I provided some editorial assistance on the case, and I was particularly struck by the amount of time and effort put into it by the authors and the HBR editors. There were dozens of phone conferences discussing various nuances, and many, many rewrites and tweaks. I've never seen such effort put into other journalistic enterprises, and this was more akin to writing a legal brief than anything else. In the end, they succeeded in putting together a case study that poses a serious business question: If you had an employee essential to your business, who you couldn't stick in the back office or fire on some trumped-up work performance issue, and that employee told you they were going to transition from one gender to another, how would you handle the potential backlash from co-workers and clients? If you're involved in diversity training issues, I highly recommend ordering copies of the HBR case and commentaries.

The Case Study

The case begins by introducing Henrietta Mercer, a senior vice president for human resources at LaSalle Chemical, a fictional Fortune 1000 company located in Illinois that provides products and services to oil-drilling, refinery, and pollution-control businesses. She receives a letter from her daughter, a human genome researcher in Boston, who sends a copy of her Massachusetts drivers license renewal form, which reads "Complete only if something has changed--name, address, telephone number, gender designation." Nice touch, that. I didn't know Massachusetts had that on its form. And, indeed it does.

Change of Information (Leave this section blank if no changes)

__Check here if your name has changed. Please print your new name in the General Information section and your previous name below.
Previous Name: (Last, First, Middle) ____________________________________

__Check here if the address in the General Information section reflects a change of Mailing Address.

__Check here if the address in the General Information section reflects a change of Residential Address.

__Check here if height has changed. Current height is ft.___ in.___

__Check here if gender designation has changed. Note: additional documentation will be required.

Change Gender Designation to: __Male __Female

The case discusses Henrietta's musings about Steve Ambler, a rising star at LaSalle, who had informed senior management that he was going to become Stephanie. Karl Diener, the CEO, had asked Henrietta for regular updates on the problems LaSalle might face as a result--and matters had taken an unsettling turn that very morning. Henrietta had the weekend to collect her thoughts for a Monday meeting with Karl and the executive committee.

You'll have to read the case itself for all the twists and turns -- it's like a soap opera. But transition in the workplace often takes on a bit of a dramatic quality in my experience because confidentiality is hard to maintain prior to the announcement, and there are inevitably some people who act out their inner diva.

The Industry Experts: Raytheon, Prudential and Boeing

There are three industry commentators who discuss the case. The first is Linda E. Taylor, the director of work life, equity, and inclusion at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona. She has experience with seven gender transitions. Her advice: don't wait until someone walks in the door and tells you he or she is transitioning. Amen to that. She also notes that their inclusive culture gives them a recruiting advantage.

Ronald K. Andrews is vice president and head of human resources for Prudential's U.S. businesses and is based in Newark, New Jersey. He has experience with one gender transition, but very high profile, involving a corporate officer who oversaw billions in client dollars. That's billions with a "B". It was handled very smartly, and in the end, the transgender employee retained her customer-facing position and not a single client was lost.

Stasha Goliaszewski is a scientist and engineer in integrated defense systems at Boeing in Philadelphia. At the time she transitioned, Boeing had a surgical requirement, and they were responsible for one of the worst legal precedents on the books: Doe v. Boeing, 121 Wn.2d 8 (Wash. 1993):

Doe informed Boeing of her belief that in order to qualify for sex reassignment surgery, she would have to live full time, for 1 year, in the social role of a female....Upon being notified of Doe's intentions, Boeing informed Doe that while Doe was an anatomical male, she could not use the women's rest rooms or dress in "feminine" attire. Boeing informed Doe that she could dress as a woman at work and use the women's rest rooms upon completion of her sex reassignment surgery....On November 4, 1985...Doe wore attire that her supervisor considered acceptable....The next day, Doe came to work wearing similar attire, but she included as part of her outfit a strand of pink pearls...[This] was unacceptable in that the addition of the pink pearls changed Doe's look from unisex to "excessively" feminine. Doe was subsequently terminated from her position at Boeing as a result of her willful violation of Boeing's directives

Boeing fired someone for wearing...pearls? Not even a tiara? The Washington Supreme Court dismissed the employee's lawsuit. Now, of course, Washington State is one of the twelve states that prohibits employment discrimination based on gender identity. And Boeing has one of the most transgender-friendly environments in the country. Oh my, how times have changed.

Ms. Goliaszewski's transition contributed to Boeing's change from a highly restrictive policy to one that recognizes transgender employees as valued stakeholders. I was also pleased to contribute in a small way, working with Boeing on a change initiative in 2004 and 2005 that created one of the most transgender-friendly policies in industry anywhere. I was surprised at the time that an aero-space defense contractor would be interested in such a change. I'm no longer surprised. The larger the organization -- and Boeing is one of the largest employers in the country -- the more gender transitions it will see. As Ms. Goliaszewski says: "Statistically, a company Boeing's size should have one or two transsexuals coming out a year." In addition, the more competitive the industry -- and aerospace is one of the most competitive -- the greater the need to remove any distractions from the workplace environment.

The Effect of HBR's Case

Gender identity discrimination is starting to be recognized at the highest echelons as an unacceptable form of employment discrimination. The highest-level recognition came last month, when the transition team of President-elect Obama included gender identity in its non-discrimination policy. While most transgender people do not have jobs in the Fortune 1000 or in the federal government, the recognition of the issue as legitimate by business and government leaders will allow others to bring this issue into the trenches -- the blue collar and service industry jobs where most transgender people seek employment. Unemployment and underemployment of transgender people is rampant, and the HBR case by itself will do nothing to change this in the near term. But as part of a trend, it signals hope for the future, and, possibly, a lever to move the issue forward.

[If you'd like to read more on these issues, and a response to a reader's comment, the next post in this series at The Bilerico Project can be found here.