Have you seen the AT&T commercial for the new iPhone starring the professional basketball player LeBron James and saleswoman Lily Adams (played by the actress Milana Vayntrub)? Well, if you haven't, it's because you've not watched any television during the last couple of weeks. It seems that the commercial plays all the time on network television.
The commercial opens with LeBron James sitting in an AT&T store talking with saleswoman Lily about the new iPhone 14 Pro. Lily says that the phone is amazing and tells the basketball star, "You'll get our best deal." Of course, LeBron argues that everyone should get the best deal, to which Lily replies that everyone does get the best deal, both new and old customers, on every iPhone. LeBron then announces, "My work is done" and stands up to walk away. He stares into the camera as he walks away and proudly announces that everyone gets the best deal on every iPhone.
The commercial hasn't been very popular (possibly because it's been too overplayed). My initial gut reaction, to be 100% honest, was "Wow, LeBron James is taking credit for something that he didn't do." If you check out the online comments, my initial reaction wasn't unique. There is absolutely no question that LeBron James will go down as one, if not the, greatest basketball players of all time. More importantly, his contributions outside basketball have been incredible. I have nothing but admiration and respect for him as a player and as a person. But come on. He didn't get us a deal on every iPhone!
I realize this is only a commercial, but I thought it was a great opportunity to talk about one of the more common cognitive biases. Again, as a reminder, a cognitive bias is a systematic error in our thinking that occurs when we are trying to make sense of the world around us. Our brains try to simplify all of the incoming information by taking a shortcut, if you will. The shortcut might be the right one, but occasionally it is not, and we make an error. There have been at least 180 different cognitive biases described in the literature.
In my opinion, there are a couple of cognitive biases at play in the AT&T commercial. First of all, we have the so-called "Illusion of Control" bias, the tendency for us to believe that we have more control over events than we really do. We also have some elements of the "Self-Serving" bias, our tendency to take credit for for positive events or outcomes, coupled with a similar tendency to blame outside or external factors for negative ones. Looking at this from a completely different angle, at its worst LeBron James is being far too arrogant and self-centered, and he is committing fraud by taking credit for someone else's work (in this case, Lily's).
Unfortunately, having a co-worker take credit for something that you did is far too common in the workplace, and an article in the Harvard Business Review offers some tips on how to handle this situation. These situations can be infuriating, so the first tip is to take some time so that you can calm down and handle the situation calmly and professionally. Next, assess the severity of the situation by asking yourself whether this was an intentional or accidental act. Also, ask yourself whether it really matters long-term for your career to raise this issue. Perhaps it's not as big of an issue as you think. Admittedly, given the heavily matrixed and team-based organizations that we work in nowadays, it's often impossible to completely attribute credit solely to a specific individual or even a small group of individuals.
If you still think it's important to address the issue (and if it happens more than once, you definitely should), first question why it happened. Instead of making accusations, ask questions. For example, you could start with "How did you feel the presentation went? Did you feel like you were able to hit all the main points?" While this strategy may seem a little passive-aggressive, it will give your colleague an opportunity to recognize and potentially acknowledge his or her mistake. If that doesn't occur, follow up with a statement and question such as, "I noticed that when you talked about the project you said “I” instead of “we.” Was that intentional? Why did you present it that way?"
If the individual recognizes his or her mistake, talk about how the situation can be remedied. Maybe the individual can send out a communication thanking you for your contributions to the success of the project. If not, you should discuss the situation with your immediate supervisor, but frame it as a way to foster good teamwork rather than spreading blame or accusations.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there are things that you can do to prevent this situation from happening in the future. For example, prior to starting a project, sometimes it's good to discuss how credit will be allocated. Who will present the project to senior leaders? Who will field questions? Who is the designated leader for the project (though that may not exist). Make sure that all of these discussions are documented in writing, and be sure to take notes when you are working on the project so that you can quickly recall your contributions to its success. Lastly, be sure to model good behavior by attributing credit where credit is due - if you are generous about sharing credit, studies show that others will reciprocate.
The last line in the AT&T commercial speaks volumes. Lily asks LeBron if he is trying to steal her job. Hopefully that will not occur.
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