Creating a Just Workplace with Author Kim Scott

We all want to work in environments that feel safe, inclusive, and accessible to everyone. But when something infringes on that sense of safety, we don’t always have the language or the tools to tackle it.

Kim Scott, author of the New York Times bestseller Radical Candor is striving to change that. In her new book JUST WORK: Get Sh*t Done, Fast & Fair, Kim offers a simple framework for recognizing and responding to bias, prejudice, and bullying. Her practical suggestions give us something we can put into practice today to start clearing away the inefficiency of inequity so we can just work.

Kim joined me for a chat that was vulnerable and funny and full of wisdom coming from her eight-year-old daughter. Listen to the full conversation on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform, or just click the audio player above.

The difference between bias, prejudice, and bullying in the workplace

What's the difference between bias, prejudice, and bullying? Simply put, Kim says: "Bias is not meaning it, prejudice is meaning it, and bullying is being mean.”

• Bias reflects an unconscious belief system that may impact how we engage with others.
• Prejudice is conscious—when we knowingly believe something to be true about someone due to a fundamental attribute (gender, race, sexuality, etc.)
• Bullying is bad behavior meant to intimidate, belittle, or otherwise hurt another.

“The real benefit of beginning to distinguish between these three things is that the response to them needs to be very different,” Kim says.

How to respond to workplace injustice that happens to you

So what’s the key, then, to addressing each of these in the workplace?

BIAS

“If it’s unconscious bias,” Kim says, “I find it's best to respond with an ‘I statement…’ [which] invites the person to understand things from your perspective."

I don't think you mean that the way it sounded.

PREJUDICE

“When you’re dealing with someone’s prejudice," she continues, “you need an ‘it statement.’ People can believe whatever they want, but they can not do or say whatever they want. An ‘it statement’ can appeal to the law… to...

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