[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
Wow
what a lovely audience how y’all doing
well I am here to talk about biases I’m
originally from Atlanta Georgia but I
live in Denver down and the reason
biases are so important is because they
impact everything in everybody now you
may wonder what a bias is it is the
predisposition way of seeing people
things events in a positive or negative
way they are unconscious or conscious
think of it is an attitude or belief a
judgment and the interesting thing about
our unconscious biases also known as
implicit biases they are often in
conflict with our conscious beliefs but
I’m curious before I go any further what
just happened here what judgments are
you making about me did you hear what I
said are you just too busy thinking
about how I said I’d see it on your
faces some of your body language well
the truth is I am from originally from
Atlanta and I’ve never had that accent
[Applause]
and I suspect some in the audience just
experienced what it’s like to make a
snap judgment of someone based on what
you see or hear so why am i a white
woman of privilege here talking about
biases because in the work that I do I
see it everywhere every day all the time
I see the impact I see people being held
back from their full potential
I see people holding themselves back I
see the polarization in our communities
in organizations in our government and
it continues all the time
and when I was practicing for this talk
I thought about the heaviness of this
topic but the only reason it’s heavy is
because we are fearful to look at it so
I’m going to invite you now to join me
on a journey about the seriousness of
this topic because if we do not take
individual responsibility to look at the
beliefs we hold and the impact that they
have we run the risk of contributing to
the sexism the racism the xenophobia the
homophobia that ableism that exists in
our world today and in my own experience
growing up in the 50s and 60s in the
south I was surrounded by all of those
isms I didn’t know the words nobody ever
told them to me but it’s just the way it
was and as a young girl I was told that
I could be a mother or big or here one
of two or three professions closeted
very empowering and do you know that
this mother and career thing is one of
the most prevalent implicit and explicit
biases that impact women’s advancement
today in my 20s I was hired by major
airline being hired meant that I had to
give up my current job my
Hartman and my roommate I moved into the
training center made it through with
flying colors past 100% even had my
uniforms delivered and on the day of
graduation I was told I had to leave I
was 2 pounds over the maximum weight for
my height in bone structure 2 pounds
well thank goodness the airlines have
gotten past that belief but it took
being challenged
it took creating change and yet still I
can walk in a room and because of the
color of my skin have some level of
privilege but just imagine if the color
of your skin your gender your accent
your ethnicity your mental ability your
physical ability your age precedes you
and you are automatically judged put in
a box and categorized and it is
happening all the time
you only have to listen to the news
watch the news read a newspaper open a
magazine watch TV see a movie listen to
the comments going on around you just
recently MSNBC did a study of 26
five-year-old boys and girls they
brought them together in a room and they
said who’s the smartest person in your
family and all the little boys said I am
and all little girls that I earn and
then they told them a story and they
showed him a picture of a man and a
woman and they said who’s the smartest
person in the story and all the little
boy said the man and all the little
girls said the woman one year later same
kids were brought back together only now
they’re 6 years old and they said who’s
the smartest person in your family and
all the little boy said I am and many of
the little girls said my daddy is
then they told them a story and showed
them pictures and they said who’s the
smartest person in this joy and all the
little voices man and Oliver girl says
the man what happened in one year to
change how they saw themselves and
others think about it it’s the blatant
and the subliminal messages that we send
that we read all the time and what
happens is it puts someone in a box and
if you’ve ever been put in a box it’s
hard to get out if you put yourself in a
box it’s really challenging to get out
and it is extremely difficult to get out
of a box without support and if you
wonder what the cost is on organizations
it is a revolving door you can hire the
cream of the crop the top talent and if
they do not believe that they can
contribute feel included are valued and
have a path to success building and in
our communities we will stay polarized
there are some industries that are
starting to make some change trying to
make some unbiased decisions for
instance the legal industry which is not
necessarily known for the advancement of
women and minorities they have some
firms forty four firms and seventy law
departments and these are actually big
numbers have adopted the Mansfield rule
well the man’s fear rule was developed
during the women in law hackathon which
was trying to help advance women
leadership in the legal industry it’s
patterned after the Rooney rule in the
NFL where at least one african-american
must be considered as a candidate for a
head coach for a general manager
position well the man still rule is
named
arabela man’s ville she was the first
woman admitted to the bar in the 1800s
and it takes seven areas of law firm
leadership and says that at least one
woman or minority must be considered for
the these seven areas and GoDaddy has
done something similar they’ve decided
that whenever a leadership position
comes up they will look at their entire
employee base resumes and since they
started doing this they’ve had a 30%
jump in women in leadership so things
can happen things can change but it does
take action and if you’re wondering what
you can do start with conscious
awareness and have a judgment journal
and note every single time that you make
a judgement someone else or yourself and
see just how fast you fill it up
how many will you fill up in a day try
it walk through the airport check it out
walk down the 1616 Street Mall check it
out
and just notice and the other thing I
say to do is we have to get past our
fears we have to get beyond the fear of
looking at our biases we have to get
past the guilt guilt is just a feeling
and we have control of our feelings and
behind our biases our fears and our
brain jumps into that fight or flight
syndrome Winnick goes in comes in
contact with change or difference and
most of the time we don’t even know
what’s happening but use this acronym to
sort through what that fear is and
what’s going on so f is for flight or
fight fight and I’m not talking about
life or death I’m talking about what are
you defending against your so
steam apposition a belief what are you
afraid of losing flight that’s the same
as withdrawal Oh silence leave it to the
leaders leave it to the parents leave it
to the teachers leave it to the
lawmakers because when we do this we
screwed
we screwed others and we exclude
ourselves and we avoid we avoid
opportunities we avoid building
relationships collaboration building
bridges creating change all because of
these automatic reactions these
automatic reactions that our brains go
to so I ask you step back and think
about what’s going on what are the
thoughts that you have and then you can
make the most effective response and if
you have fear that well this is all I
know this is all I’ve been taught I
don’t know what to believe I don’t know
what to think or I’ll lose my memories
it won’t happen a couple of years ago I
saw this picture on Facebook this is
richest department store that was the
largest department store in Atlanta when
I was growing up it’s not there anymore
when I saw this picture I had very fond
memories every holiday we would go
downtown and my brother would see Santa
will you ride the pink pig and I still
don’t know what pigs have to do with
Christmas if you find out please tell me
and then we would go and see into the
secret shop Santa’s secret shot was
really cool because the parents couldn’t
go in there so we’d go in there and shop
they paid for it of course but they
couldn’t see what we bought it was very
empowering and then we go to dinner and
when I saw this picture I had my fond
memories and then I thought I wonder who
else was not welcome in Santa’s shop or
in the store because you see in the 60s
Richards
stores where there were lunch counter
sit-ins held to sup to opposed
segregation and even though the civil
rights amendment had passed oppression
was alive and well as it is in many
places today so you can have your
memories so I invite you to commit to
looking at your biases in the belief in
the behaviors and ask these five
questions where did I learn my bias is
it true what’s the impact what do I
choose to believe and what actions can I
take the bottom line is conscious
awareness is the first step but that’s
bias 101 awareness alone does not create
change actions do what will you do thank
you
[Applause]
you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
Wow
what a lovely audience how y’all doing
well I am here to talk about biases I’m
originally from Atlanta Georgia but I
live in Denver down and the reason
biases are so important is because they
impact everything in everybody now you
may wonder what a bias is it is the
predisposition way of seeing people
things events in a positive or negative
way they are unconscious or conscious
think of it is an attitude or belief a
judgment and the interesting thing about
our unconscious biases also known as
implicit biases they are often in
conflict with our conscious beliefs but
I’m curious before I go any further what
just happened here what judgments are
you making about me did you hear what I
said are you just too busy thinking
about how I said I’d see it on your
faces some of your body language well
the truth is I am from originally from
Atlanta and I’ve never had that accent
[Applause]
and I suspect some in the audience just
experienced what it’s like to make a
snap judgment of someone based on what
you see or hear so why am i a white
woman of privilege here talking about
biases because in the work that I do I
see it everywhere every day all the time
I see the impact I see people being held
back from their full potential
I see people holding themselves back I
see the polarization in our communities
in organizations in our government and
it continues all the time
and when I was practicing for this talk
I thought about the heaviness of this
topic but the only reason it’s heavy is
because we are fearful to look at it so
I’m going to invite you now to join me
on a journey about the seriousness of
this topic because if we do not take
individual responsibility to look at the
beliefs we hold and the impact that they
have we run the risk of contributing to
the sexism the racism the xenophobia the
homophobia that ableism that exists in
our world today and in my own experience
growing up in the 50s and 60s in the
south I was surrounded by all of those
isms I didn’t know the words nobody ever
told them to me but it’s just the way it
was and as a young girl I was told that
I could be a mother or big or here one
of two or three professions closeted
very empowering and do you know that
this mother and career thing is one of
the most prevalent implicit and explicit
biases that impact women’s advancement
today in my 20s I was hired by major
airline being hired meant that I had to
give up my current job my
Hartman and my roommate I moved into the
training center made it through with
flying colors past 100% even had my
uniforms delivered and on the day of
graduation I was told I had to leave I
was 2 pounds over the maximum weight for
my height in bone structure 2 pounds
well thank goodness the airlines have
gotten past that belief but it took
being challenged
it took creating change and yet still I
can walk in a room and because of the
color of my skin have some level of
privilege but just imagine if the color
of your skin your gender your accent
your ethnicity your mental ability your
physical ability your age precedes you
and you are automatically judged put in
a box and categorized and it is
happening all the time
you only have to listen to the news
watch the news read a newspaper open a
magazine watch TV see a movie listen to
the comments going on around you just
recently MSNBC did a study of 26
five-year-old boys and girls they
brought them together in a room and they
said who’s the smartest person in your
family and all the little boys said I am
and all little girls that I earn and
then they told them a story and they
showed him a picture of a man and a
woman and they said who’s the smartest
person in the story and all the little
boy said the man and all the little
girls said the woman one year later same
kids were brought back together only now
they’re 6 years old and they said who’s
the smartest person in your family and
all the little boy said I am and many of
the little girls said my daddy is
then they told them a story and showed
them pictures and they said who’s the
smartest person in this joy and all the
little voices man and Oliver girl says
the man what happened in one year to
change how they saw themselves and
others think about it it’s the blatant
and the subliminal messages that we send
that we read all the time and what
happens is it puts someone in a box and
if you’ve ever been put in a box it’s
hard to get out if you put yourself in a
box it’s really challenging to get out
and it is extremely difficult to get out
of a box without support and if you
wonder what the cost is on organizations
it is a revolving door you can hire the
cream of the crop the top talent and if
they do not believe that they can
contribute feel included are valued and
have a path to success building and in
our communities we will stay polarized
there are some industries that are
starting to make some change trying to
make some unbiased decisions for
instance the legal industry which is not
necessarily known for the advancement of
women and minorities they have some
firms forty four firms and seventy law
departments and these are actually big
numbers have adopted the Mansfield rule
well the man’s fear rule was developed
during the women in law hackathon which
was trying to help advance women
leadership in the legal industry it’s
patterned after the Rooney rule in the
NFL where at least one african-american
must be considered as a candidate for a
head coach for a general manager
position well the man still rule is
named
arabela man’s ville she was the first
woman admitted to the bar in the 1800s
and it takes seven areas of law firm
leadership and says that at least one
woman or minority must be considered for
the these seven areas and GoDaddy has
done something similar they’ve decided
that whenever a leadership position
comes up they will look at their entire
employee base resumes and since they
started doing this they’ve had a 30%
jump in women in leadership so things
can happen things can change but it does
take action and if you’re wondering what
you can do start with conscious
awareness and have a judgment journal
and note every single time that you make
a judgement someone else or yourself and
see just how fast you fill it up
how many will you fill up in a day try
it walk through the airport check it out
walk down the 1616 Street Mall check it
out
and just notice and the other thing I
say to do is we have to get past our
fears we have to get beyond the fear of
looking at our biases we have to get
past the guilt guilt is just a feeling
and we have control of our feelings and
behind our biases our fears and our
brain jumps into that fight or flight
syndrome Winnick goes in comes in
contact with change or difference and
most of the time we don’t even know
what’s happening but use this acronym to
sort through what that fear is and
what’s going on so f is for flight or
fight fight and I’m not talking about
life or death I’m talking about what are
you defending against your so
steam apposition a belief what are you
afraid of losing flight that’s the same
as withdrawal Oh silence leave it to the
leaders leave it to the parents leave it
to the teachers leave it to the
lawmakers because when we do this we
screwed
we screwed others and we exclude
ourselves and we avoid we avoid
opportunities we avoid building
relationships collaboration building
bridges creating change all because of
these automatic reactions these
automatic reactions that our brains go
to so I ask you step back and think
about what’s going on what are the
thoughts that you have and then you can
make the most effective response and if
you have fear that well this is all I
know this is all I’ve been taught I
don’t know what to believe I don’t know
what to think or I’ll lose my memories
it won’t happen a couple of years ago I
saw this picture on Facebook this is
richest department store that was the
largest department store in Atlanta when
I was growing up it’s not there anymore
when I saw this picture I had very fond
memories every holiday we would go
downtown and my brother would see Santa
will you ride the pink pig and I still
don’t know what pigs have to do with
Christmas if you find out please tell me
and then we would go and see into the
secret shop Santa’s secret shot was
really cool because the parents couldn’t
go in there so we’d go in there and shop
they paid for it of course but they
couldn’t see what we bought it was very
empowering and then we go to dinner and
when I saw this picture I had my fond
memories and then I thought I wonder who
else was not welcome in Santa’s shop or
in the store because you see in the 60s
Richards
stores where there were lunch counter
sit-ins held to sup to opposed
segregation and even though the civil
rights amendment had passed oppression
was alive and well as it is in many
places today so you can have your
memories so I invite you to commit to
looking at your biases in the belief in
the behaviors and ask these five
questions where did I learn my bias is
it true what’s the impact what do I
choose to believe and what actions can I
take the bottom line is conscious
awareness is the first step but that’s
bias 101 awareness alone does not create
change actions do what will you do thank
you
[Applause]
you
[Music]
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