Does a culture of hiding damage your business? Does silence endanger your life?
In this TED Talk by Morgana Bailey, I was surprised to hear these statistics:
- “61% of all employees reported changing an aspect of their behavior or appearance in order to fit in at work”
- “83% of LGBTQ employees admitted to changing some aspects of themselves so they would not appear at work to be ‘Too Gay'”
- “12 Years – The length by which life expectancy is shortened for LGBTQ people in highly anti-gay communities compared to accepting communities”
Her point reaches far beyond hiding sexuality, because we all hide… and because we can all be more accepting.
In my work with men’ and boys’ groups, I’ve seen the power of authenticity and how important it is to remove the masks we wear to “protect” ourselves.