Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-06-24)

 BUSINESS June 24, 2019

reallyimportant,andI thinkthatmakespeo-

plefeelsafe.Incorporationsyouneedtohavethe

rightattitudes[and]policies,but,importantly,peo-

pleneedtoseethatpeoplearereallyincluded.It’s

alwaysasstrongastheweakestlink.Soif a person

is excluded,thenpeopledon’tbelieve.

Isthereanythingyouwishedyouwouldhaveknown

abouthowthebusinessworldtreatsLGBTpeople

whenyoustartedyourcareer?

AtthetimeI joined,I presumedthatabsolutely

everybodytreatedLGBTbadlyand theywere

excluded.Today,I thinkif I weremakinga selec-

tionofa company,I reallywouldwanttopressand

seejusthowattitudestowardgaypeoplehavebeen

developedandhavethingsreallychanged?WhenI

wrotemybookTheGlassCloset, wefounda couple

ofwomenwhoweregoingthrougha recruitment

fair.Inrecruitment—thisis lawyersandbankers—

andtheywereaskingaboutLGBTactivity.We

askedthemwhethertheyweregay,andtheysaid,

“Nowe’restraight,butactuallywe’reinterestedto

seehowpeoplearedealingwithLGBTinclusion,

becauseif theydidthatreallywell,thenchances

aretheydogenderevenbetter.”I thinkthere’san

importantseriouspointhere,whichis aboutatti-

tudesinmindaboutdifference,inclusion,and

diversity.It’sanattitudeofmindthatthencomes

throughrealactivityontheground.

AndCEOmodels...

It’squitedifficultif you’retryingtofinda role

modelCEO.IntheS&P 500,theonlyoneI knowis

[AppleInc.’s]TimCook.Maybethere’soneortwo

others.Thereshouldbe,say5%,25 CEOsatleast.

Soeitherthey’reinthecloset,whichis possibleand

verystressfulforthemandsadinthatthey’renot

rolemodels.Orit is thecasethatboardsstillremain

veryconservativeandliketomakesuretheydon’t

takeriskswithpeoplewhoaren’tjustlikethem.

Youcameoutinanunplannedway...

Veryunplanned:I wasouted.

Howwouldyouhavepreferredtocomeout?

I comebacktorolemodels.I [wishedI’dhad]

peoplewhowereinbusinesswhowereopenlygay

whocouldhavecometomeandsaid,“John,times

havechanged.”BecausewhatI hadn’trealizedin

myheadis thattimeshadchanged.AndI believed

firmlythatallthethingsI thoughtthatweresig-

nalsgiventomeinmycareerhadnotchanged—

thateverybodywasthesame,thatattitudeshadn’t

changed.SoI wishI hada rolemodelthatcould

havecometomeandsaid,“John,I thinkweall

knowyou’regay.It’sjustthatnoneofuswerebrave

enoughtocomeandtellyou.”

Youwishsomeonewouldhaveapproachedyoulike

that?

I wishsomeonewouldhave.Buttheydidn’t.

I hadpersuadedmyselfthattheonlyprotection

I hadwastoremaininthecloset,andthatwas

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BROWNE: PHOTOGRAPH BY TRISHA WARD FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK. BEALE AND JOYCE: BLOOMBERG. BAILEY, CHAO, AND CULMONE: GETTY IMAGES. OTHER HEADSHOTS: COURTESY COMPANIES

JimFitterling,CEO,Dow

Don’tbeafraidtolive

yourownlife.I would

nevertellanyoneto

comeoutwhenthey

don’tfeelcomfortable.

ButI knowfrom

experiencethereis a toll

youpaywhenyoutryto

hidepartofyourselfand

thattheperceivedpain

ofcomingoutis often

worsethanthereality.

RoyHunt,seniorvice

president,Gap

AsI cameoutand

I realizedthatthis

burdenthat I carried

forsucha longpart

ofmylifewasbeing

liftedoffmyback,

I alsorealizedthatI

becamea muchbetter

leaderandbetter

person,andit just

changedeverything.

AlanJoyce,CEO,

Qantas Airways

I’m a member of our

LGBTQ network

at Qantas, Illuminate.

I attended the last

conference and sat in

the audience, not on

the stage, because

I wanted to listen and

learn from what others

have experienced.

Rainbows

Come in

Pinstripes,

Too

Since Stonewall,

the number of out

executives has

soared. These 11

discuss why

that’s important.

 Browne

Matt Ryan, chief

marketing officer,

Starbucks

Starbucks supports

inclusion and diversity,

because it’s the right

thing to do, but there’s

also a business benefit:

You tend to attract

the very best people

to the company when

inclusion is not an issue.

Gigi Chao, vice

chairman, Cheuk Nang

Holdings

Knowing that a potential

employer is friendly

to the community and

stands for equality is

an important motivator.

And being able to

bring our full selves

to work takes away

the pretense and fear.