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Barbara Annis' Bio
Barbara Annis is an author and leading-edge thinker who has designed breakthrough workshops and interventions since 1979. She is also a world-class speaker on gender and diversity, and has helped to transform the lives of executives and the companies they run. Barbara’s career led her to Sony where she was recognized for producing award winning results.
In her words, she was the ‘Sherman tank,’ priding herself on being gruff, aggressive and acting like a man. Her strategy meant that to compete, she had to be “one of the boys”. After a successful stint at Sony, Barbara launched her own business training other women how to move up in the corporate ranks. It was here that she experienced an epiphany when a student resisted her ‘Sherman tank’ strategy and questioned why it wasn’t possible for Barbara to ‘be herself,’ and successful in the organization.
Barbara began a quest to find the answer. She studied transformational learning with many exceptional thinkers, including Dr. Flores, Ph.D. Program Director of Linguistics, University of Berkeley. Barbara also studied the extensive observational and psychological research on gender differences, and familiarized herself with a mountain of scientific evidence. Much of it offered proof around the brain differences between men and women, and those impact our perception of the world, and even behavior.
Barbara Annis is the author of “Same Words, Different Language,” a book that is now available in more than 20 countries in a variety of languages including Arabic. Since 1979 Barbara has been delivering corporate programs based on the real science behind gender differences, earning her a reputation as the recognized authority on gender in the workplace.
In September 2008, Barbara’s second book will be published. Leadership and the Sexes (Jossey-Bass/John Wiley) is co-authored by Michael Gurian, a pioneer in the field of applied gender neuro-biology. Authors Annis and Gurian are currently available for pre-release keynote presentations, together or separately
Barbara’s Career Achievements:
Past & Present Organizations
- Treasury Board – Member of the Advisory Board for the Task Force of an Inclusive Public Service
- Department of Justice – Member of the Advisory Board, Social Context & Gender Equality Initiative
- Department of National Defense – Member of the Advisory Board, Gender Integration Project
- Canadian Breakthrough Foundation, Empowerment of Young People in Canada – Founder
- Canadian World Business Academy – Founding Member
- Canadian Women Entrepreneurs – President
Volunteer Speaking
- Board of Trade
- Words of Wisdom Series
- Nato
- Global Diversity Summit – Geneva
- Conference Board
- Women of Influence Luncheons
- World Business Academy Global Retreat
- Pentagon, Women in Non-Traditional Roles
- CIBC International Women’s Summit
- UK Women’s Summit
- Law Society Annual Summit
Boards and Awards
- Conference Board – Women of Influence Award
- Consumer Association – Most Valued Supplier Award
- Breakthrough Foundation – Board Member
- World Business Academy – Board Member
- VON – Board Member
- Sony - 8 Outstanding Achievement Awards
- Sony – MVP Award