“That’s not the way things are done here” is one of the most common and destructive mentalities any business leader can have, especially if they want their business to grow. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Sharf perfectly demonstrated how maintaining age-old and faulty biases is an undeniable reason for business limitation, when he recently commented that the bank’s lack of Black employees is due to there being “a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from.” From racial to operational, all business leaders must be able to get rid of the biases they and their organizations hold that curb creativity, new projects, and new partnerships. To challenge their biases, entrepreneurs must FIRST think of their customers. Secondly, they must embrace the rapid changes in the market and the world as opportunities to take their value to customers to the next level. It’s every business leader’s duty to be able to recognize flawed thinking and steer their organization away from old habits and ideas that can’t support growth.

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Thinking Points:

• Who in your organization maintains the belief that “that’s not the way things are done here”?
• In what areas of your business, from value delivery systems and employment, to  operations and finances, does bias hold it back from improvement?
• What biases and outdated practices has your business upheld through intense market changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic?

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