Consulting firm executive reveals unconscious bias

The Women’s Initiative for Social Equity (WISE) hosted Accenture, a consulting firm, to discuss unconscious bias in the workplace at Gertrude’s restaurant on Tuesday.

“Understanding unconscious bias is a tool that everyone can use to be more effective,” Adriana Sensenbrenner, sophomore co-organizer and WISE advisory board member, wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

She described the need to recognize unconscious bias, which she defined as an innate characteristic in all humans, and the realization that it can be mitigated.

“Unfortunately, it is something that drives the disparity between men and women in the workplace,” Sensenbrenner wrote.

The keynote speaker, Sara Abiusi, received an undergraduate degree from Hopkins in 1996, and she is the current Managing Director with Accenture’s federal practice. As Accenture’s technology leader for its U.S. Postal Service (USPS) account, Abiusi has worked on large-scale development projects to improve tracking for postal packages, including supply chain and high performance architectures.

“We wanted to select people who are good role models, but also engaged in the Hopkins community,” Sensenbrenner wrote.

“Each of these representatives is active during the Accenture recruiting season. Sara Abiusi... is a woman with a successful career that all students can learn from. In her almost 20 years at Accenture, she has experienced unconscious bias and has developed strategies to address it.”

In her presentation, Abiusi spoke about her working and personal experiences with unconscious bias.

“I’m here to talk to you about things we experience at the workplace. We’re here today to learn about unconscious bias,” Abiusi said. “If you leave with anything today, it’s just awareness.”

Abiusi also surveyed the audience members for their reactions and perceptions of several hypothetical scenarios.

“Imagine a woman: She’s a senior at Hopkins. She grew up in Los Angeles, she’s on the dean’s list, she plays softball, she’s a computer science major, she works part time in Levering... And she’s pregnant,” Abiusi said. “How many people imagined a Caucasian person with brown hair?”

More than half the audience members raised their hands. Unsurprised, Abiusi explained that unconscious biases are implicit attitudes affected by cultural background and environment.

“Probably more important to you than the concept of unconscious bias is understanding your own unconscious bias,” Abiusi said.

The alumni board of panelists, which included Emily Yeh, who graduated in 2010, Catherine Rose, who graduated in 2010, Sakshee Pungalia, who graduated in 2006 and Beth Visneski, who graduated in 2013, also presented their own experiences in dealing with unconscious bias and discussed instances related not only to women, but also to men. They discovered that certain tasks were given to members of each gender because of character traits inadvertently designated to a particular sex.

One panelist related her reluctance to give a male employee tasks related to organization because of her perceptions of male personality traits, but she was eventually proven false. It was an argument with which Sensenbrenner agreed.

“Ultimately we would love for men and women to have an equal playing field, but it starts by recognizing our inherent responses,” Sensenbrenner wrote.

Many in the audience, which was attended by both undergraduates and graduate students alike, thought the panel was eye-opening. Stephanie Lau, a graduate student, was pleasantly surprised that the discussion did not just cater to gender inequity.

“I thought it was a good event,” Lau said. “When I first saw this event, I thought it was going to be focused solely on gender. I really like how the panelists brought the point that unconscious bias is not just gender — it could be so many other things I didn’t really think about before.”

Junior Rachel McCoy agreed that the event was enlightening.

“It’s really great to see a company that emphasizes [awareness of unconscious bias],” McCoy said.

Accenture, a large firm with more than 23,000 employees, employs over 200 Hopkins alumni, according to Abiusi. She also stated that the company’s distinguishing factor is its emphasis on training.

Although the discussion lasted two hours, Abiusi said the program consisted of only a small segment of what employees are immersed in at the company.

“We did a very small segment,” Abiusi said. “It depends on the content. Bits and pieces are there.”

At Accenture, race and sexual orientation are also discussed. Sensenbrenner hoped that the event would provide students with a basic understanding of the concept and raise awareness of unconscious bias.

“As individuals become more aware, we hope that we see a shift in the Hopkins community,” Sensenbrenner wrote. “Ideally, we would like the Hopkins community to embrace diversity and provide equal opportunities for men and women. As for the broader community, we would like Hopkins students to take what they know and share the knowledge that they have gained.”