41: Coming Out as Gay, then Creating a World Class Impact for LGBTQ Communities // The Story of Arthur Woods

Arthur Woods is a social entrepreneur and LGBTQ+ leader, working at the intersection of equity, inclusion and technology. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and 40 Under 40 by BEQ. He is the author of the national best-selling book, Hiring for Diversity; he is a global keynote speaker, having delivered 3 TEDx talks; and has contributed to Harvard Business Review, FastCompany and Forbes.

He is the Co-Founder of Mathison, a venture-backed technology platform equipping employers with everything they need to manage their diversity hiring efforts. He is the creator of the first Equal Hiring Index to assess and benchmark inclusive hiring practices. Arthur came from Google where he led operations for YouTube’s Education division and oversaw YouTube for Schools. Arthur previously co-founded Imperative, a leading social learning platform; Out in Tech, the largest global LGBTQ technology community; and Social Impact 360, a collegiate social enterprise education program.

Arthur studied at Georgetown University, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and HBS online. He is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, GCT Entrepreneur in Residence, a New York Venture Fellow, SAP.io Foundries Fellow and sits on the Advisory Boards of LIFT and Second Day.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• 3:23 Arthur explains what he is currently doing and what Mathison is all about.
• 5:50 Mathison has a system that can effectively source candidates of minority groups.
• 8:08 Arthur and Eric talk about a diverse workforce and its importance.
• 10:39 Tim Cook coming out and telling the world that he is gay is a very powerful move according to Arthur.
• 12:48 Mathison came from the middle name of Allan Turing, the brilliant mathematician, codebreaker, and inventor of the modern computer.
• 16:42 Changing the negative things that have happened in the past will not happen overnight and it will take time.
• 19:35 Growing up as an Evangelical Christian in a rural town in California, he was taught that being gay is a sin. Arthur shares his life story and how he got into entrepreneurship.
• 23:01 At 19 years old, Arthur realized that he is gay.
• 27:24 The fear of coming out as a gay person is considered a rock bottom moment for Arthur. However, Arthur also considers this moment as a source of power and strength.
• 29:24 In his earliest jobs, Arthur would sometimes hear homophobic slurs from his colleagues in the office.
• 30:30 There are metrics that Arthur has implemented in Mathison to measure their impact on the minority groups.
• 31:43 Because of Mathison, Arthur has countless stories of minority people getting hired for senior-level roles.
• 32:50 Eric runs a new social media platform that he calls the Meme Paradise, which is all about memes. He noticed that there are a lot of memes that are related to the LGBTQ community and he wants to find out how he can show his support through this platform.
• 37:48 Arthur offers some recommendations on how CEOs and leaders can show their support in the inclusion of the LGBTQ community in their respective organizations.
• 41:48 One of Arthur’s rockin’ it stories includes his stint in Google.

This Episode Brought to You By:

• 17:57 The Man, the Myth, the Canadian Legend: Eric Gilbert-Williams. Eric put together this very podcast as a passion project to help you & others. If you’d be so kind to Subscribe & Leave a Written Review of the show, it’d really make our day! You can Subscribe & Rate our Podcast right here: From Rock Bottom to Rockin’ It..

Key Points from the Interview:

• “We’ve created technology in a SASS platform that helps companies not only source candidates from under-represented communities, but takes steps to ensure when they walk into the hiring process, they actually successfully advance.”
• “I would say rock-bottom for me was that moment of fear of coming out. But it really only propelled me to, you know, in coming to terms of who I really am at my core, it’s been a source of power.”

Resources Mentioned:

• LinkedIn: Arthur Woods
• Instagram: @ArthurWoods
• Twitter: @ArthurWoods
• ArthurWoods.com
• Mathison.io
• Hiring for Diversity: The first book for diversity hiring by Arthur Woods