Designing for impact | Behind the Pride in Leadership Report

I recently had the pleasure of designing the first-of-its-kind Pride in Leadership report: Barriers to LGBTQ+ career progression in the UK – taking it from (in Claire’s words) “a boring Word document, with some pretty ghastly-looking charts and graphs”, to the final 92-page report you see today.

This followed on from the Pride in Leadership branding I created in 2023, and it felt like a very full-circle moment – seeing an organisation that I related to so much, evolve from having the bare-bones of a branded presence to a place where they’re able to make such a confident and important statement with this groundbreaking report into the lives of LGBTQ+ professionals (via a sell-out conference along the way too!).

I’m a big believer in the ‘if you can see it, you can be it’ mantra. Aspiration has always been a big driver behind my work for Pride in Leadership, both in creating the branding with its proud, dynamic star-led design, and with the bold new report. Aspiration is often the missing piece of the puzzle in an LGBTQ+ landscape that is, more often than not, focused (unfortunately, necessarily) on our sheer survival and acceptance. If we can lead from the top, we can use that position to make a real difference to every LGBTQ+ person around us and the generations to come.

Let’s be honest, the report can make for quite depressing reading in places for our community. Whilst there have certainly been advancements in the rights and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in professional environments over the years and there’s lots of positives in the report worth celebrating, there’s still clearly so much work that needs to be done. And it would have been very easy for the design of the report to go down a road of echoing that tone. But I for one refuse to relent to negativity! I wanted to create something impactful, but also vibrant – that celebrates the huge amount of diversity, potential and positivity within our community.

The use of illustration over photography in the report was very deliberate. It would have felt disingenuous to have lots of happy, smiling human faces everywhere when the facts and figures were often suggesting something very different. There’s also a huge amount of intersectionality in our community – having one real-life human face attached to a specific point makes it quite hard to see beyond that particular person’s characteristics.

Illustration allows us to be a lot more diverse and representative, while still retaining that emotive connection that is so important in making a mountain of stats and figures relatable on a human level. The comfortable interplay between the stats and illustration also means that when these findings are displayed elsewhere, such as in articles and on social media posts, the own-able visual style always connects them back to the report and strengthens the Pride in Leadership brand.

There was some really eye-opening stuff in the report, and I’m so glad we were able to include so many first-person quotes and accounts too, they really help to humanise all the stats even further. A few key points that particularly stood out for me were:

– 85% of respondents have encountered barriers to career progression.
– 70% say there’s a lack of LGBTQ+ role models in leadership.
– 50% report working in uncomfortable or hostile environments.
– 42% say they felt unsupported by HR when facing LGBTQ+ issues.
– Trans and non-binary people face especially high levels of discrimination.
– Many LGBTQ+ professionals report early-life setbacks in confidence, education, and career ambition due to fear, bias, and lack of representation.
– Despite all this, a huge number are leading, mentoring, and advocating – 40% volunteer as trustees, NEDs or community leaders.

My personal experience and insights are maybe a little different to others. Coming out as trans was a hugely positive experience for me – my life has improved on every level. I’m far more confident, outgoing, relaxed and, I’d like think, a lot more fun to be around. Which speaks wonders of the power of being able to live comfortably in your own skin.

As someone who struggled with their identity since childhood but wasn’t ready to admit that to anyone until my late thirties, it was actually my time before transition that was the biggest struggle. So, it was the report sections on confidence, educational achievement and (lack of) role models that hit me the hardest. Anyone who knew me when I was younger would probably tell you I was one of the shyest people they’d ever met. I was known as a mumbler, very quiet, unassertive, I struggled to make eye contact with people and was generally pretty repressed. I was terrified at the thought of standing out and often shrank into the background. Luckily things are much different now, but this quote from the report struck a particular chord with me:

I’d be the first to acknowledge I’m a very privileged trans woman in the grand scheme of things. I’ve always been incredibly well supported by family, friends and in professional circles. I have passing privilege – I’ve never had any serious public instances of misgendering or abuse due to who I am. And I work for myself, so I’ve been able to give myself the time and space to conduct my transition on my own terms and I’ve been shielded from potentially toxic workplace environments. I have the freedom to choose who I work with and who I don’t, and, because I’m very open about who I am, I tend to attract clients with like-minded values who are very comfortable with my existence. All of these are luxuries many don’t have.

But my career path is as much by design than it is luck. Should we have to opt out of the workplace system (or cis-tem if you will) to get ahead and feel safe and comfortable going about our work? Of course not. It’s vital that we make every profession and environment as welcoming and inclusive as possible to any marginalised group – whether based on gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, neurodivergence, age or social class. If we don’t, we’re suppressing the huge potential of generations of people who could be making positive contributions to society as a whole. Every human deserves their chance, every human has something to offer which we can all learn and benefit from. Difference should never be something to be scared of. It makes us stronger, smarter, wiser, and more empathetic – both in our professional lives, and in our lives in general.

And that’s why I’m so passionate about EDI. Claire, Matt and every one of the contributors involved in the making of this report have created a really important piece of work that has the potential to drive real, positive change, both for LGBTQ+ people right now and for generations to come. I really hope it creates the impact that is still so clearly needed.

Jodi Fox

Founder & Creative Director at Studio Zenko

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Jodi is a creative director and brand consultant helping good people doing good things make an impact. Alongside studio projects, she’s also on the board of trustees at The Proud Trust, a mentor with akt, and works with change-makers, advocates, and young people from LGBTQ+, disadvantaged, and under-represented backgrounds to help them overcome social barriers and break through glass ceilings.