Thanks to Nathan Ferguson for posting a link to this piece by Derek Thompson on the Atlantic website. Here are some bits from the piece, including the title and sub-title:
1. Women prefer working together and men prefer working alone.
2. Men think they're better off solo, even when they aren't.
3. Men are part of a clubby nepotism system.
4. Women are more attracted to cooperation than men.
5. Men demonstrate overconfidence in their own abilities.
6. Men distrust in their colleagues' aptitude, except under key situations.
7. Women prefer to work in teams, men prefer to work alone.
8. Women perform worse in competitive environments, even when their performance was similar to men in noncompetitive environments.
9. Women demonstrated less confidence about their own abilities and more confidence in their potential partners' abilities.
10. Women are less comfortable with their colleagues making dramatically different salaries.
11. Men are more sensitive than women to small tweaks in team-based compensation.
12. It's not enough to focus on making brilliant women feel confident. It's also key to make overconfident men trust that their colleagues just might be competent.
This is not an up-with-men sort of piece, but that's not my point in citing it.
I don't even disagree that men tend to be loners, and women tend to organize and cooperate. I've seen this with my own eyes, as a team member and team leader in business, and as a volunteer in political and charity organizations, and in self-help workshops I've participated in. Women are better at working together. And imho, men are better at.. I think I'll just stop there.
People who got mad at me for saying what I thought men were better at should take a look at their anger. Because if you were mad at me for saying something you perceived as negative about women, it seems to me you should be equally angry with Mr. Thompson, the author of the Atlantic piece, for suggesting there are things women are better at.
Of course you'd be very busy, because there are lots of articles saying women are good and men are bad. This is a pervasive theme in our culture, and it goes back a long time. Women, because they do work better together, and often on behalf of their gender as a whole, have better PR than men, who are often left to fend for themselves as individuals.
Before commenting, please review the commenting policy. This is not one of those exceptional pieces. Play by the rules or post somewhere else. Thanks!
PS: I'm one of those men who yearn for more working-together. The people who stand in the way of that, no matter what their gender, prevent me from doing my work. So I understand that none of these things are absolute and all-inclusive. We have to be able to discuss trends, as adults, and understand and welcome exceptions.