Unconscious bias is the new leading edge on the Diversity and Inclusion journey. Despite all of the strategic sessions and training dollars spent on this topic, not to mention the discrimination cases, there is still a glass ceiling and discrimination continues to exist. Human Facets latest assessment, Cognizant, explores unconscious bias at both an individual and group level. You can download the PDF files on the Human Facets home page for more information.

There is a price to be paid for ignoring the impact of unconscious bias as the companies listed below can attest.

"Unconscious bias is increasingly being used in employment litigation to prove discrimination. Unconscious bias has been a central issue in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the largest class action discrimination lawsuit in history in which two million women are suing Wal-Mart for gender discrimination. The Court’s receptivity to unconscious bias arguments in the Home Depot class action and the FedEx class action resulted in those cases settling for huge amounts, $87.5 million and $53.5 million respectively. Unconscious bias is being raised in class actions against several other Fortune 500 companies such as Best Buy, Johnson & Johnson, Cargill, Merrill Lynch, General Electric, American Express, MetLife, and Morgan Stanley.

There is considerable debate about whether and to what extent unconscious bias affects employment decisions. To date, employers appear to handling the issue by claiming that unconscious bias does not exist. Perhaps, employers should learn from Wal-Mart, Home Depot, FedEx, and Walgreens (i.e., companies who failed in their arguments that unconscious bias does not exist) and instead, audit their processes to ensure that unconscious bias is not at work in their companies." Ballard, www.articleco.com

Let Human Facets help you to unravel the complexities of unconscious bias and provide your leadership team and key players with the leverage of increased consciousness on this topic.

Cognizant - The Diversity & Inclusion MRI

Imagine being able to show your leadership team, HR team or Employee Affinity groups the impact of their conscious and unconscious preferences and biases. This graphic is a sample of a leadership team's perceptions of gender differences in their workplace. For more information on Cognizant and the impact it can have on your Diversity and Inclusion journey please email info@humanfacets.com

Make it a perfect 10

Someone said that to me recently. "Make it a perfect 10". At first I was taken aback. What were they telling me. Was it a reference to Bo Derek? Did I need to improve my golf handicap or had I already achieved 9 of something and was, unknown to me, missing the elusive tenth.

I quickly regrouped, realizing she was wishing me a Happy New Year and wanting me to have a perfect 2010. What a nice thought. What would a perfect 2010 look like I wondered. Apart from the usual good health, weight loss, happiness and prosperity was there something else? I have a long list of items I could fit into each of these categories and my goal this year is to plan the work and work the plan. Focus, focus, focus. But that also got me to thinking about the bigger issues; the ones I have less control over and can only hope to influence by the butterfly effect and six degrees of separation. If I could wave a magic wand and create the perfect 2010, it would be a world without hatred, corruption and violence; a world where people rebuild a sense of community, where neighbors care and strangers are not strangers for long; where respect is reborn and love shines across the globe. A world where glass ceilings are shattered, glass walls are removed and bias and prejudice are things of the past. A world where technology is used only to enhance our quality of life and where ethics and integrity are as important as breathing.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, it is January 2nd; reality calls and it is time to get back to working on all the things that need attention - just like my golf handicap, nothing ever improves unless I work on it.

If you can't have a perfect 10, then at least don't contribute to making it imperfect for yourself or others around you.
Happy New Year

Happy holidays - or not?

The holiday season is upon us and many of us are getting ready to wish each other a "Happy Holiday". In recent years we have learned that this is the politically correct way to wish each other seasons greetings. It is designed to ensure that we offend no one. In a season where we will be offered lots of tasty morsels to whet our appetite and please our palate, I would like to offer another perspective for your consideration. Political correctness is not the answer or the end point; it is a step on the journey. Using politically correct statements may be a step in the right direction, but it can also leave people feeling inauthentic, empty and incomplete. It is a bandaid solution; it solves very little and merely mirrors the problem of treating the symptom rather than the cause.

If you believe in the concept of embedding inclusion and creating a diversity sensitive work place, then logically you would agree that you need to honor all differences. That means not invalidating one culture in favor of others; it means ensuring that all of our differences can be fully present in a respectful and caring manner. If we are really striving for inclusion and respect for each others differences, then the Christmas tree should be able to peacefully coexist right along side the Menorah and the Kwanzaa candles. When Chinese New Year, Ramadam, Diwali or any other religious or cultural celebration comes along, we should do the work that it takes to educate ourselves and be suitably knowledgeable and appropriate in our greetings and respect.

Yes, it takes work; it means we need to cut each other some slack; we have to educate ourselves not only about other people, but about other people's beliefs, religions and cultures. We need to know what the difference is between Rosh Hoshanah, Yom Kippur and Hannukah; we need to know what is involved in Ramadan and why it does not fall on the same date every year; we need to learn why 2010 will be the Year of the Tiger and what is involved in the Festival of Lights for Diwali. If we became comfortable with all of these differences, it would be a natural and easy next step to be respectful and greet each other with the religiously or culturally appropriate greeting and not act as if there were no differences. Happy holidays is a symbolic first step towards blandness; it is not representative of the salad bowl, the fruit salad, the vase of flowers, or whatever metaphor you care to use to espouse support for the celebration of our differences.

Food for thought (or indigestion) and another example of how much we still have to talk about on this complex journey towards Diversity and Inclusion. I wish you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010. Oh, that's right; we did not discuss New Year traditions, but being from Scotland I have lots of canny stories to tell. Most of them involve whisky, coal and salt, and celebrating from midnight on December 31st till January 25th (Rabbie Burns night). Like I said, so much to learn. Happy Hogmanay. Lang may yer lum reek.

Last Lecture

Tomorrow, September 22nd, I will be delivering the Last Lecture at Nova SE University; speaking on the meaning of life, what kind of legacy I want to leave etc. and it made me wonder what you would say if you were asked to speak about your legacy? What difference do you want to make in the world? Are you working on your passion already or are you just marking time?
What have you done to enhance diversity and inclusion recently?

Susan Boyle

What does Susan Boyle, a middle aged white woman from Scotland, who has catapulted from obscurity to fame overnight, have to do with diversity and inclusion? Seven weeks ago the judges and the audience on Britain's Got Talent all rolled their eyes and laughed as she stood on stage. No one believed she had talent. They stopped laughing when she started to sing. They rose to their feet in wild applause as her dulcet tones raised the roof of the theater. The judges eyes were wide with delight and amazement and they told her that they had misjudged her. 150 million You Tube clicks later she is a household name around the world. We all know the old adage "Don't judge a book by its cover", but how often do we judge others based on what we see, without taking the time to know who they are? How often do we make assumptions about someone based on their appearance, skin color or group membership, without exploring our own biases and closed mindedness. What you think you see is only part of the story. Read more on the article below "Washing your windows?".........

Washing your windows

Someone recently sent me an email with a morality story....you know, the ones that you have to forward to seven people within seven minutes. I usually don't pass them on, but I liked the message in this one so I thought I would share it with you. A recently married young couple move in to a new neighborhood and the wife notices the neighbor's laundry hanging outside in the breeze. She comments to her husband that someone needs to teach her neighbor how to wash clothes as her laundry is not clean enough. Her husband says nothing. Each week the wife complains about the neighbors laundry until one day she comes down to breakfast and notices a change. She tells her husband that "finally, someone must have taught her how to clean her clothes properly". Her husband looks up from his newspaper and says "I came down early this morning and washed the windows". When did you last wash your windows? What we think we are seeing is merely a socially constructed story that we convince ourselves is correct. Valuing differences is a living, breathing ongoing challenge, not a conceptual theory. We need to constantly check our attitude towards others. What is your inner voice telling you and is it congruent with what is coming out of your mouth? Do you say one thing and think another. Are you judging people based on their appearance? Do you favor people who look and think like you and not give others a chance. Who is on your radar screen and who is on your peripheral vision? What stories do you tell yourself about those on the periphery? If you washed your windows and looked again, would the view be different?