Taking the lead means having the insight to do what others might not always agree at first is the right thing to do. 

LGBT people in the past have often experienced discrimination - as being people perceived as ‘undesirable’, and were either ignored or subject to scorn.

Things though are changing, as more people and organizations now realize that it really is not right if people from certain minority groups within society don't enjoy an equal right to be visible - and equally respected - as members of society. 

In recent years Out Now has seen a steady increase in the numbers of companies recognising that LGBT people are such a group who have, in the past, been criticised or attacked by others who do not like LGBT people - or would prefer they just kept silent or stayed ‘invisible’.

Wanting a group you do not like to be invisible or be silent is a way to oppress. That is not the way advancing societies progress. 

What makes societies evolve and progress is the realisation that for a society to function better it needs to engage with all its members so that various groups can become united in common cause, not divided or separated from one another.

Of course to help society do this takes vision. It takes leadership. 

It is the reason that a great leader like John F Kennedy realized that in order to undo the years of division wrought by racism in his own country it was sometimes necessary to take proactive steps to support African Americans as they endeavoured to do nothing more, but nothing less, than assume a rightful place among all Americans - as equal citizens. Equally worthy of all the rights and responsibilities that citizenship and membership within that society entails.

Change is not always easy and there can usually be people that seek to disagree, to noisily try to disrupt progress, to try and force things back to the way they used to be.

But great leaders know when they are doing the right thing. Positioning for the future always means being on the right side of history.

In 1964 it was almost impossible to see a non-white face in the TV promos for the coming television season in the USA.

But just fifteen years later, by 1979, any TV network that did not include a more diverse range of people in their promo would have been seen as suspect, perhaps racist.

And so it is right at this moment, in the ongoing evolution of LGBT marketing and diversity.

Back in 2000, most companies did not include LGBT diversity and inclusion as part of their staffing policies and their customer brand vision. Now, fifteen years later, most Fortune 500 companies choose to support their LGBT staff.

There are sound business reasons to do this. 

But as so often in life, supporting LGBT people at work and as customers is not just smart business, it is also the right thing to do. A true marriage between the heart and the head, where doing the right thing works on every level and is a decision made on the right side of history.

Over the weekend, AXA - one of the world’s most important consumer brands - chose to publicly stand very clearly on what the company knows to be the right side of history, on the side of inclusion and respect for all. 

The company’s landing page at AXA.com has since last week included this image as the main image on its home page, and this link to a supportive article - explaining why AXA chooses to be a company that includes and welcomes all staff and customers. 

A company that believes in the quintessentially French traditions of liberty, equality and fraternity.

I was privileged yesterday to be part of a groundbreaking moment. AXA, at sites in Asia, Europe, the Americas and elsewhere, launched an international initiative to make sure their LGBT colleagues know they are equally welcome as all staff members at AXA are to feel comfortable to be themselves at work. 

Allies@AXA PRIDE is a global initiative providing support and resources for staff working anywhere in the world with AXA to know they are supported if they choose to support colleagues at work who may be LGBT. It takes the viewpoint that helping others at work feel able to be their authentic and ‘whole’ selves at work is always the right decision - for reasons of both the heart and of the head.

Championed by the CEO of AXA US, Mark Pearson, the new Allies@AXA PRIDE employee group is not about treating LGBT staff at AXA any differently.

It is about letting them live their working lives equally like all staff at AXA. To talk about their partners. Their families. Their weekends. 

Small but important parts of strengthening the unified group comprising all people working with AXA.

There are strong business reasons why this makes smart business sense. The latest LGBT2020 report ‘LGBT Diversity: Show Me The Business Case’ reveals the benefits to business through retaining top talent and enhancing productivity as a result of LGBT workers feeling able to be out to all their colleagues.

Non-LGBT people sometimes wonder what the fuss is about: “Why can’t the gays and the LGBTs just be quiet, why make their sexual orientation or gender identity known at work?” 

The answer is easy to comprehend when you think how natural it is for most workers to discuss their weekends spent with loved ones. 

To put a photo on their desk of their much loved partner or family. If you happen to be LGBT you want nothing more, but nothing less, than to enjoy the equal opportunity to do those same things in your own workplace.

There are no better words to reflect the reasons why AXA supporting its LGBT staff and customers is so important than those I heard said yesterday by Joseph Lewis, a Senior manager in the Metrics department at AXA US and the Chair of Allies@AXA PRIDE. 

Joseph was explaining to his AXA colleagues why it meant so much to know his company supports LGBT people. His words were eloquent and rang true when he explained it mattered simply because: 

Change is not always easy but it always happens - whether everyone agrees initially or not - and it is often advanced through the actions of inspiring leadership.

As I saw written in one tweet yesterday, and in another comment on Facebook last night: “Bravo AXA”. 

Organizations of true leadership with inspiring vision are the ones that understand the moment and know what being on the right side of history truly means. 

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