“I don’t think of myself as particularly disruptive. That said, I’m a business woman, and gay; business has been a straight boys club for millennia, so being a woman, let alone a lesbian, in that club – in that club room — is by its nature, disruptive. Which turns out to be a good thing. Experts agree that disruption in this context drives innovation,” writes Sandberg.
However, “recent polling reveals that the public thinks that the chances of achieving gender parity among CEOs for the Fortune 500 are the same as our landing on Mars. The public needs to see more success, more women CEOs in that corner office, to know what’s even possible.
As it happens, the gay business world is no different from the straight world, in how gendered corporate leadership is… Orientation isn’t culture.
At Out Leadership, our solution was to launch OutWOMEN. We sampled our LBT+ women members and found that senior-level LBT+ women were thrilled to be recognized and connected to peers… Just to be in a room together was both a revelation and celebration. We’ll continue to facilitate community at all levels while embarking on specific research so that industry can better understand how to find and serve the needs of LBT+ women, wherever in the world they live and work.”