Editor’s note: Rob Volpe is CEO and founder of consumer insight firm Ignite 360, San Francisco.

What’s your reaction to this statement from a speaker at a recent industry conference? “It’s a crazy idea to me, 56 percent of people in our survey opted out of the college experience in the United States.”  

What if I told you that the person who said this is director of strategic insights at a media company?

The judgment on display during the presentation was killing me. I wanted to jump out of my seat and rephrase the sentence to remove the judgment and bias. It wasn’t that 56 percent of the U.S. population “opted out” – for many people, going to college isn’t a choice. It’s not available, affordable or even expected of them. It’s just not in the cards.  

Instead of balancing the statement, the speaker came at it with their personal bias, using judgmental language. According to the speaker’s worldview, it was “crazy” that people would choose not to go to college. As though the folks who were not pursuing higher education were making the choice from a position of privilege – that it was readily available to them and they could deign to decide to go or not. In an era where college loans are hanging over people well into their working years like dark storm clouds, college is not affordable and therefore not available to everyone and enrollment rates have declined slightly. And even of those that go to college, not all complete their degree.   

This expression of judgment is similar in form and style to the many that occur during the research journey. Judgment gets in the way of teams connecting not only with the consumer but also with the insight that could radically transform a business for the better.

Because this happens so often on projects – either in the obvious, overstated ways as well as more subtle instances – I’m participating in a Webinar on Thursday, March 7, titled “Let’s Cut the Judgment!” this presentation will offer tips and tricks to help manage teams as they dismantle their judgment and build stronger connections with consumers and the insights.  

Judgment is also the first barrier in the journey to building empathy. Dismantle it or risk being stuck sitting in judgment of others.