Last week, I shared with you some of the great work Cisco is doing in Europe to drive our Early in Career Network (ECN) -- one of our employee resource group  that focuses on Cisco’s new hires and people who are early in their career at Cisco. Initiatives like ECN are vital in helping us promote a more inclusive work environment and diverse work force worldwide.

Another initiative that Cisco’s Inclusion and Diversity Ambassador Network is helping to drive is Reverse Mentoring. This is a formalised program where an executive or senior manager is mentored by an individual contributor in the company. In other words, our individual contributor (the Mentor) is mentoring an executive (the Mentee).

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Tags: Ambassador Network, diversity, Early in Career Network, Employee Resource Group, Executive, Inclusion and Diversity, Individual Contributor, Reverse Mentoring, TelePresence

It’s an interesting activity:

Ask a diverse group of people if they remember their first day at work…you probably get a mix of reactions right? Some people are able to recall the experience quite vividly (particularly if it wasn’t that long ago) and are able to give you precise details -- their start date, their first task, perhaps even what they wore. Others may only be able to recall a vague memory…

Then ask the same group of people if they remember how they felt after week 1 and I bet most, if not all of them, will be able to give you a definite answer: “I knew I had made the right choice”; “I felt overwhelmed”; “I was excited at the opportunities that lay ahead”. Read More »

Tags: Bedfont, coffee morning, customers, Early in Career Network, ECN, Emerging, Emerging Markets, Employee Resource Group, environment, Europe, European Markets, Inclusion and Diversity