Bias

Are you biased? I am. You are too. We all have biases whether we know it or not.

Does your bias affect the decisions you make, including who you hire, how you evaluate performance, and how you lead? Yes, yes and yes.

However, if you are aware of your biases, you can consciously balance your implicit bias with facts and attitudes that can help you make better decisions and be a stronger leader. Because all sorts of biases can affect our decision making and how we lead, I’ve offered a wide range of resources in this module. Feel free to pick and choose which articles and videos you consume, but spend some time considering your biases and how they affect you.

Ready? Let’s start with a quiz. An assessment on social bias, developed by Harvard, is available online. You can take a free online assessment to reveal some of your social biases. Warning, the results might not be what you think (that’s kind of the point…). Here’s the link. After you read the legal stuff, click on “I wish to proceed” and choose a social assessment.

Link: Implicit Assessment Site

The Cognitive Biases Tricking Your Brain
Science suggests we’re hardwired to delude ourselves. Can we do anything about it?
(Ben Yagoda, The Atlantic – great article)

Your Lying Mind – Ben Yagoda Podcast (companion to above article)

Bias Busters:  Don’t Steer your strategy by the wrong star
(Giovanni Gavetti, Martin Huber, Dan Lovallo, and Magdalena Smith  2021, McKinsey)

See No Evil: When We Overlook Other People’s Unethical Behavior
(Max Bazerman)