GlamourByLBD Note: The following article is a contributed article from Susan Wranick, the President of Susan L. Wranik Associates LLC. I had the pleasure to meeting Susan while attending the eWomen conference. She is an expert in the area of communication, making it her mission to Make Women’s Voices Be Heard. Look for her articles as an ongoing contributor to www.GlamourByLBD.com.
More on the hunter/gatherer paradigm.
Studies in early language development show that female children surpass male children in word acquisition, and that male children, given a limited vocabulary, are more inclined to express themselves physically. For example, if a child has a toy that a male child wants, he takes it. End of story. A female child, on the other hand, will use her words to negotiate a mutually agreeable playing schedule with her playmate. Ever watch them in action? Fascinating. Yet, the very language competence that places females at the head of the learning curve in early language development often works against them later in life in business.
Take the way women ask for a raise. Women ask, often supporting and justifying, conveying their appreciation - sometimes effusively. Men simply state their needs. Take it or leave it. Is it a gamble? Yes, but so is any communicative event. In business, and in dealing with men in particular, less is more. The more streamlined the discourse, the more easily it’s understood.
Perhaps the first foreign language we should teach is the one that divides men and women - and that instruction should begin early in life!
Susan Wranick, MS MA CCC-SLP is a Linguist/speech-language pathologist as well as a speaker and writer who focuses on giving voice to other people’s voices. Learn more about her company, Susan L. Wranik Associates, LLC at www.speakskill.com. Susan resides in Chevy Chase, MD.
