From the course: Women Transforming Tech: Breaking Bias

Unconscious bias in the workplace

From the course: Women Transforming Tech: Breaking Bias

Start my 1-month free trial

Unconscious bias in the workplace

“

(upbeat music) - I'm Lori Mackenzie, I'm the co-founder of the Stanford VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab. People often ask me, "Is bias really unconscious?" And well, not all of it is, the bias that we study a lot is unconscious bias. One of the things we know is that women often face what might be called a performance bias where their exact same performance is rated lower based on whether or not our stereotypes align with stereotypes of success. Women often ask me, "Why is this my responsibility, "why do I have to work so hard to get over these barriers?" And what I often tell them is absolutely, your manager really should learn how to make sure they're not prone to bias. But in the meantime, it's really important that you have skills and tools to navigate what might be considered an uneven playing field in the meantime. So I think the answer to that question is an and. Yes, your manager should develop these skills and in the meantime, learn some tools, so that they don't affect your career. Together, hopefully, we can change the workplace.

Contents