Howard J. Ross was born into a Jewish middle-class family in Washington, DC, just after the Holocaust, in which many of his family members died. Out of this tragedy he learned from a very young age two things. One, that terrible things happen because people are different, and two, that you have a responsibility to do something about it.
Thus began his fascination in studying history, organizational development, and human behavior and psychology in an effort to abolish the “us” vs “them” mindset; no easy task to do in the ’80s before there was any talk of “diversity and inclusion.”
Somewhere along the line in all his studies, he came to an aha moment: the Germans were not inherently bad people, they were just a product of a broken societal system and environment, and the same goes for every genocide and hate group in history.
He began to explore, what if instead of telling people, “what you believe is wrong,” we instead show them how what we believe is actually just an unconscious perception based on all our past experiences? What if we showed people it’s possible to understand where your enemy is coming from, once you hear their story?
Since this realization, Howard has worked with leaders in fortune 500 companies to facilitate these types of conversations that have allowed people to recognize the humanity in each other and become more empathetic. He is a best-selling author and one of the nation’s most influential diversity consultants and workplace experts, specializing in corporate culture change, leadership development and managing diversity.
In this episode, you'll learn how to become aware of your own unconscious bias, what Howard means by, “Replace your exclamation points with question marks”, and what you can do about it to become a more empathetic, understanding, and inclusive human.
Full show notes: https://www.baktashahadi.com/shownotes/how-our-unconscious-bias-impacts-our-daily-lives
Connect with Howard J. Ross
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