The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding.

I spent a lot of time revising my resume as a college student by going to various career advisors. In one of those instances, I was taken aback by what one of the advisors told me.

"You might want to take this off," the advisor said as a manner-of-fact.

"Why?" I asked with a confused look.

She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders.

The advisor had pointed at my volunteering section where I had listed my eight years of volunteering at my Catholic church (of which I am very proud of, by the way).

That experience stayed with me, because I felt confused and to be honest, a little offended.

My religion is a part of who I am. If the place I might work for is not comfortable knowing who I am, then I am not comfortable working with them.

I was not embarrassed to let the world know that I was a Catholic. However, the advisor clearly told me that I should be. Why?

Biases.

The famous Malcolm Gladwell said in his book Blink,

"All of us have implicit biases to some degree. This does not necessarily mean we will act in an inappropriate or discriminatory manner, only that our first 'blink' sends us certain information. Acknowledging and understanding this implicit response and its value and role is critical to informed decision-making and is particularly critical to those whose decisions must embody fairness and justice."

People around the globe have a multitude of biases, consciously and unconsciously, because of cultural differences and life experiences.

You and I have biases that affect the decisions we make every day in our lives.

Changing peoples' biases is a lost battle, but I can certainly strive to change mine by not being afraid to express who I am and by being open to listening to others.

And by listening, I don't mean just the accumulation of information. I strive to listen so that I can understand.

That process of understanding can take seconds or it can take years. Curiosity is the key to help motive you to seek that understanding.

So, be curious. Being a Catholic or Jew, or short or tall, or blind, or whatever other designation you can think of means only that we associate with that certain description. But there is so much more to the human personality.

Human behavior is so complex and extensive, there are people who devote their entire careers to studying it.

As the writer and speaker, Sarah Cortez, said yesterday at a Catholic event talking about decision-making, "I love research." Research, research, research. Don't assume. Do your research.

Or if you want to put it in another way, be always curious. Seek to not only know but also to understand.

I ended up keeping the volunteering description on my resume. And I felt empowered by it.

More importantly, it taught to be curious about others. It taught be to do my research.

What about you? What biases have you experienced in your life and how did you deal with it? I would love to hear from you. Let's connect!

Trust the process. Live the commitment