Library
September 16, 2020
Harvard Psychologist, Mahzarin Banaji coined the term “thumbprint of my culture.” She and many others have studied implicit bias. These are biases we all have and use without conscious awareness. Our brain works fast to make decisions constantly and develop mental shortcuts. These shortcuts become our biases. Cognitive scientists have categorized over a hundred biases. The categories called the SEEDS Model stands for Similarity, Expedience, Experience, Distance and Safety. Similarity is often referred to an ingroup vs. outgroup. We perceive people who are similar more positively and those who are different more negatively. Expedience bias is if it feels […]
August 18, 2020
The Supreme Court reviewed three court cases where the employers terminated employees because the employees were homosexual or transgender. Gerald Bostock was terminated for conduct “unbecoming” a county employee when it was found that Gerald played in a gay softball league. Donald Zarda was fired after he mentioned being gay. Aimee Stephens presented herself as a male when she was hired. She was fired when she informed her employer she planned to “live and work full-time as woman.” The Supreme Court ruled that it’s impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual […]
July 16, 2020
David Kessler, an expert on grief described three ways people respond to a crisis. There are those who panic, unsure of what to do or how to cope; those who are moving along with guidance they have been given; and those who want others to calm down and get back to business as usual. Kessler uses the label of grief to explain the loss of control. The loss of how we used to live as well as anticipatory grief – the raw uncertainty of our family’s health and well-being. Three groups of employees are described in Kessler’s HBR article, Helping […]
June 22, 2020
Living through, or even observing these moral, economic and health crises continue to unfold is taking an emotional toll. We have three choices in response to a crisis. We can fight, flight, or freeze. We can move in with high energy and take control; we can move away, going about our business in denial, or we can stop. People have moved through heroism and adaptation at this point in the pandemic crisis and are finding themselves depleted. We recognize our lost certainty, command, and control. Apathy, anxiety, fear, anger, and grief are consuming and disrupting us. It’s time to become […]