A bi-monthly newsletter on stories, ideas and frameworks related to the vast concept of Leadership.
Cognitive biases: The tinted glasses you didn't know you were wearing.
Published 6 months ago • 3 min read
Cognitive biases: The tinted glasses you didn't know you were wearing.
By Adi
Solution Architect and Founder of ARC
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Hello and Welcome to ARC’s Leadership Campfire.
Every 15 days, we gather around in this virtual campfire to share stories, ideas, and frameworks about Leadership. Anything, that helps you to become better leaders at work, in life, and beyond.
Leadership is a vast concept, this newsletter condenses it.
With the help of ARC's Research Team, I am back with another edition. The topic this time: Cognitive biases
One Thing to Learn
Have a look at these images...
Credits: CBP London
This AD campaign by CPB London is one of the quickest ways to make someone aware of their biases. While in the images above the focus is solely on gender biases, in this edition of ARC’s Leadership Campfire, we look at the phenomenon of cognitive biases from a broad lens.
What is cognitive bias?
"A systematic thought process is caused by the tendency of the human brain to simplify information processing through a filter of personal experience and preferences."
Woah! That might sound a little too technical and detailed (at the research team, we sometimes tend to do that :p), but let’s break it down in simpler terms.
Cognitive bias is like wearing tinted sunglasses. You see the world through them, but the colour of the lenses changes how everything looks. Our brains our like those tinted sunglasses, we don’t see the world exactly as it is; instead, we see it through the “filter” of our past experiences, beliefs, and preferences.
*Be like Majnu Bhai when it comes to removing those tinted glasses :)
Why should it matter to you?
In leadership, biases are patterns of thinking that can affect how you perceive situations and make decisions. And all of this often happens without you, the leader being aware of them.
This ends up influencing how you evaluate information, solve problems and lead teams.
The “Tall Guy” Bias in Leadership
One of the most memorable examples of biases from Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Blink’ is the bias toward height in male leaders. Gladwell cites data showing that an overwhelming percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs are taller than average. Specifically:
In the U.S., the average male height is 5’9”, but the average height of CEOs is well over 6 feet.
Only 14.5% of American men are 6 feet or taller, yet almost 60% of Fortune 500 CEOs fit this category.
Gladwell argues that this reflects a subconscious bias: we equate height with power, confidence, and leadership potential, even though these qualities have no direct correlation with someone’s ability to lead effectively. (Source)
The first step towards change is to bring awareness, below is a list of biases and how they take form.
One Thing to Explore
Click to zoom in
One thing to Consider
While the first half of the newsletter has been spent on berating biases, let’s also look at it from a different perspective.
Biases are like evolutionary shortcuts. They’ve been hardwired into our DNA to help us survive and react quickly. Back in the days of hunters and gatherers, when life was precarious and danger lurked at every corner, our brains couldn’t afford to analyse every situation in detail.
If a bush rustled, it was safer to assume a predator was hiding rather than wasting time wondering if it was just the wind. This bias toward caution kept us alive.
As humans evolved, the immediate fight-or-flight situations have significantly decreased, but those biases remain embedded in us. Now, instead of bushes, our “rustling leaves” might be a sudden email from the boss or a stranger’s expression. While the stakes aren’t always life or death, these biases still guide our snap judgments and gut instincts.
This evolution has also led us to become more self-aware as beings. We have gained the capacity to step back and question our biases.
So, break your mental models that no longer serve you.
Wishing you a happy new year! A quick guide if you're into making New Year resolutions.
Until next time, Adi.
*One last note, please hit the reply button if you actually found that GIF funny, I was forced to do it 😬
PS: We’re growing fast and running out of chairs, but we’re not stopping! Help us out either with more chairs or great referrals :) ARC is Hiring
What else are we working on?
The Research Team at ARC is working on how to navigate Ethical Conflicts that we humans experience in our everyday interactions.
ARC (Adi Raheja and Co) is a decade-old consulting firm in the field of Organisation Development and Leadership Development. Clients partner with us for some of the most innovative and impactful interventions to develop leaders, teams and culture and strategy. ARC’s main purpose is to Bring Humanness back into Consulting.
