Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Biased ? Not me



By: Natasha Hawker

I was visiting McDonalds yesterday on the behalf a client and, as I was leaving with my host, the lift opened and a women entered - average height probably in her late thirties - my host exchanged the usual type of pleasantries with her, as you do in a lift, so I assumed that she was a colleague and mentally pitched her at middle-management level. When we exited the lift and were out of earshot, my host said proudly 'that is our CEO, Catriona Noble. '

Well, my Unconscious Bias was working overtime as always - you see, as much as I pride myself on the 'women can do anything' mantra and the need - no, the criticality of getting more women to the boardroom - I envision, unconsciously, a CEO as male, in their 50s and over 6ft tall!

So my apologies and my admiration, Catriona - I only hope that you mentor and encourage more women to the top, during your time at the top of the Golden Arches.




Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

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