PR for People®
Book Review
By Barbara Lloyd McMichael
As a 21st century entrepreneur, how do you avoid practicing the unconscious biases that you were born into, back in the 20th century? Patterns of behavior that we may have picked up in school or in early work experiences can have a deleterious impact on the way we conduct business today.
Gender equality, for example, is an imperative in today’s world, yet we still may be governed by old, unexamined assumptions and stereotypes that hamper our own success or erect barriers to opportunities for others.
“What Works: Gender Equality by Design” is a brand new book that offers practical “de-biasing” solutions that clear the way for making better decisions in terms of risk assessment, hiring, promotion, and other areas.
Author Iris Bohnet is director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She shares research on gender bias and discusses some fascinating unconscious manifestations of bias – you’ll learn about halo effect, moral licensing, present bias, hindsight bias, organizational demography, and much more.
Bohnet’s point is that these reactions we have to the “others” in our lives may be so manifold and so deeply wired that we may not even be able to identify them. She points to comprehensive reviews of hundreds of diversity training studies that suggest such programs may not be all that effective.
How, then, do we overcome the substandard status quo, to enjoy the full benefits of working with colleagues and clients because – not in spite of the fact that – their strengths are different from our own?
“What Works” advances three-dozen evidence-based interventions that focus on organizational redesign rather than on individual reformation. Many of these relatively simple and surprisingly low-cost approaches, whether used in businesses, schools, or other institutions, can lead to demonstrable improvements in performance.
Barbara Lloyd McMichael is our ground reporter in South King County, Wash., and author of the syndicated book review column “The Bookmonger.” Her PR for People® Book Review is written exclusively for The Connector.
How to de-bias our workaday world
What Works – Iris Bohnet
Harvard University Press
– 400 pp - $26.95