Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Knitting and Gender Bias in the Insurance Industry

February 4, 2014 by Karen A. Morris

The evidence, accidentally uncovered, unhinged my jaw in surprised incredulity.Executive SummaryInnovation Consultant Karen A. Morris stitches together clues that reveal her own unconscious gender bias and explains why the “stick to your knitting” axiom should not apply to insurance industry leadership. The industry’s future resilience and its power to innovate cry out for a rich and varied fabric of talent, as well as a broad array of leadership models, she says.

Executive Summary

Innovation Consultant Karen A. Morris stitches together clues that reveal her own unconscious gender bias and explains why the "stick to your knitting" axiom should not apply to insurance industry leadership. The industry's future resilience and its power to innovate cry out for a rich and varied fabric of talent, as well as a broad array of leadership models, she says.

I am open to the unexpected just as long as it circles my expectations with a close, concentric hug.

Tom and I have worked together, laughed, battled life’s odds. We know each other. My Tom would not do this.

But it turns out he is one of several million men with this habit in the U.S. alone.

The needles came first, discovered in the basket next to his beloved leather armchair. Then, the hard evidence in black and white lodged under the cushion: “Knitting with Balls: A Hands-on Guide to Knitting for the Modern Man.”