Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged he is gay while advocating for human rights reportedly in an essay in Businessweek. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Thursday, Businessweek published a contributed article by Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, head of one of the world’s most valuable brands and one of the most powerful people in business. The first-person account, entitled Tim Cook Speaks Up, is groundbreaking — this is the first time a CEO of a Fortune 500 company has announced publicly that he is gay. Scratch that: “proud to be gay.”
Think about that for a moment. Many of you may be wondering, “It’s 2014. Who cares?” In some respects, that’s a valid sentiment. But not entirely.
The announcement is at once epochally monumental and professionally immaterial. What does one’s sexual orientation have to do with one’s ability to do a job (well), run a company (successfully), or lead a nation (eventually)? The fact is it doesn’t, but even that is beside the point.
By his own admission, many (most?) in Cook’s circle of friends and colleagues were well aware of his sexual orientation long before he publicly disclosed it. Who knows exactly what, if any, workplace discrimination he has encountered, professional growth or development opportunities he might have missed out on because of his sexuality.
Clearly the man is doing extraordinarily well for himself. His business skills, acumen and achievements should be at the forefront, where they belong. Yet the nuances of Cook’s own career trajectory, his rise to the top rung of executive management of a publicly-traded, multi-national corporation, are important as they can provide a road map of sorts to gays and lesbians (and potentially other minorities) navigating corporate politics, squaring ambitions, and balancing business and private interests in their own right.
Having worked in the corporate world and now, thankfully, a business owner myself, I know sexual orientation can be a tricky subject in matters of business. Vaunt or identify too much as such and you can become reduced to one thing: the token [you know what] of the office. Be too cagey, and you risk making a perceived issue of something that otherwise might not be. It traditionally has not been pleasant, but is becoming far less precarious given the forward march toward equality of consideration in the workplace (as far as fair access to opportunities go — opportunities we nevertheless must earn, of course).
Thus the reason Apple and an ever-growing number of organizations have embraced LGBTQ equality as fundamental to their culture and company policy. Long-term it’s good for business, too. It’s surely why Cook, an Alabama native, felt compelled to criticize his home state earlier this week for alleged inequities that are permitted against many minorities statewide, gays included. And hopefully his disclosure today will empower and liberate closeted gays and lesbians in positions of power in corporate America to come out matter-of-factly. Why not have a photo of their significant other in their office, if they so choose, or bring their loved ones to company functions where spouses and families are invited. Does Cook even have a significant other? Who knows. Who cares! The Glass Closet has been breached at the highest level.
Sometimes forsaking one’s own privacy — setting it aside for a moment, to address a topic that people are discussing already head-on – can have a neutralizing, destigmatizing effect on something that shouldn’t be a big deal anyway. I look forward to the day disclosing such details is a non-issue.
Mark Brinkerhoff is a communications consultant and speaker, and a co-founder of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of Gay for Good, a volunteer-based community service group.