Your queer individuality is not a burden
More and more companies in the West are embracing LGBT individuality. That’s why it could be your greatest asset today.
“You can be or do anything you want. The fact that you are gay doesn’t mean you have to give up your career at IBM. You don’t have to give up anything.”
That was the response of the head of human resources at IBM in North Carolina in 1978, when he was a recent college graduate. Jay AllenHe tried to announce that he had to quit. Allen thought he had to choose between his career or life as a gay man.
These profound words from a progressive boss would change Allen’s beliefs about himself and his opportunities for the rest of his life. Allen then rose through the ranks at IBM and GE, eventually becoming Charles Schwab’s executive vice president of human resources, all as an open and proud gay man and possibly the highest-ranking C-suite executive in America at the time.
Jay Allen’s experience in the late 1970s suggested that a change in thinking would occur, albeit slowly, in the business world. Now more than ever, companies want employees who think differently, have different skills and are different. The very things that make you unique are the very things that will earn you equity in the business world today.
Today in our PRIDE series we turn to the letter I and I is our queer individuality. If you find it difficult to be yourself at work, if you suppress who and what you are, You cannot give 100% to your employer, your job, your customers or yourself. You only have so much energy. If you use power to dull your shine, you will not be able to give the world what you were born to be.
Companies are beginning to understand this and are therefore looking for employees who are authentic and who make the company better through their true selves. The more you are, the more equity you have.
You have personality and it pays off
In recent decades, companies have increasingly integrated personal assessments and aptitude tests. These tests include Gallup’s StrengthsFinder and the Kolbe Index.
Strength Finders by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, published in 2001, is a business management book that uses the Clifton Strengths Finder test to help people evaluate their top five of 34 strengths or “talent themes.”
Rather than spending time and energy compensating for inherent deficiencies, the book argues that businesspeople would be better off maximizing their natural abilities. When business leaders build teams, the book continues, they should hire a mix of people with complementary talent themes to create a stronger team, rather than hiring individuals with similar strengths that lead to groupthink.
Some talent themes are more common than others, making rare talent themes a valuable commodity and thereby increasing the value of your unique qualities.
The Kolbe Index is an assessment test that measures people’s “instinctive way of doing things” or “action.” The idea is to help people fully understand their unique problem-solving capabilities so they can have the most effective impact. So what defines you makes you more useful.
Both and other similar tools aim to help build better teams by bringing together people with different strengths. Both aim to help people maximize their strengths rather than focusing them on things they will simply never be good at. As a result, what makes you unique, based in part on your sexual orientation or gender identity and background, is more valuable than ever.
You are a wanted man or woman
The face of America is changing. Despite the headwinds, we are becoming a more diverse place, and our diversity makes us stronger.
The fastest growing demographic in America is the Asian population, with growth of 3.4% between 2014 and 2015 and a projected purchasing power of $1.1 trillion by 2020. For these reasons, companies want to engage with Asian communities . Asian communities want to do business with companies and entrepreneurs who understand them. The best way for companies to understand the diverse Asian communities is to work with and hire Asian employees who can share their experiences and backgrounds.
The same goes for the queer community. As of 2016 the The queer community’s purchasing power is close to $1 trillion. Who do you think queer people want to do business with? The LGBT community wants to do business with companies and entrepreneurs who understand them. You are the best intermediary to help companies understand us, and trying to adapt hinders your ability to do so.
As the effervescent Patrick Riley said at Prudential’s recent LGBT Financial Experience Symposium in Newark, New Jersey: “When they told me to stop dancing, I danced, and when they told me to stop singing, I sang Donna Summer.” As an out producer on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Riley didn’t hold back, especially when Oprah asked him to turn the camera on himself, about his story as a gay man of color in the world of media to tell. Although his family may have wanted him to tone it down, Riley refused for himself and other gay men of color.
So lighten your shine.
Unique is geek and chic
Gone are the days of assembly lines where employees had to repeat repetitive tasks. These tasks have been taken over by machines and robots, and machines are taking on more tasks every day. Estimates suggest that robots will replace 30% of today’s jobs by 2025.
Today’s economy is a knowledge-based economy with employees who have valuable intellectual property. But no one can know everything and companies know that. Companies also realize that they cannot benefit from groupthink. Therefore, they look for people with different backgrounds and experiences and use corporate personality tests to maximize the diversity of these employees.
Trying to clone the same knowledge and experience as everyone else only reduces your equity. It is your unique knowledge and experiences, your fabric, that increases your standing in the business world and can improve the financial strength of you and our queer community.
So don’t embrace your pride with one parade a year or even one month a year. Embrace your pride and everything that makes you unique, 365 days a year at home, at play and at work. The brighter you shine, the brighter the world becomes.