Negative confirmation bias in women entrepreneurs

Welcome to our third issue of the Life After Corporate Newsletter - your ultimate guide for women entrepreneurs making the leap from corporate to launching a thriving coaching or consulting business.

Today we explore one of the least mentioned issues plaguing women entrepreneurs - negative confirmation bias. It's insidious and responsible for the revenue gap with women business owners (who earn only 30 cents compared to the dollar for their male counterparts).

If you enjoy this issue, please click "subscribe" to stay connected with future posts. ~ Deb Boulanger

Negative confirmation bias in women entrepreneurs

It's no secret that making a big move in your professional career will kick up latent fears and insecurities. As you think about launching your own business or turning a side hustle into a full time gig, your amygdala (your brain's fear center that signals the need to fight or flight) will go on overdrive.

"What if I fail?"

"I'm not really credentialed in this."

"I don't know what to charge for my services."

"I'm afraid others will judge me negatively."

These fears can be expected when you step outside of what you know and step into a new professional arena with which you have no prior history. It's easy to forget that you have decades of accomplishments to apply to these new challenges.

But, there is one sinister, much more subversive pattern of thinking that is likely to stop you from taking bold action that would fuel your success and that's negative confirmation bias.

We tend to think of confirmation bias in the positive–"the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values." (Wikipedia)

We look for evidence on the outside that confims the beliefs and values that we hold as true on the inside. This "confirms" (many times falsely) that we are in the right and has a positive impact on self worth.

This tendency to seek evidence that supports what we already believe to be true is why market research is the most important first step in launching a business. It's critical to take an objective view when you develop new solutions without leaning into the bias of the founder. Which happens to be the #1 reason for new business failure - No Market Need.

Since I speak daily with women at this crossroads of entrepreneurship, I started noticing a pattern–women look for reasons that confirm why they CAN'T succeed–at least not now.

A study in Scientific Reports cited, "In three consecutive experiments we applied a computational modeling approach on the subjects’ learning behavior and reveal the negativity bias was specific for learning about own compared to others’ performances and was modulated by prior beliefs about the self, i.e. stronger negativity bias in individuals lower in self-esteem.

Negative confirmation bias is much more damaging–especially for women entrepreneurs.

Negative confirmation bias is when you look for proof that you CAN'T do what you want to do because you have a fatal flaw that prevents you from succeeding.

On the surface, it can sound something like this:

"I don't feel I am credentialed enough to positon myself as an expert. I need to get a certification or degree before I launch."

"I don't think the people I want to work with will be able to afford my services."

"I'm not a good speaker, so I could never be on stage."

"I need to do _(insert your most pressing yet irrelevant excuse here)_ first, before I can focus on me."

What's really at play here is confirmation that "I'm not good enough" to go for this lofty goal of business ownership.

Women leaders have been raised in a culture where they are less valued than men. It shows up in fewer executive career opportunities for women, lower compensation, and less equity invested in women owned businesses.

These external factors have created an subconscious belief of value that negatively affects women as they step into the new role of business owner. They actively look for reasons why we won't or can't be successful, or why they can't invest the time or money it would take to succeed.

Is it any wonder then that women business owners earn only 30 cents to the dollar compared to their male counterparts?

What makes this hard to acknowledge and accept, is this subconscious patterning is resulting in self imposed limitations to success.

You aren't even aware that you are giving way to negative beliefs about your worth, your abilities, or your potential for greater success.

What do we do about it? It truly takes a tribe of women supporting women to rewrite these ingrained belief systems. We need to work the inside as mightily as we work to change the systems, institutions and cultural biases that have led us here.

I don't have a magic wand that can right these wrongs. But, what I know for sure is that we need to make bolder moves as women leaders. We need to invest in our own success. Write our own rules for success. Challenge our ingrained beliefs and by all means at the very least, make an effort to become aware of them.

What do you think about negative confirmation bias in women entrepreneurs? Post your thoughts below...

Here are some Life After Corporate Podcast Episodes that relate to this topic: 🎙

38. Solve Your Money Issues w/Barbara Huson, Rewire for Wealth

37. Why You Might Not Make It On Your Own – With Tracy Litt, CEO Of The Litt Factor

48. Partriarchy Stress Disorder w/ Dr. Valerie Rein

49. Stop Self Sabotage w/Pat Pearson

Deb Boulanger is the CEO of The Great Do-Over, founder of The Launch Lab for women entrepreneurs and host of the Life After Corporate podcast. She helps smart, accomplished women leaders make the leap from Corporate to entrepreneurship and replace the paycheck they left behind.