Collaboration Business Consulting is proud to announce that Founder and Managing Partner Michael Gunther is the first recipient of StartOut’s #OutEntrepreneur video contest. StartOut works with their community to foster business success, pride, personal empowerment and a shared purpose to give back and inspire the next generation of LGBT entrepreneurs.
Michael was raised in a family of 10 brothers and six sisters, learning from an early age the power of entrepreneurship. He later founded Collaboration Business Consulting, leading a team of highly skilled and dedicated individuals in assisting proactive business professionals develop into collaborative leaders.
“Early in my career, I had a supervisor who was out in the company I was working for. I was not out. It was interesting to see his confidence and ability to do that,” Michael said. “He coached me and mentored me and I eventually came out in that organization.”
Michael’s view is that in order to create authenticity between your business, clients and employees, you need to be true to yourself. “I had my own insecurities about how people were going to respond to a gay entrepreneur. One of my challenges was being authentic and vulnerable with who I was,” he said. “I’m an #OutEntrepreneur because it’s the only way to be. You have to be yourself and be authentic; it gives you strength in building your business.”