A report on another cutting-edge, gender-based, brain study has been published by the UCLA Center for Neurovisceral Sciences & Women’s Health.

Led by head researcher Dr. Emeran Mayer, the UCLA team took PET scans to measure pain levels and areas of activity in 24 men and 26 women.

The results? Another notch in the belt of gender-based brain difference.

The male brains registered activity in the cognitive region – the area that is analytical.

The female brains registered activity in the limbic region – the area that is linked to emotion.

Brain development specialists believe this could harken back to primitive times. Men’s cognitive areas may be more highly triggered because they had to make “fight-or-flight” decisions, while women would have reacted to threats by thinking about protecting their children.

So, not only is reward behavior ensconced in the female right brain, so is pain behavior. Another reason to:

1. Carefully consider the language & ideas you use in your marketing and advertising. Just as connecting with the “right” emotions can create a customer for life, so can a “painful” association negate a relationship.

2. Be prepared to offer consistent, positive customer experiences. This goes for every aspect of your business. If you promise something in your advertising that isn’t delivered by your staff, it’s as if you’re lying to your customer… and being on the other end of the lying hand-off is not only insulting, it’s painful.

3. Have strong female leaders within your organization – women who naturally understand the dynamics and wiring of both your female and male staff members and can increase not only productivity but commitment to the company.

What aspects of your business need to be reviewed, re-thought, and re-tooled? As Benjamin Franklin said, “No gains without pains.”