Power up your teams [Career Advisor]

Scientific evidence and notes from the field concur. Women have superior team-building skills. Men may talk a good game. Women actually do the things that men talk and write about and excel at the relationship-building work of team building. The most important aspect of team building is relationship building, and who knows more about that, men or women? So if you think the team meetings you attend are a time drain, that some people are talking more than their fair share while others barely speak at all, you're not crazy. You're absolutely on target. According to neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine in her book The Female Brain, females demonstrate a preference for communication and collaboration from the time they are two- to three-years old. "Typical nontestosteronized girls are very invested in preserving harmonious relationships. From their earliest days, they live most comfortably and happily in the realm of peaceful interpersonal connections. They prefer to avoid conflict because discord puts them at odds with their urge to stay connected, to gain approval and nurture.