(This is an elaboration on something I recently spoke about at the Fortune Growth Summit 2013)
Simply stated, Republicans and men (especially entrepreneurial/ambitious/successful men) run on adrenaline (which is about power and conquest) and testosterone (which is about aggression); Democrats and women (especially those who are more about family and home than career) run on estrogen (which is about creating and building a home and family) and oxytocin (which is about connecting and bonding with people vs. competing with them).
People who run on adrenaline and testosterone also love to develop momentum and that is why they can be like "steamrollers" in their approach to others. Rather than being concerned with connecting with anyone or creating a home, they are more interested in conquering the competition and conquering more land to build a bigger house, estate and empire. They are more concerned with quantity than quality (which is why they want their cars to have a zillion horsepower and astronomic acceleration that they will rarely ever be able to use).
People who run on estrogen and oxytocin are more concerned with the connecting and "relating" part of relationships. It is estrogen and especially oxytocin that is responsible for empathy, tenderness, being loving, patience and joy. It is also what gives women a sixth sense and enables them to know what an infant is doing in another room, whereas men have to go see for themselves. And they are more into quality, especially in relationships than into quantity (they don't usually care about having thousands of linkedIn connections).
Sadly, the adrenaline and testosterone approach to life is overtaking estrogen and oxytocin and that is why empathy, tenderness, being loving, patience and joy are leaving the human landscape.
Adrenaline and testosterone are also impatient, bottom line, ROI driven, results-are-all-that-matters and once they are on a roll can't stand anything that stands in their way. They are fine with talking, but become annoyed and irritated with having to listen, especially talking that doesn't quickly get to the point.
Now many of the ambitious of you might snarkingly say, "Why should we care about slowing down to listen? What's wrong about having the fastest car and biggest house?" You may poo-poo the idea of "belonging" or having a "home" to come home to.
I might have been tempted to join in on one of my adrenaline pumping days, but having done house calls to some very powerful dying people has caused me to not so quickly climb on or stay on that runaway train.
I remember one very powerful man I visited before he died that admitted to me, "I don't think I have done anything important in my life and think I might have blown it."
When I told him that was nonsense and reminded him of thousands of jobs he created, the hospital named after him and a very appreciative and even adoring public, he replied with a wry smile, "Don't con a con man, especially when he is dying. I have all the love that money can buy and that's all it's worth. I also have ex-wives that I got the better of, a pile of kids and grandkids -- a couple of which may go through their trust funds before I die -- and not too many people who care a lick beyond what I could do for them. And being master of the universe, I thought I could outsmart hard drinking and hard smoking. Well guess what? I couldn't and didn't. So maybe, just maybe, I blew it."
Maybe his cancer had not just metastasized through him, but went through all his adrenaline and testosterone and he was left feeling some oxytocin laden pangs of what he missed out on.
SEE ALSO: Why so many high-achievers feel unfulfilled - the syndrome of disavowed yearning (to contrast the downside of conquest and upside of connectedness)