Top Ten Tips for Women Who Lead Men

Ellen recently wrote a nice post titled Top Ten Tips for
Men Who Lead Women, and asked for volunteers to offer a
complementary perspective. I hope you enjoy!

1- Stress management: We men know we are hard to lead, and
that can be stressful for you and for us. You should know
that stress affects short term memory, so it is important
to be able to manage stress well, with meditation,
breathing or other methods. Also, please remember, laughing
is good for your brain.

2- Don't overthink: Don't think too much-we don't. If we
do, we try to find ways to self-talk us out of that
uncomfortable state.

3- We like toys: Please remember our humble origins, men
are just evolved apes... We are tool-using animals, which
is why we like playing with all kinds of toys, from a car
to that blackberry.

4- We can learn: When we are stubborn, you are entitled to
remind us that even apes can learn-if you help us see the
point. Show us that change is possible at any age. Believe
it or not, we can listen.

5- Common ground: Especially if we can find common ground:
what about chatting about sports psychology?.

6- Be nice: Please motivate us to listen and be open minded
to learn with wise words. If that doesn't work, please
persevere with nice words. Please don't ever say that we
are worse than pink dolphins-if we feel attacked, we'll
just disengage.

7- It takes us time: Sometimes we don't cooperate enough?.
Please give us time for our brains to fully evolve, we have
been trying for a while!

8- You can help us grow: For the next leadership workshop,
buy us copies of the Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain
book. You may think we don't need this... but at our core
we really want to get better at Gratitude and Altruism. We
want to be able to play with the ultimate toy: our genes!

9- Emotions training: If that book is sold out, we could
also benefit from reading Antonio Damasio's Descartes Error
and discover how emotions are important for good
decision-making. Or help us improve our ability to read
emotional messages with Paul Ekman's software. As long as
we believe we can somehow benefit from it, we'll try!

10- Please be patient: If you lead someone with Bill
Gates-like Frontal Lobes, congratulate him for his brain.
If you don't, encourage him to follow track. Please be
patient...

Now, let's see who writes Top Ten Tips for Women Who Lead
Women or Men Who Lead Men!

----------------------------------------------------
Alvaro Fernandez is the CEO and Co-Founder of SharpBrains,
which provides the latest science-based information for
Brain Fitness and Brain Exercise, and has been recognized
by Scientific American Mind, CBS, Forbes, and more. Alvaro
holds MA in Education and MBA from Stanford University, and
teaches The Science of Brain Health at UC-Berkeley Lifelong
Learning Institute. Learn more at
http://www.sharpbrains.com/