The Glass Closet: Why Coming Out Is Good Business

by John Browne

Overview

Part memoir and part social criticism, The Glass Closet addresses the issue of homophobia that still pervades corporations around the world and underscores the immense challenges faced by LGBT employees.

In The Glass Closet, Lord John Browne, former CEO of BP, seeks to unsettle business leaders by exposing the culture of homophobia that remains rampant in corporations around the world, and which prevents employees from showing their authentic selves.

Drawing on his own experiences, and those of prominent members of the LGBT community around the world, as well as insights from well-known business leaders and celebrities, Lord Browne illustrates why, despite the risks involved, self-disclosure is best for employees—and for the businesses that support them. Above all, The Glass Closet offers inspiration and support for those who too often worry that coming out will hinder their chances of professional success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062316981
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/17/2014
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	576 KB

About the Author

John Browne was the CEO of BP from 1995 to 2007, which he transformed into one of the world's largest companies. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Engineering and is a fellow of the Royal Society, a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the chairman of the trustees of the Tate galleries. He holds degrees from Cambridge and Stanford Universities, was knighted in 1998, and made a life peer in 2001. He is now a partner at Riverstone Holdings, and is the author of the memoir Beyond Business and of Seven Elements That Changed the World.

Table of Contents

Prologue 9

Chapter 1 Hide-and-Seek 13

Growing up 20

Career 24

Coming down 28

Starting again 32

Reflection 35

Chapter 2 Beauty and Bigotry 37

Beauty 40

Blame 41

Bigotry 43

Television 51

Worlds apart 54

Chapter 3 Deeply Hidden 60

The costs of hiding 70

Professional hiding 75

Chapter 4 Phantoms and Fears 80

At the tops of corporations 83

Hidden biases 85

Explicit biases 89

Less and less fear 95

Chapter 5 Coming Out Is Good Business 98

Hidden costs 104

Hidden stigmas 109

Markets 111

Chapter 6 The Benefits of Coming Out 116

'Isn't that unfortunate?' 117

'We all struggle differently' 121

Poster child for diversity 123

Transgender taboo 127

Not everyone is heterosexual 130

Even in Japan 133

Stereotypes 135

Chapter 7 Opinion Formers and Icons 137

Politics 139

Sport 145

Law 153

Icons 156

Chapter 8 Shattering the Glass 158

Active leadership 160

LGBT resource groups 164

Straight allies 165

Goals and measurement 167

Individual responsibility 169

Role models and their stories 170

Working in conservative countries 172

The future 175

Chapter 9 Beyond the Closet 177

Liberation 180

Acknowledgements 185

Biographies 188

Endnotes 201

A Note on Statistics 201

Index 235

Editorial Reviews

07/01/2014
This work by Browne (partner, private equity firm Riverstone Holdings; Beyond Business) joins the increasing number of titles focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees, a field that includes Sylvia Ann Hewlett's research study "The Power of 'OUT,'" included in her book Brainpower. The author knows of what he speaks: he is a former CEO of BP who remained closeted until his controversial resignation. Drawing heavily from his own career, as well as from interviews with LGBT business leaders and the growing body of research in this arena, Browne discusses how European and American white-collar industries cannot afford to ignore the LGBT community. Nor can they ignore their LGBT employees—41 percent and 34 percent of whom remain in their respective U.S. and UK closets, surrounded by a worldwide cultural climate of discrimination. Browne maintains that corporate leaders can boost morale, increase productivity, and discredit homophobia by creating "cultures of inclusion codified not merely in policies and handbooks, but also in the thoughts and behaviour of employees." VERDICT Brown's rhetoric is businesslike and a little dry but also to the point, supported by research, and culturally significant. He has taken pains to provide strikingly honest personal narratives and uses them to put a face on the problems at hand.—Nerissa Kuebrich, Chicago

Library Journal

★ 06/23/2014
With impressive candor, former BP CEO Browne (Beyond Business) examines the steep price that LGBT employees pay if they stay closeted at work, and shows how being open benefits individuals and organizations. He begins with the story of his resignation from BP, and the impact of living life in the closet both personally and professionally. Though support for gay rights is becoming more popular, Brown shows that there's still a lack of awareness of the difficulties LGBT employees face. Not surprisingly, 41% of the LGBT employees in the U.S. remain closeted at work, and at the close of 2013, there was not one openly gay CEO in the Fortune 500. Browne shares touching stories from other brave business leaders who came out professionally, including Xerox's Mike Feldman, Beth Burke of Ernst & Young, and Antonio Simoes of HSBC. What distinguishes this important and ground-breaking book is the author's focus on the practical side of welcoming LGBT employees into an organization; he helpfully identifies seven actions that companies can take to be inclusive of LGBT rights, including setting direction from the top, creating LGBT resources groups, and encouraging straight allies. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Personal and instructive, The Glass Closet provides a compelling roadmap to what, as a society and as individuals, we can achieve if LGBT men and women are completely free from prejudice and anxiety because of who they are.” — —Lloyd Blankfein, CEO, Goldman Sachs

“The Glass Closet by John Browne is a brave and fascinating book that shows how businesses can lead the way in promoting gay rights and why being yourself is best for business and for you.” — —Sir Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group

“A courageous and salutary reminder that despite huge progress, we still have a long way to go to create the kind of tolerant and inclusive society of which business-as this book powerfully argues—must be a driving force.” — — Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever

“Culturally significant....[Browne] has taken pains to provide strikingly honest personal narratives and uses them to put a face on the problems at hand.” — Library Journal

From the Publisher

The Glass Closet by John Browne is a brave and fascinating book that shows how businesses can lead the way in promoting gay rights and why being yourself is best for business and for you.

Sir Richard Branson

A courageous and salutary reminder that despite huge progress, we still have a long way to go to create the kind of tolerant and inclusive society of which business-as this book powerfully argues—must be a driving force.

Paul Polman

Personal and instructive, The Glass Closet provides a compelling roadmap to what, as a society and as individuals, we can achieve if LGBT men and women are completely free from prejudice and anxiety because of who they are.

Lloyd Blankfein

2014-05-18
An appeal to LGBT workers and corporations about the benefits of inclusion, from the former CEO of a Fortune 500 company.Riverstone Holdings partner Browne (Seven Elements that Changed the World, 2014, etc.) resigned from BP in 2007 following a scandal that exposed his long-hidden sexuality. Living a double life destroyed his career, and he cautions others not to make his mistake.After a lengthy, needless primer on the history of homosexuality, the author focuses on the sphere of his fellow white-collar professionals; in 2012, there were no openly gay CEOs in the Fortune 500, and (presumably) straight white men held almost 75 percent of all boardroom seats. Brown also reports that an estimated 41 percent of LGBT employees in the United States are in the closet. He believes businesses should seek to employ "the best people, everywhere, on the single criterion of merit” and urges them to demonstrate to employees that coming out will not be "catastroph[ic]…regardless of their sector or the protections in place at their company.” The author glosses over the fact that this will be the case for rank-and-file employees in companies, and countries, hostile to gays.Browne effectively presents both leadership lessons and workers' stories of how the closet has hurt their dignity and careers.An out senior banker at HSBC warns, "[a]t some point if you're not truthful about certain elements of your personal life it becomes a huge liability….People won't trust you and may even use it against you." If this book fails to inspire risk-averse business leaders, it will reassure gay workers that "kowtowing to those who disapprove of your sexuality suggests their comfort is more important than your own. It is not." Browne further urges them to take responsibility: "If a company opens the closet door, it is up to the employee to walk through it.”Valuable encouragement to closeted workers who can afford to heed the author’s advice.

Kirkus Reviews