Name: Lisa Sherman: 'You Just Need to Speak Your Truth'
Uploaded: 2019-03-14
Duration: 3 min 49 s
Description: The Ad Council President and CEO on coming out at work.

Everybody assumes that we have full rights in this country but we don't. You can still be fired from your job, evicted from your home or denied access to services like health care because LGBT. The laws of the land do not support it in every state. I'm Lisa Sherman and I'm the President and CEO of the Ad Council. The Ad Council is the country's organization that produces all of the pro social marketing activities and campaigns, tagging on the most important and pressing social issues of the day. [ MUSIC ] I think the biggest challenge I had was being in the closet for the first 17 years of my career. And never feeling comfortable that I could be my full self at work, but I was gonna be committing career suicide. I hid for a long time, I pretended, I had mastered the black art of pronoun puppetry. I would substitute him, he, and we for her and she. Whenever I would talk about my weekends, I had a picture of my best friend Bob on my credenza. I really I think separated myself from my colleagues because I wasn't able to socialize with them as much. It got to the point where I had been out in every other part of my life And it started to take its toll on me, and so I knew that I at some point would have to leave, which I ultimately made the decision to leave. But I promised myself that on my last day, that I would go and see the CEO, who I known my entire career and tell him why I was leaving. He listened, and it was for me The relief of having this huge secret out in the open was incredible and I decided that I would never, at that point, never be in corporate closet or any closet ever again. And I will tell you what became very clear very fast Was how much energy it took to hide all of those years. When I got to my new job I was so happy and I was probably more productive and more creative because, I had no secrets! It was amazing. [ MUSIC ] First forward, probably two months I get a call from another closeted gay executive, and he said to me Lisa did you come out to Ray on your last day? And I say I did, why do you ask? And he said well, we were having a meeting to talk about benefits in domestic partnerships, benefits in particular. And Ray was sitting at the back of the room very quietly. And then he got up and walked to the front of the room. And he said, Lisa Sherman, on her last day, came to my office to say goodbye, told me that you were blocking this policy. And I'm not sure I believed her. But sitting in here, listen to you talk It's clear that she was right and you are gonna figure out how to get domestic partnership benefits implemented across this company as soon as possible. And I will tell you that within six months domestic partnership benefits were reality to every employee at the company. In some ways for me. You know, well, I felt quite guilty while I was there, for not having the courage to come out. In that moment, I sort of assuaged some of my guilt, because I understood that that one conversation had such an incredible impact. And I think the lesson for me was, you know, You just have to speak your truth, and one conversation can make a huge difference. And it's just important to have these conversations. [ MUSIC ]

Lisa Sherman: "You Just Need to Speak Your Truth"

Leadership

The Ad Council President and CEO on coming out at work.