ATLANTA – March 4, 2022 – PRLog — Since the murder of George Floyd (and the rising racial violence and tension), Diversity Equity & Inclusion has recentered itself nationwide. Companies have committed to becoming active Allies, however, many organizations are finding it hard to move from strategy to every day integration into the culture.

Dr. Maiysha Clairborne hit the TEDx Asheville stage this past weekend (2-27-22) to speak about this gap in her talk entitled “The Perspective You May be Missing”.

Dr. Clairborne, physician, emotional & communication intelligence consultant and coach, and neuro linguistic programming (NLP) trainer looks at how cognitive biases are formed in the mind to get to the root cause of dismantling the false perceptions that lead to biased thinking and behavior.  Neurolinguistic programming is the study of how the brain processes information, and specifically, how that processing influences people’s thoughts, perceptions, actions, and behaviors. In the NLP communication model, information is taken in through the five senses, and then put through multiple unconscious filters which can lead to cognitive bias.  Cognitive bias is when a person creates a subjective social reality that is different from actual reality.  This happens because there is so much information coming into the brain that the only way it can handle that information is to create “cognitive short-cuts”, which then form people’s perceptions, expectations, and experiences.   Cognitive bias has significant implications in racial bias and racism.

Neuroscience research on the brain and behavior connection has exploded over the last decade. There’s growing interest and study on how perceptions affect people’s beliefs, attitudes, and therefore behaviors.  Understanding this concept brings a major opportunity for DEI strategies. In addition to focusing on change management in systems, focusing on shifting the cognitive (and other) biases of corporate leaders and executives who are at the helm of decision making could be a major access to dismantling racially biased policies and discriminatory practices in an organization.

It is obvious that these old systems that create inequitable and hostile environments for marginalized communities must be dismantled.  However, the system is made of individuals who carry these social subjective realities and false perceptions.  It is these individuals who are building inequities into their corporate policies, hiring, promotion, and pay practices that ultimately cause a divisive and unsafe culture and environment.

Dr. Clairborne and her company the Mind ReMapping Academy focus on assisting executive leaders who are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, allyship and partnership in their organization see where cognitive bias is affecting their (and their teams’) decision making.  By shifting unconscious belief patterns about themselves and others, these leaders are able to more effectively create and implement new frameworks for DEI that actually make a measurable impact on their organizations and communities they serve and create sustainability for their DEI initiatives.

To learn more about Dr. Clairborne visit www.drmaiysha.com. To view her  corporate consulting, coaching, and training Programs, visit https://mindremappingacademy.com/corporate-programs/