Are you biased? I am | Kristen Pressner | TEDxBasel

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

What do you do when you realize you have a bias, even against yourself? Kristen Pressner is the Global Head of Human Resources at a multinational firm, and a tireless advocate for, and promoter of, women in the workplace. In this enlightening talk, Kristen explores how we can recognize our own hidden, irrational biases - and keep them from limiting us.

Let me just get this out there.

I have a bias against women leaders.

No one can be more surprised
about this than me.

I'm a woman leader.

And on top, I even work
in human resources,

which means it's my job to be unbiased.

In fact, I passionately encourage women
to step into leadership.

My poor kids would definitely tell you
I never stop talking about it.

But in spite of my strong belief
that women make great leaders,

I've realized I don't always act like it.

Not long ago, within the same week,

two members of my team asked me
to take a look at their compensation.

My first reaction to the man's request was
something like, "Yeah, I'll look into it."

My first reaction to the woman's request
was something like,

"I'm pretty sure you're good."

Day or so later, I'm sitting at my desk,
hard at work, and I somehow connected

what up until then I'd seen
as two separate events.

I had two very different reactions
to basically the same request,

and I thought, "Huh, what's up with that?

Might I be biased and not even know it?"

But I know what you're thinking.

This is 2016, it's not a topic.

Women leaders are everywhere.

Maybe you, like me, have personally hired
or promoted lots of women leaders.

But then I thought,
with all this talk of unconscious bias,

might something be going on
that I'm not even aware of?

You know, if it's unconscious and all.

For those of you who might not
already have been inundated with this

in the corporate world,

it's a simple concept,
and it's backed up by neuroscience.

Our brain has to handle
way too much information,

so in order to manage it all,

our brain takes the liberty
of looking for patterns

and filtering for us what it sees
as the most important bits,

like autopilot.

Our brains take shortcuts.

Without these shortcuts,

we'd have to sit and really think through
way too much information.

Imagine if every single time
you had to think through everything

from how to open doors
to how to shake hands

to how to sing "Happy Birthday."

But brain shortcuts do have a downside.

Because they see patterns
that are based on the cumulative effect

of everything you've been exposed to
throughout your life,

which means the whole thing is happening
also in the back of our minds,

which means we're not even aware
that it's happening.

This can cause us to behave in ways
that are not true to who we want to be,

or how we feel we are,
and we might not even know it.

Unconscious bias sounds kind of clinical,

but I looked it up, and other words
for unconscious are:

comatose, paralyzed, or senseless.

And other words for bias are bigotry,
intolerance, and unfairness.

That would mean
we're not just unconsciously biased,

we're actually senseless,
intolerant bigots.

(Laughter)

So, that's not something I want to be,
consciously or unconsciously.

And here's the scary part:
most of us think we can outsmart it.

We believe it when we say things like,

"I don't see race,"
or "I just hired the best person."

It just so happened that at the time
of the two pay requests,

I was doing research on unconscious bias.

And the research said
these are our expectations of men.

We expect them to be assertive,
and strong, and driven.

And these are our expectations of women.

We expect women to be helpful,
and sensitive, and supportive.

If we were to make it
a little bit tighter,

we see men as taking charge,
and women as taking care.

No, it's not because
every single one of us is a misogynist.

It's simply because men taking charge
and women taking care

is what we've mostly been exposed to
throughout our lives.

And our brains will do the rest,

unconsciously redirecting us
into those patterns that it recognizes.

Still feeling like this bias
couldn't possibly belong to me,

one of the words jumped out at me.

Wait a minute.

Do I see the man as a provider,

and so I looked at his pay request
more seriously?

And do I not see the woman as a provider,
and so I've somehow dismissed her request?

In that moment, I had to realize I do.

I see men as providers, but not women,
which is really interesting

because I'm the sole financial provider
for my family of six.

My husband is a stay-at-home father
for our four children.

I take charge. And he takes care.

I'm the last person I can imagine

who could ever have a bias
against women leaders,

and yet I had to realize
I have a bias against women leaders.

I have a bias against myself.

And if you're thinking, "Wow, bad on her"

(Laughter)

unfortunately, I'm not
the only one with this bias.

The research shows that we all
have a bias against women leaders.

We just don't know it.

I had both a man and a woman
ask me for a raise at the same time,

so I was confronted
with my different reactions, real time.

And I could notice it when I was
accidentally treating people differently.

Luckily, that happened,
and I realized in time,

but how many times
have I not caught myself?

How many times
have you not caught yourself?

So what's the antidote
to being a senseless, intolerant bigot

toward women leaders or anyone else?

It's a big stretch to imagine
that we'll always have the opportunity

to crosscheck our reactions
with two different people in real life.

But I've realized we don't need to.

We can do this comparison mentally,
and it's just as eye opening.

Just mentally flip
whoever you're dealing with

for someone else to test yourself.

Like here.

I made a slight change to this slide.

I flipped the photos.

Does anything on this slide feel weird?

Flip it to test it.

If it feels weird,
you might want to check yourself.

The more I tried it,
the more I saw the value.

In fact, there's this Twitter account
that just flips the gender

of things we commonly say,
and suddenly, they become funny.

"Being called a Policewoman
doesn't bother me at all,

because I know it covers
both women and men."

Andrew, Policewoman, age 40.

(Laughter)

Or let's take my hometown baseball team
of the Cleveland Indians.

Flip it to test it.

How would you feel to be up in the stands
cheering for the Cleveland Caucasians?

(Laughter)

Now, maybe you're thinking,
"This doesn't happen to me."

And maybe you're right.

Maybe you are a superhuman person
who manages to intercept

those brain shortcuts
at exactly the right moment

to ensure you're behaving bias-free
and consistently with your values,

and beliefs, and all of your actions.

It could very well be.

But what have you got to lose
to double-check yourself?

If we all started to flip it to test it,
we might just be surprised

at how often we would choose
to behave differently.

Because what if you're missing
an opportunity

to see the world differently?

Thank you.

(Applause)