Human Skills: Trust · Step 3: Expand · Let's Practice!
Addressing the Shortcuts of Bias
Every human brain takes shortcuts — here's how to redraw the unwanted ones
Start here, with the book's most important sentence on this topic: biases are not inherently bad or good. They're shortcuts every human brain uses to make decisions in a complex world (Kahneman, 2011) — unconscious, universal, and not a verdict on your character. Every person on your team has them. So does every author, and every leader.
But shortcuts we didn't choose can quietly work against people — and you can't erase one just by deciding to ignore it. What works is redrawing the shortcut. The research points to three ways:
1 · Become aware it exists — tools like the Harvard Implicit Association Test surface shortcuts you can't feel from the inside.
2 · Take in first-person stories — narratives told from inside a community create empathy that redraws the shortcut over time.
3 · Work side-by-side — pursuing something together with people from that community gives your brain new, positive associations.
First you'll practice recognizing which approach an action uses. Then — privately — you'll sketch a two-action plan of your own.
About 5 minutes · There's no grade here — just practice.
Part 1 · Which approach is this?
Which of the three approaches does this action use?
The three moves you can now spot
Each approach redraws the shortcut a different way:
Awareness surfaces the shortcut — you can't address what you can't see, and these shortcuts hide from their owners.
First-person stories rewrite it through empathy — the brain starts modeling the world from inside someone else's view.
Side-by-side effort overwrites it with lived, positive associations — real memories outweigh inherited assumptions.
The strongest plans combine approaches — surfacing a shortcut and then giving the brain new material to redraw it with.
Part 2 · Your two-action plan
Bring to mind one bias you're aware of in yourself. You won't be asked to name it — not here, not anywhere. It stays entirely in your head.
Now choose two actions you could realistically take in the next month. The book suggests two per bias — and mixing approaches works best.
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Surface it
Take the Harvard Implicit Association Test in the area closest to it
For one week, notice the moments the shortcut fires — who you interrupt, who you double-check, who you assume things about
Take in first-person stories
Choose a memoir, podcast, or film told from inside that community — and finish it
Follow three voices from that community who write about their everyday professional lives
Work side-by-side
Volunteer for a project or cause where you'll collaborate with people from that community toward something you both care about
Ask someone from that community to partner with you on a real piece of work — and let them lead part of it
Your plan · Carry it to the book
The book's reflection asks exactly this: which biases you're aware of, and two things you could do about each. Your answer is ready — write it there, where only you will see it.
Noticing your own shortcuts — and choosing to redraw them — is one of the most human responses there is.
Trust = consistent Responses to Challenges over Time
Your brain will keep taking shortcuts; that's what brains do. What your team will feel is the pattern of your responses: the leader who keeps doing this quiet work becomes someone every member of the team can trust to see them fairly.
Now head back to the book and complete the Addressing the Shortcuts of Bias reflection — it's yours alone.