The uncomfortable truth
Bias isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it looks like good intentions.
You think you’re being fair, hire based on “fit,” trust your gut. But over time, the same kinds of people rise, while others quietly disappear.
This isn’t just a personal issue, it’s a leadership responsibility.
This post will help you spot where bias hides, challenge it without defensiveness, and build systems that make space for more voices, not just the familiar ones.
What bias looks like in the real world (especially in tech)
It’s easy to think of bias as blatant discrimination, or a clear-cut case. But in reality, it shows up in ways that are easy to overlook if you’re not paying attention.
Here are some examples:
The “quiet” engineer
She consistently ships high-quality code. She doesn’t speak much in meetings, but when she does, her points are sharp and thoughtful. Still, when promotion time comes around, she’s passed over. The feedback? “She’s not showing enough leadership presence.” This is proximity bias—confusing visibility with value.
The resume that didn’t “feel right”
He’s a strong candidate. Good experience. Relevant skills. But his name is unfamiliar, and something about the resume makes the hiring manager pause. “I don’t know… I just don’t see them fitting in here.” That’s affinity bias and name bias working together.
The guy who keeps getting the best projects
He’s confident. Outspoken. Reminds the team lead of themselves at that age. Without meaning to, the lead keeps choosing him for the stretch assignments—more visibility, more recognition, faster track.
Meanwhile, others with equal potential wait quietly. This is confirmation bias—we invest more in the people we already believe in.
Bias doesn’t always look like hostility. But over time, those small decisions shape who gets ahead, and who gets left behind.
And unless you’re actively checking for it, you might not even notice it’s happening.
How to check your own bias without spiraling
Once you start seeing bias out in the world, you have to ask where it is showing up in you.
That’s not an easy question. Especially if you care about fairness. And if you’ve worked hard to be thoughtful, open-minded, and objective.
But the truth is, you can be a good leader and still carry bias. The goal isn’t to remove it overnight, but to recognize when it’s steering the wheel, and make a better choice.
Here are three steps:
Step 1: Notice the pattern
Start by observing how you make decisions. Ask yourself:
- Who do I instinctively trust?
- Who do I delegate stretch work to, and why?
- Who do I tend to second-guess?
- Who do I give feedback to, and how direct is it?
Write it down. Patterns reveal themselves quickly when you stop relying on memory.
Step 2: Name what’s influencing you
Not every instinct is wrong. But many are shaped by what feels familiar or “safe.” Naming the influence gives you space to slow down:
- “Am I assuming they’re not ready, or do I have evidence?”
- “Do I always default to the loudest voice in the room?”
- “Am I giving them the same feedback I’d give someone else?”
Step 3: Don’t spiral, shift
Recognizing bias can trigger guilt. That’s human. But guilt isn’t a strategy. Awareness only matters if it leads to change.
Start small. Change how you run a meeting. Who you ask for input. How you review performance. And keep asking: What am I missing, and why?
Once you get in the habit of checking your assumptions, you stop defaulting to them.
Where bias hides in your systems, and how to root it out
Even the most self-aware leaders can’t outthink a biased system.
If your processes are built on shortcuts, assumptions, or legacy norms, they’ll keep producing the same outcomes, no matter your intentions.
Here’s where bias tends to hide, and how to start fixing it.
Hiring
The problem: Job descriptions are full of coded language. Interview panels aren’t diverse, and many decisions are based on gut feel.
What to do:
- Use structured interviews with the same questions for every candidate.
- Train interviewers on specific biases like name bias, accent bias, and affinity bias.
- Drop terms like “rockstar” or “ninja” from job posts; they repel more than they attract.
- Use tools that mask names or educational backgrounds in early screening, Applied, Blendoor, or GapJumpers.
Feedback and performance reviews
The problem: Vague praise for some, overly detailed criticism for others. Leadership potential confused with extroversion.
What to do:
- Use clear rubrics and define expectations up front. For example, use a 5-point scale to rate behaviors like collaboration, problem-solving, and communication, with specific descriptions for each level.
- Ask managers to back feedback with specific examples.
- Track review outcomes across gender, race, and role level to spot inconsistencies.
Promotions and high-visibility work
The problem: Opportunities often go to those who self-promote, or remind decision-makers of themselves.
What to do:
- Build systems that track who’s getting key projects, not just who’s asking for them. This can be as simple as looking at your Asana board to see which names are getting more play over others, and balancing the scales.
- Use nomination processes that require written justification.
- Create formal sponsorship programs, not just informal mentoring.
Meetings and decision-making
The problem: The same voices dominate, while others stay quiet, or get cut off.
What to do:
- Assign facilitators to watch for speaking time and interruptions.
- Rotate roles (note-taking, presenting, timekeeping) to share power.
- Ask for written input before meetings so quieter voices are heard too.
You can’t fix bias just by being “more fair.” You need systems that do the heavy lifting—consistently, transparently, and at scale.
Inclusive leadership isn’t a checklist but a mindset. And it shows up in the small, everyday decisions that build trust, or break it.
One 2020 McKinsey study found companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity were 36% more likely to outperform on profitability.
But even beyond the numbers, an inclusive team feels different. People contribute more, stay longer, and care more.
And that starts with you.
How other tech leaders are doing it (and what you can borrow)
Here are a few standout examples, plus the specific takeaways you can bring into your own org.
Intel: Tie diversity to executive bonuses
In 2015, Intel committed $300 million to improve diversity in its workforce. But what made it stick? They linked executive compensation directly to diversity goals, holding leadership financially accountable for measurable progress.
By 2018, Intel achieved full representation of women and underrepresented minorities in its U.S. workforce, two years ahead of schedule.
What to borrow: Don’t treat diversity as a side initiative. Tie it to the incentives that actually move leaders to act.
Slack: Start before you scale
Slack didn’t wait for size to justify inclusion. Before hiring its first 250 people, it engaged with diversity consultants, built structured hiring practices, and created internal systems to track representation and pay equity from the beginning.
Slack quickly became a standout in DEI, with consistently higher representation across gender and race compared to industry averages.
What to borrow: Build inclusive habits early. Waiting until “later” means bias gets baked into your foundation.
Microsoft: Focus on behavior, not just awareness
Microsoft moved beyond traditional DEI training by embedding inclusive leadership into manager expectations, performance reviews, and promotion criteria. They did that through structured feedback, shared language around bias, and active listening practices.
In 2021 alone, more than 96% of employees completed their “Unconscious Bias” course—and Microsoft began publicly reporting diversity data and progress.
What to borrow: Training is a starting point. The real shift happens when inclusive behaviors are measured, expected, and rewarded.
Bias Interrupters: Tweak the system, not just the people
The Center for WorkLife Law partnered with companies to test small, low-cost changes to hiring and performance processes—like removing names from resumes, using structured evaluations, and tracking who gets high-visibility assignments.
Companies saw measurable improvements in equity—like women receiving more actionable feedback and underrepresented groups getting more stretch roles.
What to borrow: You don’t need to overhaul everything. A few small tweaks in how you hire, evaluate, and assign work can change outcomes fast.
Inclusive leadership isn’t reserved for big tech companies with massive budgets. It’s built one decision, system, and shift at a time.
And the best time to start is before someone else has to ask for it.
Final thoughts: You can’t outsource this part of leadership
You don’t need a new values statement. You need to look at how your values show up in decisions that affect people’s lives.
Bias isn’t a “people problem.” It’s a leadership responsibility.
And inclusion isn’t a task you hand off to HR, it’s how you build trust, retain talent, and create the kind of team people want to be part of.
Yes, it takes work. Yes, it means rethinking habits that have felt “normal” for a long time.
But the payoff is real: better ideas, stronger teams, and a workplace that doesn’t leave people behind.
You don’t have to fix everything overnight.
But you do have to start.
One place to start? Show people what you stand for.
At Column, we help tech leaders turn values into visible action. On LinkedIn and beyond, we build content that reflects what you stand for and how you lead.
Johnson is a Copywriter at Column, helping brands tell their stories with clear, impactful content. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
