Writing by Cynthia Fortlage
Writing about leadership, identity, acceptance and what it means to live with complexity.
Cynthia writes at the intersections of leadership and life, exploring power, gender, dignity, belonging, relationships, disagreement, uncertainty and the assumptions we carry without always realising it.
Featured Writing
Cynthia writes across three connected areas: leadership and power, gender and belonging, and the wider questions of acceptance, uncertainty and complexity that shape how we live and lead.
Leadership & Power
Writing about how leadership is experienced in practice: the behaviours, assumptions and power dynamics that shape trust, decision-making and organisational culture.
This topic can include pieces on:
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leadership behaviour and accountability
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power, privilege and responsibility
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psychological safety
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decision-making under pressure
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organisational culture and belonging
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navigating disagreement and complexity
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leadership development and mentoring
Featured article:
We don’t have an inclusion problem. We have a leadership behaviour problem.
Gender, Identity & Belonging
Writing about how gender, identity and social expectations shape who is heard, believed, rewarded and able to belong.
This topic can include pieces on:
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women and leadership
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gendered expectations and credibility
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trans+ inclusion and lived experience
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feminism and its evolution
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identity, visibility and belonging
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sexuality and intersectionality
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social and organisational responses to difference
Featured article:
The Lessons Boys Were Never Taught About Girls
Acceptance, Life & Complexity
Writing about what happens when understanding, certainty or a satisfying explanation may never arrive.
This topic can include pieces on:
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Acceptance without Understanding™
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uncertainty and ambiguity
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grief, loss and endings
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relationships and change
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meaning-making
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living without closure
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acceptance of self and others
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the unresolved parts of life
Featured article:
Why Flowers for Algernon? A Reflection on Worthiness and Inner Acceptance
Themes in Cynthia’s Writing
• leadership in the messy middle
• power, dignity, and belonging
• gender and leadership
• psychological safety and culture
• navigating difference without losing humanity
Global Perspectives
Quarterly LGBTQ+ Leadership Briefing
Global Perspectives is Cynthia Fortlage’s quarterly briefing for leaders navigating a changing global LGBTQ+ landscape.
Each edition curates significant legal, cultural, social and organisational developments and examines them through both a leadership and lived-experience lens.
Designed for business leaders, HR and People teams, ERG leaders and others responsible for organisational culture and decision-making, Global Perspectives helps readers understand what is changing, why it matters, and what those developments may mean for the choices leaders are being asked to make.
The aim is not simply to report the news, but to provide context that helps leaders respond thoughtfully, responsibly and with dignity as the environment around them continues to evolve.
Bring Global Perspectives into your organisation
The themes covered in Global Perspectives can also be explored through a tailored organisational briefing.
These sessions help leadership teams, HR and People functions, ERG leaders and other decision-makers understand the developments most relevant to their organisation, consider the implications for leadership and culture, and create space for informed discussion about what those changes may mean in practice.
Holding It Both Ways
Writing and conversations for people willing to sit with complexity
Holding It Both Ways is the thread connecting Cynthia Fortlage’s essays, newsletters and podcast conversations.
Global Perspectives
Quarterly LGBTQ+ leadership briefing
Gender Perspectives
Newsletter exploring gender, leadership, identity, power and belonging
Holding It Both Ways podcast
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and other major podcast platforms
Across leadership, gender, identity, acceptance, belonging and the unresolved questions that shape how we live and lead, the work explores what happens when the answers are not simple, more than one truth may exist at the same time, and understanding remains incomplete.
Within Holding It Both Ways, Cynthia publishes two regular newsletters:
Global Perspectives brings together significant LGBTQ+ legal, cultural, social and organisational developments and translates them through a leadership and lived-experience lens.
Gender Perspectives explores gender, leadership, identity, power and the assumptions that shape how people are seen, heard and able to belong.
The Holding It Both Ways podcast extends those ideas through conversation and reflection and is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
Together, the writing, newsletters and podcast create space to question what feels certain, stay curious about complexity and explore how we might live and lead with greater dignity and humanity.
