Forging Queer Leaders
How the LGBTQIA+ Community Creates Impact from Adversity
LGBTQ+ individuals disproportionately encounter bias, adversity, stigma, and marginalization throughout their lives. It’s an enormous obstacle - but also prepares them for leadership in a fast-moving, volatile, uncertain, complex, and adaptive working world.
The book explores the unique and inspiring developmental experiences of LGBTQ+ leaders, the amazing capabilities they bring to teams, and what that means for everyone pursuing positive and inclusive organizational strategy. With stories from the armed forces, lawyers, entrepreneurs, authors, academics, thought-leaders, medical professionals - you name it - this shows how queer folk everywhere are harnessing their hard-won power and resilience to excel.
With a history of excellence in queer leadership, the contextual underpinning of adversity and resilience theory, and uplifting stories and soundbites from queer game-changers in every field - this is an essential resource for LGBTQ+ individuals, allies, advocates, business professionals and leaders of all kinds.
Fram and Cavallaro have created a resource that harnesses our individual resilience as queer people, and exemplifies how that can be our own superpower. A wonderful book that tells LGBTQ+ people that there isn’t a limit on our potential in this world.
An insightful and engaging read that helps us all step into your power as queer leaders - whatever that may look like - with surprising insights and connections that altered my perception of leadership.
For decades we have seen professional literature and research focus on the impact of oppression, discrimination, and minority stress on members of LGBTQIA+ communities. In recent years, we have started to observe more dialogue centering the resilience within our communities. Forging Queer Leaders takes that work to the next level with its emphasis on how our community leaders have grown and flourished from their experiences while offering concrete advice to the next generation of leaders within our communities.
This was the book I didn’t know I needed. At a time when Queer Leaders are needed in this generation’s test (crucible as the authors might call it) this book was the wind that filled my sails so I could refresh my grip on the tiller!
An inspiring, educational read. With both authority and empathy, Fram and Cavallaro masterfully weave stories, data, and advice to shine a long overdue spotlight on LGBTQ+ leadership and what we can all learn from it. A must read for anyone who aspires to be a better leader, friend, parent, or human.
If it takes a blast furnace to make steel strong, then the fires of coming out and living our authentic truth in an often hostile and obstructive society forges something similar in the character of queer folk. An eloquent case of how and why LGBTQ+ people often make the best staff to hire.
Liz Cavallaro is an adult development scholar and professional executive coach, who specialises in helping leaders thrive through the development of enhanced cognitive capacity. Through her work she’s observed the powerful impacts of adversity on the development of leaders with unique personal and professional journeys. Forging Queer Leaders has provided her the opportunity to combine her professional expertise in leader development with her personal dedication to advocacy and support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Liz’s research has been presented to the International Leadership Association and published in the Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work and The Journal of Adult Development. Liz is based in Newport, Rhode Island.
Colonel Bree Fram is an active duty astronautical engineer in the US Space Force, and currently one of the highest ranking out transgender officers in the United States military. She co-led the Department of the Air Force LGBTQ+ Initiatives Team and is a former president of SPARTA, an organization dedicated to the support and professional development of transgender service members.
Bree’s writing has been featured in the Washington Post, Military Times, Inkstick, and LGBTQ Nation. She’s a keynote speaker on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and LGBTQ+ topics, and along with Liz Cavallaro, co-hosts the Forged in Fire:LGBTQ+ Leadership podcast. Bree is the co-editor of the book With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words, which came out in 2021. Bree is based in Reston, Virginia.
