The Leader’s Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams

Fuller, who works on leadership issues of bias and inclusion at consulting firm FranklinCovey (of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People fame), debuts with a useful toolkit for organizations looking to face institutional- and individual-level unconscious bias. The first step, she writes, is discounting the idea that bias means one is “inherently ill-intentioned or morally flawed,” which makes people reluctant to acknowledge, and thus to take action against, their own biases. She then guides managers through ways to make workers feel “respected, included, valued,” and hence motivated to achieve at a high level, using FranklinCovey’s Bias Progress Model. This strategy calls for employers to “choose courage” by making a conscious commitment to diversity and inclusivity initiatives and to educate themselves about where bias comes from and cultivate the habit of being on the guard against it. Fuller’s tone is encouraging without letting readers off the hook, and she provides a plethora of tools for nurturing diversity and inclusion—worksheets, scripts, strategies, reflection questions, and so on. As those familiar with the FranklinCovey brand are likely to expect, this is a clearheaded, no-nonsense approach to addressing bias in all the places it may be found. Agent: Shannon Marven, Dupree Miller & Assoc. (Nov.)