Although male bosses continue to outnumber female bosses roughly 2 to 1, according to recent
data, there’s compelling evidence that indicates female bosses have unique strengths and attributes that may make them even more effective and transformational than their male counterparts. What’s more, it appears that some of these differences in male and female leaders are brain-based. Indeed,
male and female brains are not the same.
The activity and volume observed in certain areas of the female brain appear to afford women the gifts of intuition, empathy, collaboration, self-control, and a moderate amount of worry (conscientiousness). It turns out that these attributes make for exceptional leadership! Here’s how these brain-based differences make women better bosses.
5 Brain-Based Reasons Why Women Make Better Bosses
1. Empathy
The female brain is built for empathy—the ability to identify and share in another individual’s experience. The human brain has something called mirror neurons, which are activated when we empathize with another person. These mirror neurons remarkably allow us to feel what another person is feeling. A
study published in
Neuroscience found that women have significantly more gray matter in the area of the brain’s mirror-neuron systems than men. Another
study found that women recruited areas containing mirror neurons to a higher degree than males did during exercises where they focused on emotional responses in themselves or others.
This stronger tendency towards empathy may also have to do with female brains having a greater volume in the frontal lobes than men. The frontal lobe regions hold many social and emotional processes and may be critical for cognitive empathy.
How does this translate into being better bosses? A woman’s enhanced empathy strengthens her ability to build consensus within a group.
Research indicates that empathy in leadership contributes to organizational effectiveness by naturally inspiring diversity, inclusivity, and greater employee engagement and retention, as well as promoting a culture of care, innovation, and responsibility.
2. Self-Control
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the area at the very front of the frontal lobe.
Researchers have found that the female brain’s PFC typically has more volume than male brains do. This area, considered to be the executive part of the brain, is responsible for decision-making, learning from mistakes, organization, planning, concentration/focus, self-control, forethought, judgment, and impulse control. It also controls
anger and aggression.
This may be why
research has shown women tend to be better at managing strong negative emotions than men. Women can more easily keep them in check. This measure of self-control combined with the female brain’s empathic capacity helps women to more easily pick up on emotional cues from others.
In a professional setting, this trait would alert a female boss to an escalating situation and better allow her to diffuse it. Keeping their cool, women are better able to respond to distress with calm, rather than aggression, and more swiftly come to a resolution. Ultimately, self-control allows women to exert excellent managerial skills.
3. Intuition
Across cultures and for millennia, humans have believed that women have access to an inner “knowing” that, at times, seems unexplainable. It’s called intuition. Without the reasoning process behind it and from beyond our awareness, an intuitive idea or thought presents itself to the conscious mind. While both men and women experience intuition, the structure of the female brain gives women an advantage or greater access to this phenomenon.
In the brain, gray matter is made up mostly of brain cell bodies—and white matter is composed of brain cell tracks (kind of like “communication” cables) that make the connection between the cells. In the regions of the brain related to intelligence, male brains have more gray matter, and female brains have more white matter, according to a
study conducted at the University of California, Irvine. This is significant because it suggests that men are more likely to process information in a localized way while female brains connect with many areas of the brain at the same time. Women are more able to dip into the right side of their brains, which is believed to be the emotional and spiritual center of the brain—a place of extra-sensory wisdom. A woman’s brain can pick up on more cues and information and connect them.
Additionally, women are more connected to gut feelings. Brain-imaging
research reveals that women have areas deep in the frontal lobes called the insula and anterior cingulate gyrus that are larger. These larger areas track gut feelings.
Thus, the female mind is equipped to more quickly assess the thoughts of others based on hunches or gut feelings, or only bits of information. In the business world today, when a woman can use her intuition, she can get to solutions faster than if she had to wade through lots of data. She can be highly responsive and a powerful detector of situations that may affect an organization.
Research shows that intuitive women are some of the most creative and transformational leaders.
4. Collaboration
Effective bosses know how to leverage strengths in an organization through collaboration.
Communication is very important when it comes to asking for cooperation and help—essential ingredients in successful collaboration. The language centers in female brains are typically more developed than in male brains,
research has found, which may be why women can readily communicate their need for help and collaborate with others.
Promoting successful collaboration stems from a woman’s empathic nature too. Many female bosses encourage collaboration over individual power. To merge missions and objectives, and leverage talent to reach a greater vision or outcome for an organization requires collaboration.
5. A Little Worry
In one of the
largest functional brain-imaging studies, which appeared in the
Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Amen Clinics compared the
brain SPECT scans of more than 46,000 male and female brains and found pronounced differences in activity in blood flow, showing women to have more active, busy brains. Busy female minds have a tendency towards worry, which in small doses, can be surprisingly very beneficial.
Thankfully, the brain has inhibitory neurotransmitters designed to soothe activity, and calm thoughts, as well as promote well-being and relaxation. One of them is
serotonin, which is also involved with mood, sleep, pain, and appetite regulation.
Research shows that serotonin production is 52% greater in men than women. Brain SPECT scans at the Amen Clinics also show that low serotonin levels, which are associated with overactivity, have been observed in the worry and mood centers of the brain. With female brains having less serotonin than male brains, it may help explain why women have higher rates of worry,
anxiety, and
depression.
However, a small amount of
anxiety can be good. In a work environment, this tendency to worry can be particularly helpful in seeing potential problems ahead of time. A female boss can recognize problems before they get out of control. They can even act to prevent problems before they happen and seek help when it is needed.
When you combine a small amount of worry with an intuitive, empathic mind, a female boss could potentially recognize an unhappy workforce and take steps to engage and communicate with workers in order to address issues and resolve them.
A Harvard Business Review
article titled “Are Women Better Leaders?” noted that women leaders reported that they worked harder to prove their value. They worry that they cannot rest on their laurels. The article recognized this worry as being beneficial in the workplace as it counters complacency, and even implied male bosses might benefit from this kind of conscientiousness.
Mental health issues can’t wait. At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer in-clinic brain scanning and appointments, as well as mental telehealth, clinical evaluations, and therapy for adults, teens, children, and couples. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834 or visit our contact page here.
