find consensus (female). Others see it as a potentially explosive predicament: "A fatal inability to communicate across gender lines, according to several experts, has stoked intermittent hostilities into full-scale gender warfare." (Noble 21). When asked what they would most like to change about how the other gender communicates, men always say women need to be more direct. This can mean cutting to the chase, eliminating detail, speaking up instead of coming back and saying she didn't get a chance to speak.
Women, in their responses, want men not to interrupt and not to offer advise. But when men deal even with totally impersonal matters that require a wide focus, they want to "win" their points. Women, by contrast, do not dismiss "winning," but are more interested in reaching accord or consensus, which, unfortunately, is sometimes interpreted as submission by their negotiating partner. Men have definite attitudes about women negotiators: "I go through this routine [of problem solving] because I've seen that women often must release on emotions before th
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