Breaking the gender bias has always been a priority for our D&I initiative, Rise. One of the monthly initiatives we created to provide a safe and supportive space for the women of Blis is our women-only event called ‘Let’s talk about…”, where we unpack challenges we all face as women in business, such as imposter syndrome, bravery vs perfection and vulnerability, to name a few.
This month, to help #BreakTheBias, we invited everyone in the business, not just women, to attend one of two sessions on the topic of body language and how our body language can actually change our minds.
With a record turnout of over 80 people across the two timezones, we first watched a stimulus video, social psychologist Amy Cuddy’s well known TED talk about how body language not only affects how others see us, it importantly changes how we see ourselves. She argues that “power posing” – standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident – can boost feelings of confidence. After watching the video, we broke into smaller groups for an open dialogue about gender differences in nonverbals and how we can each use the new knowledge to help make ourselves stronger and more confident, as well as breaking the bias at Blis and beyond.
“It’s not ‘Fake it till you make it,’ it’s ‘Fake it till you become it’”
Amy Cudd
Here are some of our team’s courageous commitments from the session:
- Make tiny tweaks on a daily basis – they can lead to big changes
- Be more aware of your own and others’ body language
- Power posing before important meetings/interactions.
