By: Kari on April 3, 2025
“The woman at the bank would not let us make the transaction because she was Arab. The lady who usually works at the bank is black and always permits me to complete this transaction.” Sadly, in my host country, there is often open discord and discrimination between light-skinned Arabs and dark-skinned African ethnicities. In an…
By: Jeremiah Gómez on April 3, 2025
As I write these words, I’m keenly aware of neurology. Not as a (formal) student of neurology or brain physiology but as a patient. One Sunday a few years ago, I awoke to strange sensations and cognitive fog that progressed to the point that a day later, I was unable to walk under my own…
By: Darren Banek on April 3, 2025
The French poet Marcel Proust is credited with the paraphrased quote “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” This loose paraphrase is from The Prisoner, published in 1923, and is taken from volume five of his seven-volume work, Remembrance of Things Past. The original statement is…
By: Graham English on April 3, 2025
In my denomination, both egalitarian and complementarian views regarding women in eldership coexist. Each local church is tasked with determining its stance and practice through a structured process. This position has proven to be difficult, as it represents one of the more contentious issues our denomination has faced. The church I pastored had decided many…
By: Robert Radcliff on April 3, 2025
The subtitle of this post is: “What did the basal ganglia say to the prefrontal cortex? Why are you always pushing your liminality down into me! And other jokes for doctoral students.” This week, I read Your Brain at Work by David Rock. This book is a confluence of psychology and leadership, applying insights about…
By: Joel Zantingh on April 3, 2025
Pragya Agarwal’s book Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias reminded me of the time a few years ago when I took the Implicit Association Test (IAT) from Harvard’s Project Implicit. With my conviction that all people are created in the image of God and are equally worthy of love and life, I thought I would achieve neutrality.…
By: Betsy on April 3, 2025
What power do humans have and what power do we think we have? As leaders these are crucial questions to wrestle with as we intentionally seek to build cultures where power is used to help rather than harm. Within my work I aim to empower those we support, so that they feel equipped to create…
By: Ivan Ostrovsky on April 2, 2025
This week’s reading, Your Brain at Work by Dr. David Rock, reminded me of “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, which we read a few weeks ago. Both books break down how our brains function. Kahneman explains the two systems in our minds—one that operates on autopilot and another that activates when we need…
By: Alex Mwaura on April 2, 2025
In 2015, Devex published an article titled, “5 Things to Know About the Next Generation Development Professional.” The author outlined the following five traits required of a future development worker: Integrators are key Jack of all (funding) trades Invest in education and learning skills Soft skills are critical Constant upskilling [1] Fast forward to 2025;…
By: Joff Williams on April 2, 2025
“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment” Romans 12:3 Getting perspective The first take of the recording was over. We put our musical instruments aside and walked over to the console booth, eager and excited to listen to what the engineer had captured of…
By: Shela Sullivan on April 2, 2025
Introduction SWAY: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Pragya Agarwal[1] is a captivating exploration of the hidden biases that shape our perceptions, decisions, and interactions. Drawing from her expertise as a behavioral and data scientist, Agarwal dives into the neuroscience, psychology, and sociology behind unconscious bias, presenting a compelling narrative supported by real-world examples and scientific research.…
By: Jess Bashioum on April 2, 2025
Dr. David Rock has a refreshing, pragmatic approach in “Your Brain at Work”. He gives tangible tools that can be used to focus better and change the ways we think. I have added a lot of his ideas to my toolbelt in hopes of finding insight in the noisy and chaotic state of my brain…
By: Adam Cheney on April 2, 2025
Is a bias always wrong? If it is, and if we all have unconscious biases, then we all are constantly in a state of wrongness. Certainly, we might all agree that when a bias leads us to decisions and actions that are discriminatory then it is wrong. However, I would assert that my unconscious…
By: Rich on April 1, 2025
Listen to the question . . . pause and reflect . . . answer . . . stop talking It was 2011. I was sitting in a bland, windowless room in New Orleans, waiting to be legally deposed. I didn’t know anyone there. The corporate attorney sitting next to me was representing my employer, not…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 1, 2025
“Say buddy are yew a injun?” “Yeah, man.” “What kind?” “MEXICAN” “O, ah thot yew was a real injun.” As he proceeded to tell me (quite boringly) About his 1/64th blood quantum And his Cherokee PRINCESS grandmother; My prison-like coffee was getting cold, The bus was pulling out… And it was time to go![1] Implicit…
By: Jeff Styer on March 31, 2025
As I read Pragya Agarwal, Sway, Unravelling Unconscious Bias, many of the books we read since starting this program came to mind; this made it hard to decide which direction to go in writing this post.[1] For this post, I am going to define some key terms related to bias, then I am going to…
By: Ryan Thorson on March 31, 2025
“Did you really write this?” During my college humanities class on “Fairy Tales,” the professor posed this question to me. I was taking her class as part of my English Literature degree, but I had to request an extension on a paper due to an upcoming collegiate football game I was traveling for and had…
By: Glyn Barrett on March 31, 2025
“Sway, Unravelling Unconscious Bias”[1] by Dr Praya Agarwal, a British Indian behavioural and data scientist, author, and consultant, offers the expected “research-based” narrative on a contemporary issue of the day. Although much of her research was based prior[2] to the watershed race relations issues, which climaxed in 2020 with the killing of George Floyd, the…
By: David Weston on March 30, 2025
The older I get, the more I realize how wrong I can really be. There, I said it. Coming face to face with our humanness can sometimes feel like a punch in the face. Bobby Duffy, in his book Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding [1], does a fantastic job…
By: Noel Liemam on March 30, 2025
Introduction “Sway: Unraveling Unconscious Bias,” by Dr. Agarwal [1] in which she talked about ‘unconscious biases’ and how it has affected the how we communicate, how decision is made, and even how we think. She talked about how it is instilled, or ‘hardwire’ within each individual, and how it is encouraged by our surroundings, and…
