The Gay Males' Odyssey in the Corporate World: From Disempowerment to Empowerment

Learn how gay executives and managers can empower themselves within corporate America without giving up their dignity or their gay integrity. Presenting the first study specifically to address gays as managers and executives in Fortune 500 companies, this book explores the relationship between the American corporate culture and the gay male frame of reference. The corporate culture's low tolerance for diversity may create problems for gay males moving their way through corporate networks. The Gay Male's Odyssey in the Corporate World explores the workplace experiences of gay managers and executives, describing how they survived and thrived and how others can, too. Eye-opening chapters examine the coping, actualization, and manifestation dynamics of being a gay male and integrating one's self into the workplace.

Author Gerald V. Miller examines the stages of personal transition from powerlessness to empowerment that gay males move through when confronted with the issue of being a gay manager or executive. He asserts that "playing it safe" is the most dangerous thing a gay manager or executive can do, and provides a step-by-step action plan for being successful while maintaining dignity and integrity. Miller discusses six concrete developmental stages that gay men go through on their journey to empowerment and explores steps they can take to move away from reactive behaviors and toward proactive and coactive behaviors.

The Gay Male's Odyssey in the Corporate World explores answers to such questions as What have gay managers and executives experienced as members of straight business organizations? Does the model of transition from disempowerment to empowerment, formed from the author's own experience, hold true for others? What enablers permit gay managers and executives to move toward empowerment? Miller bases his book on information and data from:

• a heuristic study of the author's personal experiences as a gay executive
• a review of the scholarly literature in the fields of organizational psychology, empowerment strategies, and gay studies
• the administration of a Pattern of Reactions survey to 200 gay males
• in-depth interviews with 40 gay managers/executives
  
  This book is an enlightening and enriching guide for gay managers and executives striving to find their place in the workplace. The Gay Male's Odyssey in the Corporate World also serves as a revealing study for individuals involved in areas such as industrial/organizational psychology, college or university gay studies programs, human resource development departments, or gay business and professional organizations.