Women's Social Skills are Better Skills for Business

Pop Quiz: Who is more social in your group, women or men? 

I'm betting a bottle of Mad Housewife Merlot that you answered, women. If so, you just uncovered the secret to higher profits if you're a business and higher commitment if you're a non-profit -- talk shouldn't be label as "cheap" it should be labeled as "essential." 

In a Neuromarketing post, they recap in research what women have know for years, get to know us and we'll trust you more. Add it to the duhhhh pile that big business just can't seem to grasp as it grows into monster proportions. They also noted that "context is king" and that Facebook has the highest rating for women for effectiveness. (Make that context is queen).

Thank goodness for research to put numbers on common sense -- without charts and graphs big business can't go from one meeting to the next. Seriously, if you want to move an idea or a culture forward, put some numbers on it. Look what happened when "85% of consumers goods are influenced by women" became dogma. 

Go here for the full article based on research and a book, Secrets of the Money Lab, by HP's Kay Yut Chen and journalist Marina Krakovsky. The research conducted by Al Roth showed that "establishing rapport with another person really does alter behavior."  Go figure. 

Maybe that's why Best Buy was seeing higher sales in stores with more women on the sales floor. A) We smile more and B) We engage more. Because of that little "aha" at Best Buy, they are on a tear to hire, train and promote more women via Julie Gilbert's WoLF program. 

The takeaway from this - if you're a socializing machine those skills are critically needed in business. Don't hide them on your resume, list them on the top. Then,go be a force for good.