Browne told BBC business editor Robert Peston: "My sense is that the business world remains more intolerant of homosexuality than other worlds such as the legal profession, the media and the visual arts… I am one of a handful of publicly gay people to have run a FTSE 100 company.”
He said "leaders in companies, and not just in human resources" should "think about inclusion in every decision they take".
He added: "It comes down to a simple maxim – don't do anything that excludes people."
Browne was speaking at the launch of Connect Out, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender network set up by Arup, the engineering and design consultants.
