A free IP Inclusive webinar with Andrea Brewster OBE
Thursday 9 December 2021
12.30 – 1.30 pm
Whether or not we support the diversity agenda, we all have to make decisions in the course of our work. Sometimes they’re about legal and technical issues, sometimes about people, sometimes about the future of our business.
And we might think we’re making sound, well-considered decisions. But are we? – The way our brains process information means they have a nasty habit of taking shortcuts that can compromise our decision-making without us even being aware.
In this webinar our Lead Executive Officer Andrea Brewster OBE explored what those problems might be, and how knowing about them can make our decisions more:
- Objective
- (rather than being prey to assumptions based on our own experiences, or unduly influenced by what others around us say)
- Accurate, consistent and justifiable
- (not fooled by quickfire evaluations and “instinctive” responses)
- Comprehensive
- (instead of overlooking important information or viewpoints)
- Likely to be understood and supported
- (because they take account of different perspectives, and show more empathy with people’s likely responses)
- Strategic
- (appropriately sensitive to their wider context)
- Fair
Yes, this was about unconscious bias. But looked at from a different angle: one that underlined the need for all of us, in all roles and at all levels, to get to grips with it. Whether or not we support the diversity agenda. And also one that highlighted how diversity and inclusion can themselves create a better decision-making environment.
This free event was open to all UK-based IP professionals, whatever their role or career level and whatever type of organisation they worked in.
Follow-up resources
You can access a recording of the webinar here, plus Andrea’s slides and her suggestions for follow-up exercises.
By way of background, there’s a recording of Andrea’s February 2020 webinar, on the basics about unconscious bias, here. She also chaired a September 2018 webinar on “Unconscious bias & the IP professional” (recording and report available here) and helped to collate our Unconscious Bias Toolkit, available here.
Speaker biography
Andrea Brewster OBE (she/her) is a Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney, and a former President of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA). Until recently she served on the Institute’s governing Council and several of its committees, including the Education Committee, the Textbook & Publications Committee, the Joint CIPA & CITMA Business Practice Committee and the IP Paralegals’ Committee (which she helped to establish).
Before her retirement in 2015 she was a partner in a small UK patent and trade mark practice, Greaves Brewster LLP, of which she had been a co-founder.
Andrea established IP Inclusive in 2015 to promote equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing throughout the UK’s IP professions. Alongside huge numbers of enthusiastic volunteers, she has developed the initiative into a well-connected and influential player in the IP sector. She became its first Lead Executive Officer in 2019.
Andrea frequently speaks to and advises IP professionals on diversity-, inclusion- and wellbeing-related issues.
Cost
This event was free. So are all our resources. We think it’s important to keep IP Inclusive the right side of the paywall.
That said, we do need money to keep the show on the road, so if you enjoyed the event please consider contributing to our 2021-22 fundraising campaign. For individual ad hoc donations, our crowdfunding page is here. Or for more information – including for corporate sponsors – visit our general fundraising page here.