Teddy BearDetails Magazine has an interesting article on their blog, “Why Gay Men Make The Best Bosses” by Danielle Sacks. Rather than go into the usual stereotypes and supposition, Ms. Sacks actually interviews a number of employees with gay bosses, and gay executives themselves, and also cites significant research.

According to the article, one young straight man, Brian Wachur, 23, did not get the promotion he’d wanted, so he approached his gay manager, Jason Smith. “I was nervous about what he was going to say, but he was able to tell me where I could improve in a really constructive way,” he says. “It was a big contrast to other managers I had had in the past.” Wachur soon got the new title, and he now considers Smith his professional mentor. “It’s definitely surprising to me that I have a 38-year-old gay male in my life who is such a huge influence.”

It was news to me that a USC business-school professor, Kirk Snyder, has published lengthy research on this topic: The G Quotient: Why Gay Executives Are Excelling as Leaders . . . and What Every Manager Needs to Know. In it, “Snyder argues that gay bosses embody a style of personalized attention that allows high-maintenance Gen Xers and Yers to maximize their performance. ‘Gay executives tend to look at how each individual brings unique abilities, and they see their job as figuring out how best to take advantage of those skills,’ he says.”

“In fact, during Snyder’s five-year study of American executives, he stumbled on some startling findings: Gay male bosses produce 35 to 60 percent higher levels of employee engagement, satisfaction, and morale than straight bosses. This is no small achievement: According to human-resources consulting firm Towers Perrin, only a measly 14 percent of the global corporate workforce are fully engaged by their jobs.”

I can tell you that my company has a specific target each year to raise the “employee engagement index” and it’s measured by an outside company because it’s so important to be accurate. So the fact that gay bosses have a particular impact here is big news, and yet another argument why gay men should be included in corporate diversity efforts (which tend to focus on racial minorities and sometimes just women).

“So what makes gay bosses different? It may have to do with the way they survived high school. “Gay people are constantly having to dodge and weave and assess how and where they’re going as they grow up,” says Snyder. “And that manifests itself as three huge skills: adaptability, intuitive communications, and creative problem-solving.”

Well you know what? Snyder is on to something. That’s exactly how I survived high school, and exactly where I think my strengths are now. I think “gaydar” isn’t just about “Is he or isn’t he?” I think it’s about being hyper-tuned to other people, watching their facial expressions, their eye contact, their body language, whether they are really paying attention, whether there is any hidden aggression (which could be quite literal in high school!). And then adapting creatively to what you observe.

How great is it, that what used to be perceived as a weakness (being gay = weak, soft, emotional) is now a strength (being gay = empathic, switched on, constructive). Reason #42 to keep coming out at work, and show ’em what we’re made of!

If you do click over to the article, don’t forget to check out the comments, good stuff there. One post by “Straker,” agrees with the conclusions of the article and says “I gotta admit, I love my gay boss. Way more than I’ve ever loved my straight bosses, most of whom spent the majority of our interactions looking at my tits.”