Bubble trouble: How leaders can identify and escape their biases

Journal of Accountancy Podcast

Wassia Kamon, CPA, was a featured speaker at the Future of Finance Summit in Orlando late last year, and she joined the JofA podcast from the event to discuss how leaders can overcome their own biases to be more inclusive.

Kamon, vice president of finance at the Low Income Investment Fund in Atlanta, points out that with social media and other commonly used applications, it’s very easy for us to choose our own news, friends, and interest areas — or have algorithms choose the focus areas for us.

That can be detrimental to people expanding their understanding of the world and learning about others.

Kamon also explains a few types of bias and how they can hold people back, and she explains why it’s important to mix progression planning with succession planning.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

· Why we’re now in the “golden age of self-curation,” according to Kamon.

· The danger of “blocking people” if you’re in a leadership role.

· An explanation of implicit bias and status quo bias.

· The meaning of leading in a “roundabout” way — and how it differs from a “traffic light” approach.

· How Kamon once reacted when approached by a manager about receiving a promotion.

· The importance of being “receptive to change.”