Future LGBTQ+ Leaders: An Interview with Adam Shooman

myGwork spoke to Adam Shooman, VP Business Risk Management at State Street who was recently nominated for a British LGBT+ Award.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your career so far?

I was born and raised in South East London. I spent eight years studying and living in the North of England, before making London my home again in 2012. After completing my law degree and the Legal Practice Course, I worked as a commercial insurance paralegal at a law firm in Manchester whilst pursuing a training contract. That didn’t work out as expected and I eventually decided to take a year out to go backpacking through Central and South America and reconsider my options.

Upon my return, I decided to pursue a career in financial services and secured an associate role with State Street Global Markets’ Compliance team. My background allowed me to offer a different perspective and I was able to continually progress within the Compliance team. Since 2018, I have taken on the role of vice president for the EMEA Business Risk Management group.

Congratulations on being shortlisted for the Future Leaders LGBT British award. What does this nomination mean to you? 

Thank you. It’s always an honour to be recognised, but it is particularly humbling to make it to the Top 10 for a national award, especially when I look at the people that I’m fortunate to be shortlisted with. It’s been a challenging year on many levels and I feel extremely proud of what I have been able to accomplish despite the circumstances along with the rest of our Steering Committee.

What has been the response from your colleagues regarding your nomination? 

Overwhelming! Many of my colleagues have supported me and the Pride Network over the years – be that through attending events and supporting our initiatives, signing up as allies, or marching with us at London Pride – so they know how important this role is to me and they are really pleased for my achievement.

When the shortlist was published on LinkedIn, I also had colleagues from my previous roles whom I haven’t spoken to in a while congratulating me, which has been lovely.

Do you think inclusion at State Street impacted your journey to this point?

I have had both positive and negative experiences with employers in the past, but State Street is the first place where I’ve been entirely open and actively involved in inclusion and diversity. When I haven’t felt comfortable being out in the workplace, it’s impacted my ability to build relationships with people, my productivity and the satisfaction I’ve taken from the job, which is critical for me.

I have been lucky to have managers throughout my time at State Street who have been fully supportive not only of me as an individual, but they appreciated the value of the work I’ve done with the Pride Network, even when that takes me away from my day job. That understanding has meant that I’ve never felt like I’ve needed to choose between one and the other. It’s allowed me to commit myself to both aspects of my work without compromise.

Have you always been comfortable being ‘out’?

Absolutely not, it’s been a real journey for me both in my professional

 and personal life.

On a personal level, I’ve known in myself since I was a teenager and started to come out to friends towards the end of sixth form and at university. I spent the second year of my degree on an exchange programme in Canada and before jetting off, I had grand plans that this would be a fresh start and I would be able to be entirely out from day one. Unfortunately, one of the first people I met in my residence made a couple of homophobic comments in one of our first conversations, which sent me scurrying to the back of the closet for the rest of the year!

I didn’t truly start to feel comfortable until I was living in Manchester and found my first real group of LGBT+ friends. I remember it being so refreshing not to be referred to as ‘the gay one’ of the group, or for it to be seen as a novelty that marked me out from others. It’s one of the reasons I’m passionate about creating LGBT+ networks that bring people together, because I know how lonely and isolating feeling different can be before you find that community.

Even then I didn’t feel truly comfortable being out in the workplace – and that didn’t change until I started at the London law firm in 2012. I was assigned a ‘buddy’ to shadow for the first few days, who happened to be a gay guy. He was absolutely and unapologetically himself at work, in addition to being a well-respected member of the team both amongst our peers and managers for the quality of his work. When I think about it now, it really underscores to me the power of visibility at all levels of an organisation, not just in management (although that’s also important). Since then I have tried to put my own insecurities aside to be that visible person for others.

What would you say is the biggest obstacle you've faced in your journey?

It sounds cliched, but probably myself and self-acceptance. I was bullied pretty badly throughout school, which I now realise created a lot of shame and internalised homophobia that I had to overcome as an adult.

I left school in 2004, which pretty much aligns to the time that Section 28 – the United Kingdom law which prohibited the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities (including teaching in schools) – was in force. This means that I mainly saw negative LGBT stereotypes in the media and never learnt about LGBT+ role models or LGBT+ issues in a positive light. It wasn’t until I was able to meet more LGBT+ people that I was able to experience a much fuller range of personalities and that I began to accept myself.

Even today it can be a work in progress and I think that’s something that many LGBT+ people of my generation experience. It’s great to now see that many schools have and encourage active LGBT+ networks. I don’t know if I’d have been brave enough to join one if I were at school today, but even to know it was there and I was not alone in experiencing whatever I felt would have been a comfort.

You are also co-chair of State Street’s Pride Network. Can you tell us more about this role and what you’ve achieved with the network? 

I have been a member of State Street Pride’s Steering Committee since joining them in 2014 and have had a few different roles – secretary, treasurer and now co-chairing with the fantastic Marion Bentata. Whilst as co-chairs we lead the committee, it truly is a team effort and we are fortunate to be supported by a core dedicated group of employees at all levels and from all areas of the organisation.

As an individual who always ticks multiple diversity boxes whenever there’s an equal opportunities monitoring form, I’m passionate about intersectionality and that makes me particularly proud of the work that we’ve been able to do in collaboration with State Street’s other Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) – such as those covering race and ethnicity, mental health, disabilities and families. They have helped us reach a much broader group of employees, rather than events that only focus on one type of diversity, and created a more diverse and inclusive workplace for everyone. 

We have also always enjoyed a close relationship with State Street’s Corporate Citizenship group. We have been able to do some great work to support a couple of local charities, such as Positive East (London’s largest community-based HIV charity) and Opening Doors London (a charity supporting older LGBT+ people), through volunteering, events and fundraising.

What do you think the role of ERGs is in creating workplace equality? 

ERGs are critical to supporting workplace diversity and inclusion, but they are only one part of the picture. We can work from the bottom up to create a safe space for LGBT+ employees, and act in an advisory capacity to influence the organisation and its culture, but we don’t drive revenue or client relationships and we don’t create policies. It’s therefore vital that we have strong links into the corporate, human resources (HR), and diversity and inclusion organisation and buy-in from senior management.

At State Street, we’re fortunate in that our executive sponsor Cuan Coulter is also the UK country head. Consequently, we have a very direct line of feedback into senior management to ensure that our message is heard. We also have a reverse mentoring programme where members of the committee are paired with executive management to help develop their understanding of LGBT+ issues on a 1:1 basis, whilst also supporting the committee member’s career development.

Over the past few years, we’ve also been able to work closely with our global inclusion and diversity group to help shape corporate HR policies and on the rollout of the self-identification tool, which for the first time will allow the organisation to understand the metrics not only around LGBT+ employees but across all aspects of diversity.

You’re also a mentor – why is it important for you to share what you’ve learnt? 

I know how powerful and meaningful mentors have been for me and it’s important for me to be able to pay that forward. I have been able to benefit greatly from mentoring relationships whether through formal programmes or more often from relationships that have grown organically. I believe that there is always something new to learn in life, always a different way to think about the world and a mentor can help lead you there. I have been able to learn a lot from my experiences, especially when things haven’t worked out as expected and I think that gives me a unique perspective. As long as you can learn from a failure, then it’s not a complete disaster. If you can share that with others to save them from the same pain, even better!

I actually subscribe to the ‘Personal Board of Directors’ approach, where there’s a group of people, rather than a single mentor who I can rely on for guidance. I have been fortunate to build a group of people from all walks of life who I know will give me sound advice but will also inspire, challenge and motivate me both professionally and personally.

What do you hope to see next in the journey for LGBTQ+ equality? 

It’s been interesting recently to see how the conversation has shifted from diversity to inclusion and now to equity, which for me comes down to ensuring equal access to opportunities. We live in a world where we all have different starting points and face different barriers – whether it is where we live, our beliefs, socioeconomic status or the colour of our skin – and so can have vastly different journeys just to get to the same place.

I have been privileged in many ways to have been born in a time and place where I haven’t had to face the obstacles that so many others have. I am an able-bodied white man; I have a loving and accepting family who cares about my happiness and encourage me to succeed; I grew up on the edge of one of the world’s most exciting and cosmopolitan cities, yet I’ve still struggled to fully accept and be comfortable with myself.

I know from personal experience that many LGBT+ people around the world are not so lucky and still face a fight every day to enjoy the same rights and protections from discrimination. In the UK, many of the battles have been fought and won by previous generations, but I hope to see people everywhere enjoy the safety and security that we so often take for granted.

I also hope to see a better understanding of all the letters of the LGBT+ spectrum, or at least a greater willingness to learn. We seem to be moving to a world where there are fewer binaries, both in terms of gender and sexualities, and where new ways to describe our identities are consistently emerging. The ever-changing language can be challenging for all of us to understand, but so important for the people who are trying to find the words to try and explain how they see themselves and hopefully find their community too.

 You can vote in the British LGBT+ Awards here.

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