Google defines bias as "prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair." All bias is not bad. We have everyday biases about risk and safety, work versus recreation, saving and spending, and potential relative to past performance.
What "good bias" informs our better versions?
Solution Bias
Leaders find solutions not problems. Why would someone dwell on problems, if they found solutions? If we don't get the promotion, the position, or the opportunity we want, how do we respond? Successful individuals and teams "figure it out."
Accountability Bias
Accountability means to adhere to a high standard. The opposite is often 'attribution bias,' blaming outcomes on external factors - weather, officiating, administrative issues, unfair conditions. We can improve our accountability (and results) through better planning, preparation, and training.
Optimism Bias
Weisinger and Pawliw-Fry discuss the value of optimism in Performing Under Pressure. Their four tenets to immunize ourselves against pressure are their "COTE of arms," CONFIDENCE, OPTIMISM, TENACITY, and ENTHUSIASM.
President Reagan told the story of a child who goes out to the back yard on Christmas and finds a pile of horse manure. She grabs a shovel and starts digging furiously, "I know there's a pony in there somewhere."
Optimism correlates with better health outcomes. Optimism reduces anxiety and depression. Optimism may slow atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and prolong survival with cancer. Optimism improves quality of life. Oprah's quote, "you don't always get what you want, you get what you believe," has substantive truth.
Abraham Lincoln described an optimist as "finding opportunity in every difficulty." Martin Seligman has represented the 'optimism' school in psychology. Studies have shown optimistic teams win more. Seligman reported more underachievement and feelings of helplessness in pessimists. Seligman emphasized factors of personalization (individual control of results), permanence (resilience after adversity), and pervasiveness (consistency of belief, as in personal fortitude) across life events and disciplines. We create our belief systems.
Our internal voices tell us "I can recover from this" and "setbacks happen to everyone" or we accept defeat. I say, "we choose whether to be upbeat or beat up."
