The more you understand how the human brain has evolved over centuries and now functions today, the more effectively you can make decisions and relate to others in the business setting or even on the road. Understanding differing hereditary traits and how women make decisions can play a vital role in how to strategically recruit females in a male-dominated space such as transportation and logistics.
Over two million years ago, it was all about the survival of the tribe. Because women are more biologically valuable to the survival of the tribe, they did not leave the cave to hunt a woolly mammoth or defend the domain because their chances of dying were greater. Men engaged in the hunting and combat while the women maintained and populated the habitat.
With these assigned roles, Alexander explains, men who were successful developed attributes such as aggression, competition and quick decision-making. In turn, also important to the tribe, women adapted qualities of cooperation, inclusion and teamwork, along with multi-tasking, to achieve their extensive list of responsibilities.
Unlike men, who were prone to making risky, heat-of-the-moment decisions, women generally were more risk averse in order to make the best decisions for the survival of the tribe. They were more thoughtful and deliberate because they had to make sure it was the right decision. That same tendency carries over into modern times and is an important quality when it comes to hiring a female professional driver.
“Women’s inclination to avoid risk is a great benefit to hiring them in transportation,” says Ellen Voie, President and CEO of WIT. “They’re less likely to make quick or faulty decisions that could adversely affect their business.”
Women also bring a collaborative approach to leadership, Voie says, and they’re generally more relationship-focused, which gives them the opportunity to engage their colleagues at a higher level.
As leaders and recruiters better understand these evolutionary underpinnings to human behavior, they can build smarter marketing strategies to attract women in management and operations roles, as well as professional drivers.
This article was originally featured in Edition 2 of 2018 in our official magazine, Redefining The Road.
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