebel’s Rebelations blog is read by thousands weekly. She is a an NSA and a Vistage International speaker, acting as a keynote speaker and leading workshops globally. She also was named one of the Top 100 Women in Computing. Besides speaking and writing, Rebel has vast consulting experience in shifting corporate perspectives to create breakout strategy, positioning for advantage and profitable growth. She works with US and European venture firms to successfully fund and launch companies. She also ran a consulting practice in Paris for two years, bringing European firms to the United States. Rebel is also the founder and director of the Unstoppable U Foundation, a non-profit program committed to guiding kids to know that they are born to be Unstoppable.