Are Men More Egotistical Than Women?

Yep. We went there! During a Q+A session, after a talk I gave at Product Women Sydney (hosted by Brainmates), we got into the subject of ego as a primary barrier to Social & Emotional Intelligence.

I was asked if, in my work, I've noticed any trends regarding ego and the different genders (i.e. are men or women more egotistical than the other gender?).

My short answer was: "Are men more egotistical than women? No." I see ego rear its head equally in men and women.

The only gender difference I do see is simply in HOW women and men behave into their ego in the workplace based on lingering societal expectations of what's acceptable behavior from each. I then reframed the focus of that question over to thinking of "good people" vs. "bad people," as gender doesn't really factor into any challenges I face teaching/coaching Social & Emotional Intelligence. A challenge does arise re: who is open to facing their blindspots ... and who is not. But who the most challenging people are to coach in this area may surprise you. Curious to hear my answer? Catch a snippet of the conversation in the video below.

So, where do YOU fall on the spectrum? - Are you the 'jerk at work' who has nowhere to go but up? - Are you the usually pretty good person who recognizes they still have plenty of ways they need to grow? - Or, are you one of those "really good, woke people" at work who can quickly see everyone else's offensive, clunky, or alienating behavior ... but remain blind to ways YOU also might be causing conflict or disconnect?

#selfawareness #emotionalintelligence #peopledevelopment #communication #blindspots #eq #conflict #coaching #unconsciousbias

P.S. Many thanks to the Nate Kraizelburd who MC'd the Q+A portion of the evening.