Don’t Let Unconscious Biases Rule You
We produced a podcast episode several years ago to help you identify some of the unconscious biases that may affect your judgment, perception, and actions. As much as we like to think we’re free from bias, it’s an unavoidable part of the human condition.
In that episode, I covered 18 unconscious biases that are likely to affect your behavior. In today’s Moment, I want to make it even more impactful for you by giving you my top 5 – the 5 unconscious biases that I’ve become increasingly aware of, as I spend more and more time working with senior executives around the world.
- Framing Effect: We draw completely different conclusions from the same information, depending on how it’s presented. For example, here are two interpretations of exactly the same statistic on the number of road deaths:
– “The death toll from road accidents is down dramatically this year, as only 500 people have died on Sydney’s roads.”
This is completely different to hearing:
– “Road deaths are out of control, and the government has promised to spend and additional $4bn on road safety initiatives in the coming year, as 500 people die on Sydney’s roads”
- Sunk Cost Fallacy: We’re more likely to keep putting money into an existing investment, even if it’s shaping up to be unprofitable
– I never cease to be amazed at the number of executives who understand this principle intellectually, but can’t seem to overcome it emotionally
– If we were totally dispassionate in our decision making, we would only look at future potential outcomes, rather than being attached to our historical investment
– In gambler parlance, “never put good money after bad”
- Confirmation Bias: We tend to find and remember information that confirms our existing perceptions
– This is one of the really big ones… and social media is only making it worse, by feeding us information that the algorithm knows we already like
– Whenever I hear or see something that I feel totally comfortable with, I try to say to myself:
– “I want this to be true, because it confirms in my mind that I’m right. But is this really true and accurate? What’s the source of this information?” - Halo Effect: If you see a person who is excellent in one area of performance, you often give them more credit than is due in other, unrelated areas
– This is why so many excellent technical people are promoted from an IC role that they’re absolutely crushing, to a leadership role that they’re woefully inept at
– The halo of competence from their technical capability often still hovers over them, even when their actual leadership performance is abysmal - Anchoring: We rely heavily on the first information introduced when making decisions
– This is critical in negotiation, particularly when it’s a simple price-based negotiation
– The first offer put on the table acts as an anchor, which becomes the reference point for the remainder of the negotiation
– It takes discipline, confidence, and self-awareness to override an anchor
To counteract your unconscious biases, try asking yourself a few questions that will help to stop your brain from becoming lazy… “Is that true?”… “What evidence is there to support that?”… “If I had to swing 180-degrees to debate this issue against myself, how would I defend the opposite position?”.