Answer:
I recently had to confront a bias in myself that I hadn’t really been aware of. I was reading an article we’re going to publish in the fall which looks at what Gulf countries are doing with the massive amounts of cash they’ve built up. They’re investing in their own infrastructure and also investing heavily in Northern Africa, China, India, and the rest of Asia. Something about the article made me uneasy. It didn’t take me long to realize I was uncomfortable because North America and Western Europe were barely mentioned. I guess that at some primitive, implicit, indefensible level, I still think that the United States and Western Europe are the center of the universe, and I get worried when that’s not the case.
I immediately went next door to my colleague Anand Raman, who’s Indian, and confessed. “I just realized you guys are taking over,” I said, mostly joking. “It was weird to feel invisible.” Anand laughed. “We’re not taking over,” he said. “But we might achieve parity.”
Have you had surprising moments of clarity at work, when you realized you were more biased than you’d thought? Any suggestions for managing bias
Explanation:
I recently had to confront a bias in myself that I hadn’t really been aware of. I was reading an article we’re going to publish in the fall which looks at what Gulf countries are doing with the massive amounts of cash they’ve built up. They’re investing in their own infrastructure and also investing heavily in Northern Africa, China, India, and the rest of Asia. Something about the article made me uneasy. It didn’t take me long to realize I was uncomfortable because North America and Western Europe were barely mentioned. I guess that at some primitive, implicit, indefensible level, I still think that the United States and Western Europe are the center of the universe, and I get worried when that’s not the case.
I immediately went next door to my colleague Anand Raman, who’s Indian, and confessed. “I just realized you guys are taking over,” I said, mostly joking. “It was weird to feel invisible.” Anand laughed. “We’re not taking over,” he said. “But we might achieve parity.”
Have you had surprising moments of clarity at work, when you realized you were more biased than you’d thought? Any suggestions for managing bias
