Unconscious Bias?! What is it and what do you do?
Today we hosted an incredible call about Unconscious Bias. Everyone has them ... based on your history, experiences, and context. Take this test -- it is a real eye opener! https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
What is UnConscious Bias?
A personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment (Merriam-Webster)
Unconscious biases influence our judgment and decision-making, and because we are not aware of them, can be detrimental in certain circumstances such as what information to prioritize in decision-making, who to hire, promote, and reward, and where to allocate precious resources.
Why do we have these biases?
We work in everyday between the automatic pilot and thoughtful, reflective moments. Most of us are on that automatic pilot most of the day -- driving to work, the feeling when wearing shoes, breathing, etc but when we pause and do the slow thinking, we think about the facts and the basis of our decisions. When you are in System 1 -- intuitive -- you make assumptions you don't even know about!
Understand the Ladder of Influence:
We have a lot of filters that we need to be aware of. I love this ladder from Chris on how much data we process automatically. Alot of our conclusions are based on assumptions, based on a selective set of data.
What do you do? Unconscious Bias:
- Be willing to examine your own assumptions and experiences.
- If you feel uncomfortable, say so.
- Be willing to practice inquiry if you suspect unconscious bias in action: seek to understand.
- Start from the assumption of good intentions.
Inspiration Friday -- 10 Lessons from Tiffany Shlain - Founder of The Webbys
I was inspired by the great presentation by Tiffany Shlain on lessons of life!
I'll share by favorites!
- Know what you want and know when to walk away. You won't succeed at everything. So know which things to stick with and which things to throw over!
- Be over prepared. Enough said!
- Think outside the box. Tiffany shared a story about how she didn't like to negotiate so she had folks email her "alternative email" so that she could negotiate in a different voice. Think about different ways to be strong!
- Renegotiate your definition of success. It does change throughout life!
- Negotiate boundaries with technology. Tiffany and her family turn off all devices one day a week -- their family's new favorite day!
- Whoever throws out the first number loses. (Her freebie!)
- Always use the Love Sandwich approach. Start with the good, what "they" will get. Add in the middle what you want -- and close with the "what they will get"
- Seek advice from a diverse group of people.
- Workout your courage. It is like a muscle that needs to be exercised.
- Have fun and constantly be changing!
Introducing the WITI Virtual Hackathon! Sign up now to show off your "entrepreneur" style!
In 1935, three decades before the Equal Pay Act, IBM recruited its first women in the workforce. IBM's founder, T.J. Watson Sr. promised women, "the same kind of work for equal pay." Since then, IBM has been acknowledged as a world leader in its commitment to women both in and out of the workforce. In 2014, IBM was named one of the 諺Best Companies for Women”by Forbes.
It should come as no surprise that IBM has partnered with WITI (Women In Technology International), a powerhouse dedicated to women in tech, on their first ever Virtual Hackathon. WITI started in 1989 as The International Network of Women in Technology and, in 2001, evolved into The WITI Professional Association, the world's leading trade association for tech-savvy women. Today, WITI is the premiere global organization empowering women in business and technology to achieve unimagined possibilities.
I personally invite you to join Bluemix, IBM's premier cloud development platform, and WITI for an international hackathon where developers, scientists, students, and entrepreneurs will gather virtually to build software, applications, hardware, data visualization and platform solutions focused on the Internet of Things and wearables. The hackathon runs throughout the month of May and is open to open to all.
Follow these easy steps to get started and get hacking!
1. Register for the hackathon at ibm.biz/witiregistration
2. Register for your free Bluemix trial at ibm.biz/witihack
3. Participate in Bluemix virtual education sessions and review technical resources here: ibm.biz/witihackathon
4. Start building your app and submit it for review by May 27th.
Prizes include IBM Cloud Credit, a 1-hour virtual meeting with me, 2016 WITI Summit tickets, free WITI memberships and more.
As a board member of WITI and mentor to several women in IBM, I am thrilled to see this type of collaboration and can’t wait to see the apps you come up with!
Top 5 Personal Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs!
I was reading a few articles on entrepreneurship and the secrets of success of the entrepreneur themselves, vs just the company. Here's the Top 5 Personal habits that I found in common across all the articles in both first time entrepreneurs and serial entrepreneurs as well!
- Prioritize! 81% of the top entrepreneurs (value of $3.2M or greater and successful exit) make one the night before for those priorities that are most important.
- The Early Riser! 44% get up and going an average of 3 hours before they officially start "work"
- Get Help! 77% of those who are successful have an adviser!
- Networked Connectors. 79% network 5 or more hours a month.
- Return that call. 86% return all their calls in the same week they were received.
Some great habits here that I will adopt as well !!!
Join me at the WITI Summit! From IoT, to speaker success tips, to millennials ....
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