Jim Fielding, Ex-Head of Disney Stores, on the Struggles of Making It as a Queer Executive

What does it feel like to live inauthentically at work? For his first professional job in the 1980s, in the fashion industry, Jim Fielding led what he calls a “double life.” With close friends and confidants, he was open about his relationship with another man. But at work, when discussing his partner he’d switch his pronouns and change stories to conform to expectations at the time. The inauthenticity created emotional, physical, and mental problems. “I was having migraines,” Fielding says today. “I was having stomach problems. I was way too young to be feeling that amount of stress.” Eventually, he moved to a company where he felt comfortable openly being himself, and from there he’s had a long, illustrious career as an entertainment industry executive, including stints as Global Head for Consumer Products and Retail Development at Dreamworks Animation and president of Disney Stores Worldwide. For this episode of our video series “The New World of Work”, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius sat down with Fielding, whose book All Pride, No Ego: A Queer Executive's Journey to Living and Leading Authentically has just been published, to discuss: • His advice to young queer professionals on how to be authentic at work and in life • Finding LGBTQ+ allies, and becoming an ally for future generations • “Coming out” versus “inviting in”: the journey to an authentic self involves making yourself vulnerable to others and asking for help This interview part of a series called “The New World of Work,” which explores how top-tier executives see the future and how their companies are trying to set themselves up for success. Each week, Adi will interview a leader on LinkedIn Live — and then share an inside look at those conversations and solicit questions for future discussions in a newsletter just for HBR subscribers. If you’re a subscriber, you can sign up for the newsletter here: https://hbr.org/my-library/preferences?movetile=newworldofwork. Follow us: https://hbr.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/harvard-business-review/ https://www.facebook.com/HBR/ https://twitter.com/HarvardBiz https://www.instagram.com/harvard_business_review Sign up for Newsletters: https://hbr.org/email-newsletters #HarvardBusinessReview #NewWorldofWork…