(bell ringing)
- [Narrator] "We all romanticize the people we adore."
(gentle music)
"A lot of companies have nice-sounding cultural values,
like integrity, respect, and excellence,
but if those values don't map to specific behaviors,
then they quickly get lost instead.
We see what's called a halo effect
where leaders tend to overvalue certain attributes
and undervalue others."
"If people are failing, they look inept.
If people are succeeding,
they look strong and good and competent.
That's the halo effect.
Your first impression of a thing
sets up your subsequent belief.
If the company looks inept to you,
you may assume everything else they do is inept."
The halo effect is a testament
to our need for consistency.
It's almost as if the pleasure we feel
in contemplating someone's strength
inoculates us against seeing their weaknesses.
We want to bask in the glory,
and we don't want to dilute that feeling.
It's way less confusing
when people fall into simple categories.
Our feelings are hard to scale, and it is so much easier
if we see people as all one thing or another
and nothing in between.
We all romanticize people we adore.
As you relax and let go of the need for classification,
appreciate that perceiving people
as a variety of different talents and imperfections
is the greatest honor you can give them and yourself.
Do not give into the need for simplicity.
Resist and see the people around you as they really are,
complex and diverse.
We all romanticize people we adore.
See yourself first,
your many strengths and the ways you need to improve.
If you focus on a strength,
does that mean your weaknesses all disappear?
If you focus on a weakness,
does that mean you have no strength?
Embrace your complexity
so you can embrace the complexity of others.
Great leaders don't romanticize the people they adore.
Great leaders don't demonize the people they dislike.
But you don't have to follow the path of simplicity.
The path of simplicity leads into the woods of ignorance,
woods so thick that you are blind to the light.
Seek the light of the truth, not simplicity.
When you adore someone based on the need for simplicity,
you are setting them up to fail.
The pedestal you have put them on is so high
that if they falter, when they falter, they cannot help
but become crashing to the ground.
Great leaders know that moderation is needed in all things,
including perceptions.
Don't allow yourself to be fooled into extreme judgments.
The more extreme your judgment,
the more incorrect and damaging it will turn out to be.
Moderation is needed in all things,
especially your perception of others.
Great leaders appreciate kindness, charity, and love,
but don't assume that they are universal behaviors
for the person showing you that kindness, charity, and love.
As you know that person more,
you will be able to much more accurately perceive them
and their authentic motivations.
"Open your mind to the world and the many different ways
that can be found in it
before making hasty judgements of others.
After all, the very same thing
that you judge from where you are
may very well be something totally different in meaning
on the other side of the world.
The problem with making hasty judgements
is that it will emphasize your ignorance
at the end of the day." C. JoyBell.
Great leaders know that making hasty judgements
only emphasizes ignorance.
Open your mind to complexity.
Rise above snap judgements and generalizations,
even if they are pleasing, especially if they are pleasing.
Great leaders open their minds to complexity.
When your mind presents a fast judgment to you,
challenge it.
Anything that quick and automatic must be flawed.
It's not the truth, but a function of habit.
You would not want someone
to be so knee jerk in their reactions to you.
You would want them to realize context, your complexity,
and not set you up to fail
through false assumptions and generalizations,
no matter how nice they may be or good they make you feel.
Great leaders know
that the problem with making hasty judgements
is that it only emphasizes ignorance.
Great leaders open their minds to complexity.
Reducing workplace bias.