The 2021 Executive Forum (ExFo) brought together 250 LGBTQ and ally global leaders for three eventful days of learning, networking, and connection. The goal of ExFo is to bring leaders together from multinational companies, small businesses, nonprofits, and more to trade best practices, share experiences, and gather inspiration from one another.
Across the three days, attendees participated in three learning tracks: LGBTQ Leadership, DEI Best Practices, and Intersectional Advocacy. From the sessions offered in these tracks, attendees learned global strategies, critical tools, and best practices to incorporate in their leadership styles and take back with them into their workplaces.
Highlights included:
LGBTQ Leadership and Resiliency: LGBTQ leaders from different backgrounds shared their remarkable experiences and how both their failures and successes shaped their own leadership presence. Experts from JD Schramm, author of Communicate with Mastery, to Justine Ammendolia, a queer environmental scientist and National Geographic Explorer, gave ExFo attendees strategies in how to use their own experiences to become better leaders.
Intersectional Focus: ExFo attendees heard from intersectional leaders with expertise in transgender and nonbinary inclusion, anti-racism work, coping with stress and burnout, and disability in the workplace. A strong focus was placed on the experience of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Success Groups: One in a series of tools utilized to ensure connection at a virtual event, Success Groups brought together attendees with similar interests and professional backgrounds to hold meaningful conversations, share authentically, and build connections.
Finally, Out & Equal also welcomed Korn Ferry Foundation President, Jean-Marc Laouchez, to announce an exciting partnership in support of the Leadership U for Humanity program. Out & Equal will be the exclusive LGBTQ-focused partner organization working to step up representation of LGBTQ leaders in business.