Work With Me: The 8 Blind Spots Between Men and Women in Business

Written by Barbara Annis and John Gray

Narrated by Kirsten Potter

Work With Me is the timely collaboration of two of the world's foremost authorities on gender relations. Barbara Annis, world-renowned expert on gender issues in the workplace, and John Gray, author of the number one relationship book of all time, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, team up to resolve the most stressful and confusing challenges facing men and women at work. Annis and Gray reveal, for the first time, survey results of over 100,000 in-depth interviews of men and women executives in over 60 Fortune 500 companies. Listeners will discover the Eight Gender Blind Spots, the false assumptions and opinions men and women have of each other, and in many ways, believe of themselves. Through research, science, and stories, Annis and Gray expose the blind spots that cause our misunderstandings, miscommunications, mistrust, resentment, and frustrations at work. Listeners will discover the biology and social influences that compel men and women to think and act as they do, and direct how they communicate, solve problems, make decisions, resolve conflict, lead others, and deal with stress, enabling them to achieve greater success and satisfaction in their professional and personal lives. Work With Me is the definitive work-life relational guide, filled with "ah-ha!" moments and discoveries that will remove the blind spots and enable men and women to work and succeed together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781452684062

Barbara Annis

Barbara Annis, founder and CEO of Barbara Annis & Associates Inc., is a world-renowned gender expert, advocating for Gender Intelligence in Fortune 500 companies and global organizations. She is the chair emeritus of the Women's Leadership Board at Harvard Kennedy School and the author of Same Words, Different Language; Leadership and the Sexes; and Work with Me, cowritten with John Gray.

Reviews for Work With Me

[ollie1976 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read John Gray's Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and feel that he was fairly correct about how men and women communicate. Work with Me picks up how the communicate in the work force and how it could and has created problems. What I liked was that it also included a scientific look at how men and women's brains were developed differently and how this might attribute to the differences in communication. I also like how the authors included examples of how to be more gender aware of how they speak to one another. Overall, a fairly interesting insight to men and women and how they communicate with each other.

[twylyghtbay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had great expectations of this book. I have studied gender bias and differences periodically since around 1982 in undergraduate school. I was looking forward to new dynamic information. I'm sure this book contains new exciting material to any person with no background knowledge on gender bias. The book does focus on the differences between how males and females act, interact and make decisions in the business world. It provides suggestions on how to make the corporate world more gender friendly. The book moved incredibly slow for me, which is why it took so long to post a review. Strongly recommended to managers who want their company to receive the best from female employees and keep them on the payroll. Women have suffered in the past because of their gender. Now they will move on to a new employer who is vested in positive use of all employees and building the best teams available

[khusser_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Work with Me: The 8 Blind Spots Between Men and Women in Business is co-authored by gender specialist John Gray and Barbara Annis. The pair attempt to break down the differences between men and women in the workplace, which it does to some degree. The 8 “blind spots” are clearly spelled out with methods to improve working environments. However explanations are at times repetitive and labeled too generally as when the “The Science Side” explanation is given. The text is “ok,” but I work in an environment where the majority of the supervisors are women, so I found many of the examples un-relatable for me personally. Three stars.

[daniel5estes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Work with Me by Barbara Annis and John Gray is an acceptable effort on how the genders can better understand each other in the workplace. I found some helpful insights here, but overall this book addresses a problem which is really a symptom of a larger problem—that the working world has been run by men for so long that a full integration of women into positions of influence is still in transition. We're making rapid progress, but unfortunately this may take generations to accomplish well. The dilemma of "the world of work being created by men for men" is addressed but then there's too little discussion on the long-term realities.The women in Annis' book are smart and hardworking though I can see why their efforts are frustrated. The men they work with, and often for, are not good examples of men. Excelling at negotiating and closing deals may cause your star to rise, but I'd grade these men a D+ for social intelligence. Annis uses the term gender intelligence, but it's broader than that. There's also the type of work considered. I read example after example from law firms, financial enterprises, engineering corporations, etc., with the focus being on the sales, managerial and executive teams. These are stereotypical Type A, Alpha Male positions so of course you'll find these situations the most contentious.Women making advances in typically male-dominated industries are pioneers for sure. Their gains benefit all of humanity. Teaching men who are used to traditional gender roles to go against a lifetime of upbringing is an honorable effort, but may not be worth it. You'd have better success educating their children.

[sherylhendrix · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A valuable insight into the gender differences that affect work relationships - for me it was helpful to realize that men tend to be more focused on the end result and less on the collaborative processes that get to the end result whereas women tend to look at the relationships and the collaboration that get to the end result. The authors are clear in emphasizing that the insights they make are generally applicable, but may not be specifically applicable in all instances to all men or all women. I believe that one factor that may affect these generalities is whether or not persons are invested in a particular religious worldview. For instance, I believe that Christian men tend to be more aware of the collaboration and relationships than the general population.