What’s your ?light bulb DIB moment??

My lightbulb moment came to me after having the privilege of attending our company's Allyship Onboarding Workshop to become a member of the Allies Council. Reading the book ?The Person You Mean to Be? by Dolly Chugh as preparation opened my eyes and changed my understanding of bias and my role in promoting equality.

I’ve always considered myself open-minded and I believe that I treat everyone with respect and kindness and being born and raised in a very diverse country like Switzerland, I really felt that I was free of any bias. But I soon realized that biases often operate below the surface of our consciousness (blind spots) and unknowingly influence our perceptions and actions, as a result of ?cognitive programming?. My specific light bulb moment came when I read about the concept of being a ?goodish? person instead of a ?good? person. Chugh argues that the goal of being ?good? sets an unrealistic standard of moral perfection that can prevent us from recognizing and combating our own biases. On the other hand, a ?goodish? person recognizes that it is okay not being perfect, choosing the wrong words or being uncomfortable with a situation since we all need to be willing and capable of learning from our mistakes and growing over time (growing mindset).

As I reflected on my own experiences from earlier on in my career, I am embarrassed to remember moments where I caught myself having failed to recognize my unconscious biases. Some of these may have played into decisions I have made in the past – we all have unconscious bias but, thanks to my lightbulb moment, I am now much more mindful of my own, which now helps me to make better informed and rational decisions when meeting people.

For example, there were moments from my youth when I remained silent during situations when a former colleague made unsavory or non-inclusive remarks. Somehow, for some reason, I felt that it was not my place to speak up in that moment. What I see now though, is that a true leader always speaks up and speaks out, no matter what the situation or their position, or how awkward it might make you feel. With increased awareness, should I find myself in that same situation as I did all those years ago, I would call it out in the moment to set the tone as a leader – this shows support and empowers those who would be affected by this behavior, and prevents it from developing further or happening again in the future.

With this new understanding, I now try to approach my interactions with more mindfulness, questioning my initial impressions and actively seeking to build on perspectives other than my own. I now also realize that speaking up against inequity is part of a larger movement towards inclusion. My partner and I have now become each other’s bias monitors and we actively point out when we recognize biases in one another.

This had quite some impact professionally. The concept of ?goodish? as opposed to ?good? has fundamentally changed the way I look at the world and the balance between ?immediately required? and ?to be learned over time? skills or attributes in people. Creating a good inclusive company culture is not about box ticking as I used to think about it. Instead, now I look at potential rather than simply assuming that a ?good? hire was someone who was fully trained and had no gaps in their skills or knowledge. This approach not only limited the diversity of the team, but also our collective growth potential. The exclusive focus on immediate qualifications was an expression of unconscious bias. It made it clear that our ?good? standard does unknowingly exclude talented individuals who bring valuable perspectives and skills to our team, simply because they don’t fit into the traditional frame we’re used to.

The mindset of ?goodish? changed my perspective. It taught me the importance of accepting diversity, imperfection and potential, not only in myself but also in the people I work with. The idea that we are all capable of learning and evolving caused me to rethink the qualities we define as ?must haves? in people and team members. I encourage all my team and, as we continue to grow, all future team members to be ?goodish? - admitting their shortcomings, learning from mistakes, and ultimately moving forward in a collaborative, inclusive and productive manner.

Have you had a similar "light bulb moment" that changed your understanding of bias and your role in promoting diversity and inclusion? How has it influenced your approach to interactions and decision-making in your personal or professional life? Leave a comment.

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