Dr Byrne said it is well known leadership positions were dominated by men and more men than women continue to be selected as leaders.
"Selection panels unconsciously see merit and equity in selecting the best clone of themselves.
"As a result we have leadership that does not reflect the diversity of the people they serve," he said.
Dr Byrne said the issue of unconscious bias extended beyond gender.
"We must avoid ending up with leadership dominated by a monoculture of men and women who went to the same schools and have the same unconscious biases that disadvantage Aboriginal people, people with a disability and people with different skin colour," he said.
He also said unconscious bias had turned the merit principal into a tyranny.
"Merit must never be able to operate on its own. We must consider merit and diversity together," Dr Byrne said.
He said one solution was to require every selection panel to select two applicants; one of whom should be from a diversity group.
He also said gender and diversity targets have worked well for many organisations and congratulated the Public Sector Commission on its diversity strategy to have 50 percent of leadership positions held by women by 2025.
"I have seen the conversation in Western Australia change from fixing women to fixing organisation culture.
"There has been a shift from awareness raising to taking action that recognised gender equity is the smart thing to do," he said.
