The Neurobiology of Leadership: Why Women Lead Differently Than Men

Effective leaders today are the key to engaging and retaining high potential talent as well as creating a psychologically healthy culture for high performance. Current research findings suggest that although there is no difference in overall leadership effectiveness by gender, women tend to utilize different supervisory and management styles relative to men. This presentation will summarize our own research and those of others suggesting that women express more participative and transformational leadership styles compared to men and that these behaviors are largely attributed to the pro-social hormone called oxytocin. Implications for talent development and team building will also be discussed.