A recent New Jersey State Bar Association Board of Trustees meeting kicked off with all of the trustees watching a video featuring a group of people tossing around a basketball, some wearing white shirts and others in black shirts, on a curtained stage. The trustees were asked to pay close attention and count the number of passes the players in white shirts made.

Nearly everyone in the group correctly counted the 16 passes that group made, while only a handful noticed that a person wearing a gorilla suit appeared in the group mid-way through; even fewer noticed that one player left the screen altogether; and almost no one noticed that the curtain in the background changed colors.

“Sometimes we see what we expect. We all have blind spots. We have to be intentional and train ourselves to be sure we collect all the data,” said Paulette Brown, who used the video as the start of a training for the association's governing body about identifying implicit and unconscious bias and finding ways to combat it. “Sometimes we have to take a step back and ask ourselves, 'Why am I responding the way I am responding?' to make sure we make the best and most appropriate decision.”

Brown, a past president of the American Bar Association and former chair of the NJSBA's Labor and Employment Law Section, headed a training for the association's trustees. The training took place during the first meeting presided over by new NJSBA President Evelyn Padin. The bar association has stepped up efforts in recent years to prioritize diversity and inclusion, and Padin—who happens to be the association's first Latina president—is hoping to further accelerate those efforts this year.

In a training that often felt more like a conversation with comments and insights coming from all corners of the meeting room, the trustees discussed the ingrained bias of words and descriptors like 'qualified minority' when referring to someone of a diverse background; 'aggressive' when describing a woman; and what it means to compliment someone for the quality of English they speak, whether the speaker is from another country or various parts of the U.S., in particular the South.

“There are words that create a visceral reaction,” said Brown. “We have to think about how people receive information, as well as how we deliver it.”

A valuable tool anyone can use in fighting unconscious bias is to conduct a personal audit of their past behavior to see if there are any patterns to how they conduct themselves. To aid in that process, the trustees completed an exercise filling out a form about how they respond in some situations, like examining their level of comfort around issues of sexual orientation and sexual practices; whether they truly appreciate a friend's differences; and if they will interrupt someone who is telling a racial or ethnic joke.

Taking a moment to be a “personal detective” will help everyone understand the barriers that are keeping them from being as inclusive as they need to be, Brown said. It will also encourage people and institutions to engage with people who bring multiple and various backgrounds and perspectives to events, discussions and leadership positions.

“Sometimes we only look to the people we know, the people we are most familiar with, the people we are comfortable with. We have to look at who is in the room and participating and ask: Have we tapped into all of the resources that are available to us? We have to be intentional to try to undo some of those things so we can be sure everybody gets a fair shake and everybody is included. We have more in common than we realize. We are not perfect. It is important to embrace different opinions, different thoughts and know that those actions can make you a better person,” said Brown.

Tips for Countering Implicit or Unconscious Bias:

Live by the Platinum Rule and treat people the way they wish to be treated, rather than the Golden Rule, which honors how you want to be treated.

Focus on the substance of a person's performance, rather than a personal characteristic. Instead of complimenting an individual as well-spoken, consider focusing on the presentation itself.

Try sitting in a different seat in a meeting room and talking to new people.

Diversity can be equated to inviting everyone to a party; inclusion is making sure new people are asked to dance. It is incumbent upon leaders to welcome people, not for the new people to fit in.

Inclusion does not mean exclusion. There is space for everyone.