Inclusion and Diversity

Ask yourself, when was the last time you were vulnerable, transparent, and authentic with someone different than you at work or in your personal life? Did it unlock new conversations or inspire others to action?

At Cisco we aspire to power an inclusive future for all, and that means opening our hearts and minds to difference, celebrating individuality and learning to walk in the shoes of those different from ourselves. To embrace the power of difference is to open the way for transformational change.

Since the murder of George Floyd, I’ve had friends and co-workers ask me: “What can I do to support the Black community?” I love the spirit and intention of this question. My initial response is that it’s about leveraging the Power of Proximity.

If given the chance, what advice would you give your younger self? Learn what successful practitioners say helped them to be successful in their cybersecurity career.

At Cisco, we're here to build connections to allow the best kinds of conversations to happen. See how Webex helped Reese Witherspoon and Dr. Anita Phillips “hear” one another on Hello Sunshine’s Shine On with Reese at Home.

Getting a diverse group to work as a team isn’t always easy – but it’s well worth the effort. It meant our team more closely resembled the Cisco customers that use our products.

I believe the ability to maximize the exponential power of diverse teams will be the single most important leadership capability of the future!  The foundation of building an inclusive future for all is for executives to have exposure and knowledge of their diverse talent.

That's the moment the Inclusion Proximity Initiative was born – challenging leaders in Cisco's CX organization to meet with employees from diverse backgrounds. There is POWER in proximity!

On equal pay day, Cisco reflects on our efforts to close the pay gap and build a diverse employee pipeline for leadership positions.