This story is about a musician. They year was 1980. In Italy there was a very talented trombone player called Abbie Conant. A trombone is a wind instrument much like a trumpet. It requires a huge lung power and is traditionally assumed to be a man’s instrument. Abbie was a woman but a great trombone player. She played at the Royal Opera in Turin. During the summer of 1980, Abbie applied to 11 open positions across orchestras in Europe. She got only one reply, from the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The letter asked her to report for an audition on a certain date. The letter was addressed “Dear Herr Abbie Conant” i.e. the German equivalent to “Dear Mr. Abbie Conant”. At that time Abbie did not give this error a second thought. On the appointed day she arrived at the Duetsche’s Museum in Munich where the auditions would be held. There were 33 candidates. Because one of the candidates was the son of a musician in one of the Munich Orchestras, the Munich Philharmonic decided to hold the auditions behind a white screen. Each participant was given a number and they would perform on one side of the screen and the jury would listen and rate them from the other side. Abbie was participant number 16. When she played the judges were blown off their feet. The music director for the Munich Philharmonic shouted “This is who we want”. The rest of the 17 participants were sent home without an audition. When Abbie stepped out from behind the white screen, there was a collective gasp from the jury. They screamed – “What is this? What in god’s name is this?” They were expecting a Herr Conant and not a Frau Conant – a Mr. Conant and not a Miss Conant. Given the situation they were forced to take her in as a Trombone player for the orchestra but on a one-year probation. During the entire year the music director seethed at the situation and after the probation period was over demoted Abbie under the pretext that she wasn’t really good enough. In private the music director told Abbie “You know what the issue is, we need a man”. Abbie took the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra to court. After an 8 year legal battle during which she had to undergo many tests including blowing into special machines to prove her lung power and playing in front of a court assembled set of music experts, she was reinstated to her position. Such a sad story! What are the preconceived notions you carry to work? What are the conscious and unconscious biases that impact your decisions in the organization? If all interviews you conducted happened behind a white screen with the name of the institutions masked on the resume would you still hire the same people. Worth pondering about don’t you think. Business Points ( Tags ) #Cognitive #bias #BiasGenderneutrality preconceived notions
