A Look Back at Barbara’s Path to Becoming an Expert in Gender Intelligence

After a busy life raising a family and building a career in sales at Sony, Barbara Annis turned her interest in gender differences into a lifelong mission to bring Gender Intelligence into the workplace. In today’s episode, Barbara shares the story of her journey with Paul, and explains why there’s so much more to accomplish.

One of the biggest ‘a-ha’ moments for Barbara was when she realized she wasn’t being fully authentic in her life. She describes how her persona at work, where she took on ‘alpha’ male behaviors to fit in and compete with her male colleagues, clashed with who she really was.

Paul shared how when he first met Barbara, he instantly understood what she meant using the term “Gender Intelligence.” He says the title of Barbara’s first book, “Same Words, Different Language,” also rang true to him.

Barbara described the process of writing, then editing her first book. She says it was well received, and a common reaction from people was “why didn’t I know this 20 years ago?” She says it was always her goal to create balanced learning for both men and women, without blame. She says men find it very freeing, and women find it incredibly validating.

Find Barbara’s first book “Same Words, Different Language” here: https://www.amazon.ca/Same-Words-Different-Language-Intelligence/dp/0134513274 

Barbara and Paul discussed some of the books Barbara co-authored. She described how her work with author Michael Gurian led to their partnership to write “Leadership and the Sexes.

Find “Leadership and the Sexes” by Barbara Annis and Michael Gurian here: https://www.amazon.ca/Leadership-Sexes-Science-Business-2008-08-25/dp/B01FKWTYO0/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=annis+gurian&qid=1618508935&s=books&sr=1-1 

Paul and Barbara also discussed Barbara’s book with John Gray entitled “Work With Me,” and how the two authors collaborated on ways to be authentically Gender Intelligent at home and at work.

Find “Work With Me” by Barbara Annis and John Gray here: https://www.amazon.ca/Work-Me-Intelligence-Succeed-Barbara/dp/B00QAU26YC/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=barbara+annis+john+gray&qid=1618509058&s=books&sr=1-2 

Today, Barbara describes her life as being much different than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the success of her books and consulting work, Barbara spent many years ‘living out of a suitcase,’ and traveling from one keynote address to another. Today she does most of her work virtually. She says she’s finally convinced that workshops can be delivered virtually, and it’s an extremely useful platform for learning. That’s a big advantage for companies that wanted her to be able to scale her corporate learning programs globally.

Barbara says the pandemic hasn’t changed her mission to bring the value of Gender Intelligence to thousands of organizations. She says a key to that is her “Be Gender Intelligent” online learning platform. It’s a 15-hour program where learners can earn their Gender Intelligence Ambassador certification.

To learn more about the “Be Gender Intelligent” learning platform here: https://www.genderintelligence.com/digital-learning/