Why LGBTQ+ Professionals make outstanding leaders

Why LGBTQ+ professionals make outstanding leaders: Key insights from Professor Catherine Lee MBE

Hosted by Pride in Leadership co-founder Claire Ebrey, this event featured an inspiring and timely talk by Professor Catherine Lee MBE, a pioneering voice in LGBTQ+ inclusion and leadership.

With lived experience as a schoolteacher during Section 28 and a leadership role as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean at Anglia Ruskin University, Catherine has long worked to drive equality in education. Her memoir Pretended inspired the BAFTA-nominated film Blue Jean, and her contribution to equality earned her an MBE in 2023.

In her engaging session, Catherine explored why LGBTQ+ professionals possess leadership qualities that can, and do, make them outstanding leaders across sectors. Here are the key takeaways and insights.

Context and purpose

Despite progress in workplace equality, LGBTQ+ professionals continue to navigate complex environments where visibility can be both empowering and precarious. But what if these challenges build not barriers but leadership assets?

Catherine’s research and leadership development programmes for LGBTQ+ professionals in education and higher education challenge the deficit narrative, and instead celebrate the unique strengths born from queer lived experience.

Five core leadership strengths of LGBTQ+ professionals

1. Emotional intelligence

Queer individuals often develop heightened emotional intelligence from a young age. The constant process of assessing safety, decoding social cues, and deciding how much of themselves to reveal in different contexts makes them experts in:

• Reading the room

• Regulating emotions under pressure

• Presenting themselves with care and sensitivity

These are not just “soft” skills; they’re survival skills that translate directly into adaptive, emotionally literate leadership.

2. Commitment to inclusion and social justice

Having experienced exclusion first-hand, LGBTQ+ leaders are often natural advocates for inclusion, bringing:

• A deep understanding of what it feels like to be “othered”

• Empathy for others at the margins

• An innate ability to build inclusive teams and practices

Catherine described this as having social justice running through our veins. The lived experience of being different gives LGBTQ+ leaders a visceral commitment to fairness for all.

3. Connecting authentically

Strong leadership is relational, and authenticity builds trust. LGBTQ+ leaders, when able to lead as their true selves, model a kind of openness that encourages others to do the same. They can be:

• Skilled at building community and common ground, even in heteronormative environments

• Practiced in “code-switching” and bridge-building

• Able to develop high-trust teams by leading with vulnerability

Catherine reminded us: “When we are ourselves, everyone else at work can be themselves too.”

4. Navigating uncertainty and complexity

Leadership often requires holding ambiguity, making decisions under pressure, and navigating complex political or emotional landscapes. LGBTQ+ professionals already do this daily, by:

• Balancing personal and professional personas

• Managing microaggressions and coming-out decisions repeatedly

• Handling implicit bias or workplace dynamics subtly and tactfully

The metaphor Catherine used: like swans – calm on the surface, paddling furiously underneath. This ability to manage uncertainty is a powerful leadership trait.

5. Courage and calculated risk-taking

Coming out, over and over again, is a repeated act of courage. LGBTQ+ leaders are well-versed in:

• Taking risks

• Questioning norms and challenging the status quo

• Demonstrating resilience in hostile or uncertain environments

Leading as your authentic self is not just brave, it’s transformative. “Authenticity is a radical act,” Catherine reminded the audience.

The evidence: inequality and opportunity

Catherine cited a YouGov poll showing LGBTQ+ professionals earn on average 16% less than their heterosexual counterparts, which is around £7,000 per year. At the same time, research from the University of Rochester suggests that professionals who are able to come out at work are more likely to reach senior roles.

So there’s a paradox: visibility brings vulnerability, but also opportunity. The challenge? Creating environments where LGBTQ+ people can thrive, and lead.

Courageous leaders: A case study in action

Catherine’s Courageous Leaders programme, run in collaboration with schools and Anglia Ruskin University, was the UK’s first LGBTQ+ leadership development initiative for educators.

Outcomes included:

• 100+ participants supported into leadership roles

• Significant promotion rates (all but two in one cohort were promoted)

• Renewed ambition and confidence

• Stronger LGBTQ+ staff networks and wider institutional recognition

A key insight: many lesbian participants delayed promotion by up to 10 years longer than gay men due to fear of losing a safe environment. Programmes like this create the psychological safety needed to take those risks.

Scaling impact: beyond education

Anglia Ruskin now runs an internal LGBTQ+ leadership programme and plans to scale it nationally in 2025. Participants not only gained career confidence but also revitalised the university’s LGBTQ+ staff network, boosting membership from 8 to over 100 and driving inclusion across the institution.

Claire Ebrey also reminded the audience that On The Level offers tailored programmes beyond education, covering themes like:

• Overcoming barriers to LGBTQ+ career development

• Tackling LGBTQ+ imposter syndrome

• Power and politics at work

• Elevating your queer voice

Challenging what leadership looks like

One powerful moment came when attendees noted the contradiction between leadership as it’s traditionally seen, white, male, “hard”, and the qualities people actually value: empathy, listening, authenticity.

Catherine’s take?

“We have that image because that’s what we’ve always seen. We need to step up and be the role models. Vulnerability is not a weakness, it’s strength.”

What’s next?

For those working in higher education, Catherine’s new national LGBTQ+ leadership development programme begins in Cambridge this September. QR codes and contact info were shared during the session for sign-up.

For everyone else, Pride in Leadership continues to offer mentoring, training, events, and community support. As Catherine summed up:

“We all deserve to dance like no one’s watching — to bring our full, brilliant selves to work.”

Final Word

Queer leadership isn’t just valuable, it’s visionary. And by shifting the narrative from surviving to thriving, leaders like Catherine Lee are helping build workplaces where authenticity isn’t just allowed, it’s celebrated.

For more resources, workshops, and the full Barriers to Career Development report, visit Pride in Leadership or reach out to Claire Ebrey for tailored programme info.

 

About Catherine Lee (she/her)

Professor Catherine Lee is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University. She has published extensively on the theme of LGBTQ+ inclusion and leadership in Education and her research has attracted national media interest. Catherine works with teachers, school leaders and university staff to promote diversity and inclusion in Education and she’s a passionate advocate of authentic leadership. Her book, Pretended about her experiences as a schoolteacher during Section 28 inspired the BAFTA nominated feature film, Blue Jean and, in 2023, Catherine received an MBE for Services to Equality in Education.