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Wikipedia defines bias as “disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair.”
In this episode, fellow communication coach Chaya Mistry and I explore this important topic and how it affects our ability to lead, communicate and build human connections.
“Everybody has biases. It relates to every topic, every attribute that a person has and either helps us to see them as a human or prevents us from seeing them as a human and someone we can connect to.””
Contrary to what many people might think, bias is not just about race or gender. It can relate to any human attribute such a person’s height, fitness, clothing, pronunciation, writing skills and even the car he or she drives.
Within milliseconds of being exposed to someone, the brain decides if this is someone we can trust, like or relate to. It’s a fully automated process built into the part of our brain that helped us stay safe when saber tooth tigers were still roaming the planet. Most of the time, it’s running in the background and we are not even aware of it. This is a huge barrier to effective communication as it prevents us from seeing people as they really are.
In our conversation, Chaya explains where bias comes from and explores ways to manage our filters to create a richer relationship with the world around us.
Links to people, books and resources mentioned in this episode:
To learn more about Chaya’s work, go to the website of her coaching and consultancy firm Humanly or reach out to her on LinkedIn.
This conversation is closely linked to my previous episode with Kwame Christian on ‘How to Talk About Race’, which you can listen to here.
Here are a few of my earlier posts related to this episode:
The Tarot card that I presented to Chaya at the start of our conversation.