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Iris Bohnet

Professor of Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School

Gender Equality & Diversity, Behavourial Design - How to De-bias Decision Making Through Systematic Data-driven Interventions
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Iris Bohnet is the Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government and the co-director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. She is a behavioral economist, combining insights from economics and psychology to improve decision-making in organizations and society, often with a gender or cross-cultural perspective. Her most recent research examines behavioral design to embed equity at work.

She is the author of the award-winning book What Works: Gender Equality by Design and co-author of the forthcoming book Make Work Fair. Bohnet advises governments and companies around the world, including serving as Special Advisor on the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan to the UN Secretary-General/Deputy Secretary-General and as a member of the Gender Equality Advisory Council of the G7.

She was named one of the Most Influential Academics in Government and one of the most Influential People in Gender Policy by apolitical. Professor Bohnet served as academic dean of Harvard Kennedy School for six years and as the faculty chair of the executive program “Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century” for the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders for more than ten years.

She presently serves as the faculty director of the social sciences at Harvard Radcliffe Institute and on a number of boards and advisory boards. She is the recipient of several awards and honorary degrees.

Gender equality is a moral and a business imperative. But unconscious bias holds us back, and de-biasing people’s minds has proven to be difficult and expensive. By de-biasing organizations instead of individuals, we can make smart changes that have big impacts. Presenting research-based solutions, Iris Bohnet hands us the tools we need to move the needle in classrooms and boardrooms, in hiring and promotion, benefiting businesses, governments, and the lives of millions.

“Bohnet assembles an impressive assortment of studies that demonstrate how organizations can achieve gender equity in practice…What Works is stuffed with good ideas, many equally simple to implement.”
– Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal

“A practical guide for any employer seeking to offset the unconscious bias holding back women in organizations, from orchestras to internet companies.”
– Andrew Hill, Financial Times

Topics & Talks:

Gender Equality and Diversity: 
A central theme is how to design systems, policies, and workplaces to promote gender equality and diversity, moving beyond individual efforts to fix biases. 
 
Behavioral Design: 
Iris’s research explores how to de-bias decision-making in daily life, learning, and work through systematic, data-driven interventions. 
 
Bias and Stereotyping: 
She examines how unconscious biases affect choices and outcomes in areas like hiring, promotion, and education, and how to design against them. 
 
Organizational Design: 
Bohnet provides insights into designing organizations and systems, such as structured hiring processes and promotion criteria, to be fairer and more equitable. 
 
Decision-Making: 
Her work aims to improve human decision-making in organizations and society by understanding and addressing its systematic flaws. 
 
Fairness and Justice: 
This is a core area of expertise, encompassing how to create more equitable and just systems and environments.
 
Leadership and Management: 
Her research provides practical guidance for leaders on how to foster environments of fairness and equality. 

Unconscious Bias and Stereotyping: 
She examines how unconscious biases affect choices and outcomes in areas like hiring, promotion, and education, and how to design against them. 
 
Organizational Design: 
Bohnet provides insights into designing organizations and systems, such as structured hiring processes and promotion criteria, to be fairer and more equitable. 
 
 
 

Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
A Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year
A Times Higher Education Book of the Week
Best Business Book of the Year, 800-CEO-READ

Gender equality is a moral and a business imperative. But unconscious bias holds us back, and de-biasing people’s minds has proven to be difficult and expensive. By de-biasing organizations instead of individuals, we can make smart changes that have big impacts. Presenting research-based solutions, Iris Bohnet hands us the tools we need to move the needle in classrooms and boardrooms, in hiring and promotion, benefiting businesses, governments, and the lives of millions.

“Bohnet assembles an impressive assortment of studies that demonstrate how organizations can achieve gender equity in practice…What Works is stuffed with good ideas, many equally simple to implement.”
– Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal

“A practical guide for any employer seeking to offset the unconscious bias holding back women in organizations, from orchestras to internet companies.”
– Andrew Hill, Financial Times

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Iris Bohnet