None so queer as folk": Gendered expectations and transgressive bodies in leadership (original) (raw)
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On an annual basis, Fortune releases the top 500 revenue-generating companies in the United States, referred to as the Fortune 500 collectively. The leadership team of these organizations is under scrutiny for their lack of diversity at the upper levels of management. In fact, in the history of releasing this report, there has only been one out lesbian in the CEO position (appointed in 2018). This phenomenological study of lesbians who are the senior executive levels of Fortune 500 companies seeks to understand their lived experiences within corporations to better understand what barriers, if any, exist for lesbians at the highest levels of corporations. What resulted was a discussion and insight into how these high-level leaders are redefining executive presence to incorporate more of who they are authentically versus the mold of a leader that they have been coached to or observed during their ascent to the top of corporate leadership ranks. The goal is to challenge the academy and corporations to utilize theories, such as queer theory, that push outside of traditional research to understand and fix issues related to gender more thoroughly.
Embodying transgender in studies of gender, work and organization
Gender, Work and Organization Handbook,. Oxford: Wiley. Some years ago I was in a meeting with a group of senior business school colleagues planning learning activities for the coming term's seminars of an undergraduate course. One of the learning activities involved students doing a role play of a television panel discussion to engage with the issue of corporate social responsibility. While there were few restrictions governing the format of the role play, the professor in charge of the course asserted: 'But I don't want them to get carried away and turn this into a drag show!' While I don't think he meant this in a derogatory manner, it was made obvious that the world of drag was utterly separate from the world of business, work and organizations. And not did I dare, back then, to question his reasoning or to mention my own cross-dressing.
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Lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) school leaders may understand these sexual identities as essentialist categories and present lived experiences resistant to the identity category-troubling tenets of queer theory, whose application in queer empirical research can nonetheless provide important insights into leaders’ identity, practices and power. In this article, I focus on reconciling this conceptual tension to produce an empirical account of inadvertently queer school leadership in England. The article uses queer theory to re-interpret findings from a study of five LGB school leaders to show that despite perceiving sexual identity in an essentialist way, these LGB school leaders sexually embody inadvertently queer school leadership. They trouble gender norms and conceptualizations of ‘leader’ through non-normative sexual embodiment; suggest queer identities for others; and challenge heteronormativity’s institutional foundations and other processes of normalization.
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This article suggests new possibilities for queer theory in management and organization studies. Management and organization studies has tended to use queer theory as a conceptual resource for studying the workplace experience of ‘minorities’ such as gay men, lesbians and those identifying as bisexual or transgender, often focusing on how heteronormativity shapes the discursive constitution of sexualities and genders coded as such. This deployment is crucial and apposite but it can limit the analytical reach of queer theory, neglecting other objects of analysis like heterosexuality. Potentially, MOS queer theory scholarship could be vulnerable to criticism about overlooking queer theory as a productive site for acknowledging both heterosexuality’s coercive aspects and its non-normative forms. The principal contribution of our article is therefore twofold. First, it proposes a queering of queer theory in management and organization studies, whereby scholars are alert to and question ...
2018
The purpose of this qualitative ethnographic case study was to explore and discover the perceptions of California gay male leaders in high-level leadership positions, specifically in regard to the types of support they received and the types of barriers they encountered along their leadership journey to attain a high-level leadership position. Findings: Data collection and analysis resulted in six major findings in the ascent or journey to leadership of the 12 selected participants: (a) self-acceptance and personal determination, (b) networking support, (c) education and leadership skills, (d) family and friends, (e) internalized homophobia, and (f) social prejudice and stereotypes. Imposedby-default societal norms foster internalized homophobia in gay men. The conclusions indicated that most participants described having a feeling of low self-worth because they were gay, especially at the beginning of their professional careers. Gay men who are accepting of themselves and comfortable with their lifestyle are more likely to gain access to leadership roles. Being honest with themselves and comfortable with their lifestyle was a significant motivator for all gay males in this research study. As a part of the journey to high-level leadership roles, each of the participants felt a deep sense of personal efficacy, or self-confidence, that great heights could be achieved once they did not have to focus on hiding their sexual preference. All participants stated that they were more successful after they acknowledged their homosexuality. vii Methodology: This case study research design utilized qualitative data to analyze the research questions regarding supports and barriers openly gay male leaders experienced to attain high-level leadership positions. Qualitative data were obtained by conducting 10-question interviews with a select group of 12 gay male leaders who are in executive leadership roles in California organizations to elicit themes, patterns, and trends in their lived experiences. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER
Some years ago I Torkild was in a meeting with a group of senior business school colleagues planning learning activities for the coming term's seminars of an undergraduate course. One of the learning activities involved students doing a role-play of a television panel discussion to engage with the issue of corporate social responsibility. While there were few restrictions governing the format of the role play, the professor in charge of the course raised his voice and asserted: 'But I don't want them to get carried away and turn this into a drag show!' My face reddened. While I don't think he meant this in a derogatory manner, it was made obvious that the world of drag was utterly separate from the world of business, work and organizations. And not did I dare, back then, to question his reasoning or to mention my own cross-dressing. We do not think this is about age. In a number of teaching sessions, I Torkild have experienced that many students find transgender problematic too. When using Brewis et al.'s Priscilla paper to discuss gender and transgender issues in leadership with a class of third year students, one of the few males attending loudly exclaimed: 'what you do in your own spare time is one thing, but I would never hire or promote a man who came to work in a frock! […] What would our clients say?!' My heart beat faster, my tongue grew, and my mouth dried out. While I was furious with him and tried challenging him with rationalist arguments about diversity and equality, I didn't dare to come out then either.