The role of CEO is often a revolving door. Traditionally, when one steps down, that means the succession of one CEO to another. But in an increasing trend of Co-CEOs, Paramount has pushed the bar even further—with three.
So it’s perhaps even more striking that on Fortune’s first LGBTQ+ leaders list, ranking the world’s top CEOs who also happen to be LGBTQ+, two are pushing progress further as out-and-proud gay joint CEOs.
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Paramount Global’s rank on the Fortune 500.
George Cheeks, CEO of CBS, works alongside gay colleague Chris McCarthy, CEO of Showtime and MTV Entertainment, with Brian Robbins all co-CEOs of Paramount Global—all named in the position earlier this year.
Paramount Global has, in recent years, been behind several hit LGBTQ+ TV and films including Fellow Travellers, Elton John biopic Rocketman and RuPaul’s Drag Race.
But the group’s gay media history runs much further back to when it was Viacom, including TV firsts like Pedro Zamora, one of the first gay men to speak about having AIDS’s on-screen same-sex commitment ceremony on MTV’s The Real World in 1994.
This kind of media representation, both new and old, is a lifeline for LGBTQ+ young people all over the world who look to TV to find themselves in towns and cities where being gay is still difficult. None of this is lost on either Cheeks or McCarthy.
“When I was growing up there were no out LGBTQ+ people in my life or surroundings,” McCarthy tells Fortune. “TV provided the only way to escape, see myself and begin to dream of a different world.”
It’s an understanding that both of the Co-CEOs keep front of mind. As Cheeks says, “After knowing someone personally, media representation is the number one way to foster empathy and understanding of differences”.
If you want your media output to do justice to marginalized communities of any background, you’ve got to start that work in-house.
A common theme across the leaders we’ve spoken with in the inaugural Fortune LGBTQ+ Leaders list is addressing accessibility in business for people from all backgrounds. This is true at Paramount Global too:
“As the first person in my family to graduate from college and with both my parents working in factories, I felt insecure about my working-class background,” McCarthy tells Fortune.
Early in his career, he realized they were missing out on hiring a wide range of talent, he created programs designed to find people from marginalized communities.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin
“The young people on our All-Star program come in looking as nervous and scared as I had felt many times, and yet leave being our best and most valuable interns who are the first we go to when hiring for full-time jobs.”
Cheeks also knows those challenges first-hand. “As a biracial man, I always felt an extra layer of vulnerability. Early in my career, when I was trying to find a way to come out, I kept a James Baldwin quote at my desk. “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
This is why finding an LGBTQ+ mentor of color to share his experiences has had a profound impact on him. An approach he clearly wants to pay forward as he discusses “being true to who you are and leading with authenticity.”
He recognizes it isn’t always easy. “Before I came out at work, a colleague would ask me a personal question, and my entire body would freeze up. I had anxiety and shame from being in the closet, and it was difficult to connect with people because I was always keeping a distance.”
A common phrase that gets banded around DEI teams is that equality is not a destination, but rather it’s an ongoing journey you have to keep working at. It’s something on the minds of both leaders. Both believe that an intentional diversity, equity and inclusion mindset is the way to make Paramount Global’s values sing out. Something McCarthy sees as more than a business need, but a social responsibility.
Knowing that to attract the kind of LGBTQ+ creators that can create authentic characters and representation on screen in their LGBTQ+ TV and film in a way that doesn’t feel performative, “it needs to come from real understanding and experience.”
In an age where everyone is looking for the next Heartstopper, the hit Netflix show that has broken cultural barriers and generated the author some $12 million in graphic novel sales alone, leaders like Cheeks and McCarthy are a welcome step forward. And with their unrelenting support for the next generation, under their leadership, Paramount Global is positioned to reap the rewards in the future.
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