Policy and Pride

Pride

by Elizabeth Denham

Paul Picket is the co-founder and co-chair of the newly formed Franchising Pride Council of the International Franchise Association (IFA). While his experience coming out was relatively simple compared to many, when he decided to come out at work, he was anxious -- but his fears were unfounded.

“My boss, Jim Carpenter, founder and CEO of Wild Birds Unlimited, told me that no one at work cared. And he told me never to lie about it,” Pickett said. “I was worried about someone not wanting to come into the franchise system because I was gay. He told me that you couldn’t build relationships without getting somewhat personal, and if it came up, we always tell the truth at WBU.”

Carpenter further added that if a potential franchisee would not join the franchise because of Pickett’s sexual orientation, it was not someone they wanted to work with.

“Jim told me that our company embraces diversity,” Pickett added. “It is part of our value statement, and he said that he wouldn’t want someone who wouldn’t also embrace every person, franchisee or customer. Birds don’t care, so we don’t care.”

Pickett is Chief Development Officer at Wild Birds Unlimited. He was inspired, in part, by Stan Friedman’s work to increase diversity in the IFA by forming the Diversity Institute. When Friedman won the Ronald E. Harrison Award for diversity in 2010, his message hit home with Pickett.

“Stan got up on the stage and said that we do ourselves a disservice when we don’t embrace diversity and recognize that it doesn’t matter — your sex, color, religion, who you choose to love. If we don’t embrace the richness all people have to offer, we have lost a huge amount of opportunity,” Pickett said. “That speech made me feel like I could take a step forward and become more involved.” Pickett believes The Pride Council is an opportunity for the IFA to make a statement that the franchising industry is an open organization that it is approachable to all walks of life.

“Our goal is to make sure all people, particularly in the LGBTQ community, are treated appropriately and equitably,” Pickett said. “In this time, it would be archaic not to reach out to all members of the community.”

The Pride Council launched at the September 2019 IFA meeting with a reception to introduce itself to franchising. There were 75-100 at-

tendees, and Pickett was encouraged by the response.

“The power of that support, to know we had so many people interested in progressing inclusion and equity, it was amazing. We were so pleased.” Picket said.

If we don’t embrace the richness all people have to offer, we have lost a tremendous amount of opportunity. In December in Washington, D.C., members of the council met with LGBTQ business leaders, the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and a congressional caucus to discuss next steps and set forth the role of the council. Plans for the next year include attending the Franchise Action Network Annual meeting, creating educational content and increasing opportunities for engagement. Long-term goals include advocating for other brands to actively embrace the LBGTQ community along with all other communities that have been historically marginalized. “I have a personal goal to identify the economic impact of the LGBTQ community on the franchising industry,” Pickett said. “I think that in a perfect world, sexual orientation shouldn’t matter, but now, as we achieve a lot of firsts as a community, we must stop for a moment to celebrate. It has been so heartwarming to me that though this experience of forming the Pride Council, so many people – gay and straight – men and women – have offered to help. We are on the right track.” “

Paul Pickett is the IFA’s 2020 winner of the Crystal Compass Award. In addition to his role at Wild Birds Unlimited, Pickett has served on the Advisory Board for the Franchise Update Leadership and Development Conference, which he also chaired in 2018. He sits on both the IFA’s Franchise Relations Committee and Franchisor Forum and is the co-chair of the newly formed IFA Pride Council. You can reach him at pickettp@wbu.com.