Biased Thinking Is The Root Cause Of A Number Of Problems

Over the past year or so, I've been thinking about the role of social bias in our society. It's important for us as a people to understand what causes the social bias that is prevalent in many situations, whether it's in politics business, or any other context.

A few weeks ago, I attended a dinner party where our first lady, Rosalynn Carter, was honored with a New Year's Residence and then given a State Department Welcomes Ball, where she had to be escorted by Secretaries and other senior officials. I watched as the guests arrived and were asked if they would like to receive a New Year's Residence. At least one person stood up and declared that she didn't want a New Year's Residence, but rather a New Year's Flower. She later took her seat in the front row, surrounded by a group of Secretaries and other top officials. Then here on came the first lady, introduced, and announced that a New Year's Flower would be given instead.

The first lady's speech and the flower delivery lasted for almost an hour. A couple of minutes later, the first lady took the stage and announced that she had just gotten a flower delivery, not a New Year's flower, because that was the same old song that we have been singing for generations. Then she went on to talk about all of the wonderful things that we have been doing in our country and around the world.

I'm not saying that everyone at that dinner party was consciously practicing bias thinking. There were many wonderful, kind, intelligent, insightful people in attendance, but they were very biased in their views, and they seemed to be in support of the first lady. I'm referring to the assumption that the first couple of words out of the first lady's mouth are always the right ones. It may not be intentional, but it's still bias, which is the root cause of many problems in our country.

It happened many different times when I sat in a meeting where someone would give a good and thoughtful speech, but would not let me finish speaking. They'd just interrupt and ask me to elaborate on a point I'd made and then repeat the point, over again, before I could get the point across. The first part of the sentence, usually the first statement, was always the point, but there wasn't a second part to it. or to get a better emphasis.

It's happened many times when I've been asked to write a piece of writing about a topic, but I wasn't really interested in the material, but had to write it anyway. Then I was asked to write about the same-old, same-old stuff. So I did. When I finished, I wrote it and gave it to the writer for publication. Later, I found out that it wasn't actually a very good piece of writing and the article was published anyway, even though the point of the article was accurate.

Biased thinking has also led to a number of problems in business, whether it's with my own business or with other businesses that I have helped to help or advise others get through. It's not a bad thing if there are good arguments and good points to be made. However, if a group believes that they can win a debate by using the "big stick" in the form of a "no"either/or" approach, they're likely to use that approach to defend their position.


For example, some businesses have a "no" strategy on how to run their business successfully. However, this no strategy often leads to them "trying to persuade," "argue"prove" their position on how to run their business. This often results in a lot of conflict and back and forth, not really resolving any real issues or concerns. This is a result of biased thinking. And that's why I say "biased thinking," because that is the root cause of all the problems that we face in this country.