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Breaking the Barrier of Bias introduction

Our unconscious biases build barriers between us and the people we meet or work with every day. When we are unaware of the ways we demonstrate our biases, we miss opportunities to build bridges with people. We also often miss opportunities to expand our knowledge of our communities and our understanding of ourselves.

It usually is not our intention to ignore or insult others. But it happens–all the time. Most of the time we don’t even know we have offended someone!

If they tell us they are offended, we usually get defensive. We focus on our intent, and we may accuse the other person of being “over sensitive.” Most of us don’t ask the questions which will help us understand the situation from another point of view. And very few of us are willing to apologize, then change our future behavior.

The primary purpose of this book is to help you recognize the ways biases come through in your conversations and your interactions with others.

I believe when we each become more aware of the biases we don’t usually think about, we also become better able to manage our relationships with people representing groups whose cultural norms differ from our own.

Very often people think valuing differences and managing diversity is about learning to get along with, to understand or to tolerate other people. Actually, some of the most important lessons come as a result of recognizing the ways you are different from others and developing the ability to share those differences in a nonjudgmental way.

After reading this book you will probably begin to have more awareness of your own silent biases. You may become more interested in the ways others are different from you. And you should have some clear ideas about how to initiate more positive contact with people different from yourself in order to build bridges across cultural boundaries.

Through the stories within these pages I hope you will find a piece of you. I hope you will smile. I hope you will think. I hope you will learn. And I hope you will share your insights with others.