proximity

I thought for sure Cisco would reject someone like me. I was shocked when my leader, Tschudy Smith, took the time to get proximate to me; it changed my personal journey.

As Cisco commemorates Juneteenth for the second straight year – more than 150 years after the last Black American slaves were freed – I see my family’s history being validated, and see myself represented.

Proximity is like opening curtains on a bright, sunny day: the light comes in and shows you all the details of the room, especially the things you may not have noticed before.

The horrific events of 2020 became a sobering wake-up call. These circumstances pushed me to lean further into the experiences of people who are different from me – people who are underrepresented, marginalized, or vulnerable in some way.

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.

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.

A location fabric provides a platform for not only location and proximity awareness, but also the context of beacons and POIs, the apps they engage with, and the people using them, as well as a secure communication channels among all end-points and back-end systems.