This is happening right now in Minneapolis and of course the best we can do is get caught up through the Life at Deloitte Twitter account:
"In order to retain top talent, an organization must create an environment where everyone can be themselves" @christie_smith2 #oesummit2013
— Life at Deloitte (@lifeatdeloitte) October 30, 2013
The quote comes courtesy Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion Managing Principal Christie Smith, who apparently just signed up for Twitter so go over there and welcome her in the way only you trolls know how (I kid, be nice).
Here she is talking about being "out" at work:
I'm not trolling here, I swear, I'm hoping we can have a nice, honest discussion about being who you are in the workplace. Of course, I've been around these parts long enough not to hold my breath.
Here's the deal: I've sat through enough panel discussions on diversity and inclusion to know most of this is the same old same old lip service. Yes, people should be allowed to be who they are in the workplace but that goes against everything the profession stands for. We all pretend to be something we aren't to get where we want to be, that's the nature of corporate America. If we were truly allowed to be who we are, our desks would be a mess, we'd freely bang coworkers and a couple days a week we'd just blow off work because we can (or maybe that's just me, being who I am).
No one should feel like they have to "cover" (we've been through this before) but how much of yourself are you really able to reveal? How much should you reveal?
And the $25,000 question: what if you aren't in the "diversity" demographic, then how much of yourself should you be allowed to reveal?
Discuss.