What Leaders Need to Know About Unconscious Bias

What Leaders Need to Know About Unconscious Bias

How many decisions have you made today that were driven by impulse or bias?

If your answer is "none" or "very few," then two things are almost certainly true:

1. you are human
2. you are wrong.

Every second, our brains receive more than 11 million bits of information, but our conscious minds can only process 40 bits per second. What this means is that most of the information that we take in from the world around us gets processed at a level below our conscious awareness. In this presentation, we will explore aspects of brain science related to bias, examining some of the more prevalent cognitive biases that exist. We will take a look at some of the shocking data around unconscious bias and investigate its impact in the workplace. Finally, we'll learn about the work that the most forward-thinking companies — like Google and Facebook — are doing to help their employees understand, recognize, and mitigate the effects of unconscious bias in the workplace.

This and other IIL Learning in Minutes presentations qualify for PDUs. Some titles, such as Agile-related topics may qualify for other continuing education credits such as SEUs, or CEUs.

Each professional development activity yields one PDU for one hour spent engaged in the activity. Some limitations apply and can be found in the Ways to Earn PDUs section that discusses PDU activities and associated policies.