Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay

5.2. Incorrect Assumptions

Miguel's experiences facing stereotypes at work are typical. It happens all the time.

An African American speaker and Harvard University graduate, with whom we have worked at the Level Playing Field Institute, is routinely introduced as having attended Howard University, even though she has written her alma mater's name in bold letters on her introductory bio. What connections do our brains make when they see an African American and a university name that begins with H and ends with ARD? This process of filling in the OW instead of the ARV that distinguishes the names of the schools is exactly the same as what we filled in at the beginning of this chapter when we read THE CAT. Our brain fills in that African Americans ...