Gender

Coming Out as Trans at Work

A framework, drawn from the experiences of eight transgender professionals.

by

and

Sandra J. Sucher

by

and

Sandra J. Sucher

October 12, 2021 · Long read

Illustration by Franziska Barczyk

Summary.

When Michael Cherny came out at Deloitte in 2019, he didn’t expect to become a trailblazer in the corporate world. Since then, in speaking engagements, articles, and on the internet, he’s told his story to more than a million people. While everyone’s experience is different, and there’s no right or wrong way to come out as trans at work, Cherny presents a three-phase framework for thinking through what can happen before, during, and after coming out. This framework draws on his own experience and interviews with other professionals.

I’ve known I was different since I was eight years old, but the process of coming out has been a journey of a thousand steps.

Michael Cherny is the Senior Lead for the Centre for Trust at Deloitte Canada. He is a human rights advocate, an active member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and an experienced Board Director. He has been recognized as a Catalyst Canada Honours Champion, CPA Ontario Emerging Leader and Notable Life LGBTQ+ Leader of the Year and is a thought leader in the diversity, equity and inclusion space.
Shalene Gupta is a journalist and writer. She is co-author of The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, and Regain It (PublicAffairs, 2021), and the author of The Cycle: Confronting the Pain of Periods and PMDD (Flatiron, 2024).
Sandra J. Sucher is a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. She is the coauthor of The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, and Regain It (PublicAffairs 2021).

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