A New Way to Combat Bias at Work

Joan Williams, professor and the founding director of the Center
for WorkLife Law at the University of California’s Hastings College
of the Law, says that it's extremely difficult for organizations to
rid their workforces of the unconscious biases that can prevent
women and minorities from advancing. But it's not so hard for
individual managers to interrupt bias within their own teams. She
offers specific suggestions for how bosses can shift their approach
in four areas: hiring, meetings, assignments, and
reviews/promotions. Leaders who employ these practices, she argues,
are able to embrace and reap the advantages of diversity, even in
the absence of larger organizational directives. Williams is the
author of the HBR article "How the Best Bosses Interrupt Bias on
Their Teams."