thoughtleaders

By Nicole Gardner
Partner, Oliver Wyman
The GLOW of Reverse
Mentoring at Oliver Wyman
O
LIVER WYMAN IS a meri-
tocracy of people and of ideas
but that positioning is silent
on LGBT issues. To move the
global consulting firm from a difference-blind
and passively accepting culture to an ac-
tively welcoming one, members of Gays and
Lesbians at Oliver Wyman (GLOW) recently
met with the firms management committee
members for two-hour reverse mentoring ses-
sions to discuss the experience of coming out at
work, both in the office and at the client site.
The discussion was confidential, and no topics
were off limits; it was a safe environment for
our leaders to learn, without fear of giving of-
fense or being perceived as prying.
The feedback from the C-suite and GLOW
members was uniformly positive. Hearing that
our pure meritocracy positioning in the talent
market actually connoted dont ask, dont tell
was particularly eye-opening to COO Alan
McIntyre, who wrote to the firm:
Many of us who are straight see LGBT issues
mostly in reactive terms. A whole series of donts
that we perceive as tolerance, with the central
premise being do no harm. One of the things
that I took away from the reverse mentoring ses-
sion was that this perception can be asymmetri-
cal. For the LGBT community, the absence of
prejudice is not the same as creating a safe and
welcoming environment where colleagues are
comfortable being out. The LGBT community
is sensitive to nuances in language and messaging
that the straight community may not even notice,
and we can turn that sensitivity to our advantage
by continuing to send affirming and supportive
messages that Oliver Wyman is a safe and welcom-
ing environment and that we are committed to
diversity and inclusion. The struggle for equal
treatment for the LGBT community still has a
long way to go, and Oliver Wyman can make a
contribution to that struggle by helping to address
issues of equal treatment in the workplace and by
visibly supporting the LGBT community as it tries
to level the playing field.
All the reverse mentoring participants indi-
cate that the process has changed the way they
act and the way that they lead. GLOW member
and New York office head Dan Gettings adds:
Reverse mentoring has noticeably accelerated the
firms pace of change and acceptance of the LGBT
community at Oliver Wyman. Even the simple
message that our senior leaders think LGBT en-
gagement is important enough to take time out of
their day for it is important.
Whats next? We are working with our global
training team to cascade the reverse mentoring
experience down to the next level of leadership,
our partner group. Helping our partners un-
derstand what it means to be out and LGBT at
Oliver Wyman will move the discussion from
the boardroom to project teams and client sites
where the business of our firm is done and
where consulting careers are made. PDJ
Nicole Gardner is a partner of Oliver Wyman, leader of the firms general
consulting group, and executive sponsor of GLOW.
www. diversi t yj our nal . com MAy/ j une 2 0 11
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all the reverse mentoring
participants indicate that the process
has changed the way they act and
the way that they lead.