LGBTQ+ at Egon Zehnder

A message from Egon Zehnder chairwoman Jill Ader

During this year’s Pride month, our Firm is reflecting on the difference a year can make. While we’ve had a long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion, a group of passionate colleagues helped us realize our efforts to support, celebrate and advocate for LGBTQ+ community were not visible enough and were more ad hoc than comprehensive. We reflected on these shortcomings and then pledged to do better – for our candidates, our clients and for our own people.

Egon Zehnder committed to be more focused on and supportive of driving LGBTQ+ diversity and representation across the leadership spectrum, partnering with our clients to create more diverse candidate slates, opening up their understanding of LGBTQ+ diversity and experience and advising them on building and fostering inclusive cultures and psychological safety. We are also encouraging leaders to view their LGBTQ+ experience as an asset, empowering them to be their full selves both professionally and personally. This heightened authenticity enriches leaders’ abilities to tap into their full potential and encourages their team members to be more open, creating an unmatched bond of trust.

In the last year, we partnered with Out Leadership to promote LGBTQ+ representation at senior levels of businesses and worked together to include LGBTQ+ data in our Global Board Diversity Tracker for the first time. We launched ez+, a global LGBTQ+ and allies network to celebrate, support, empower and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community within Egon Zehnder and held ongoing inclusivity sessions and gatherings  across the Firm.  We were also accredited by the Human Rights Campaign as a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality” and are using the learnings from that process to push ourselves even further.

Many of the companies we work with are on similar diversity journeys. Each of us is at a different point, and we can support and inspire each other along the way. What we learned is that much can happen in a short amount of time when you are intentional about the change you want to see.

Our deepest gratitude to our colleagues who tirelessly encourage us to create a better world, where diverse and inclusive leaders not only grow; they thrive. Happy Pride!

Jill Ader and the proud leaders of ez+