Chief Social Impact Officer Brian Tippens and Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Officer Gloria Goins may be relatively new to Cisco, but their combined half century of professional experience has equipped them to make significant, lasting contributions that align with Cisco’s purpose of powering an inclusive future for all.
Their roles are distinct, yet interrelated: The DEI internal work informs the external, social impact work, and vice versa.
Brian and Gloria share a focus on pursuing purposeful work that builds business value, and we caught up with them to discover the latest on Cisco’s DEI and social justice plans.
What made Cisco stand out as the company you wanted to work for?
Gloria: What makes Cisco attractive for me is that I've never had the opportunity to work for a company that is so intentional about being a company of purpose.
There's a focus not just on profit, but on people and purpose. As someone who has had the privilege of serving on over 20 non-profit organizations, this really resonates with me.
I have a need and thirst to work for a company whose values align with my own. I’m a purpose-driven person and completely aligned with Cisco’s intention of creating an inclusive future for all.
Brian: Like Gloria, I maintain a lifelong commitment to purpose. Before joining Cisco, I spent 23 years serving as a chief diversity officer, head of supply chain social and environmental responsibility, chief sustainability officer, head of a foundation — all roles centered around purpose.
Cisco’s mission is perfectly aligned with my own. The fact that Cisco is so committed to purpose that they're taking affirmative steps to build an organizational construct that directly ties purpose to business value really drew me to the company.
What is your initial impression of how Cisco is doing in the DEI space?
Gloria: There's a lot of great intention, energy, passion, and leadership support for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Going forward, our greatest opportunity is to make sure that our diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy amplifies and supports our existing business strategy and goals. I'm encouraging my team to focus on the key initiatives that support our business that we can measure and improve upon.
Brian: My initial observation is of the breadth of Cisco's investments in communities around the globe and the positive impact that is making. That includes involvement in environmental solutions, poverty eradication, fighting homelessness in San Jose, and responding to what's going on in Ukraine, Turkey, and Syria.
On a broad level, when you consider the broad 12 disparate domains in our social justice initiative, we’ve been incredibly impactful halfway through our five-year journey.
What do you say to critics — both in and outside Cisco — who say Cisco should focus on its business and shouldn’t be involved in social justice causes?
Gloria: Our employees reflect the global marketplace that we serve. So, there's no daylight between our strategies and how our team works.
Brian: It's always been in our DNA to invest in the communities where we live and work as we seek to make an impact on the world.
For example, Cisco has committed to invest $150 million in Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S. It’s part of our social justice initiative around providing equipment and helping them with cybersecurity and STEM education, which creates a pipeline of qualified candidates for Cisco and more broadly into our industry.
Business and social justice are not mutually exclusive. If we do it right, they’re complimentary.
We have 28 Cisco Inclusive communities, and that number is growing. What value do they add to the employee experience?
Gloria: Evidence and research show that our employees are going to be more engaged, innovative, and have a greater sense of belonging when they’re part of a community of like-minded people they can connect with and who consider to be allies.
We’re better when we have a community that feeds us, inspires us, helps us heal, and helps us grow.
Our Inclusive Communities offer connection and professional networking to foster growth and personal and professional achievement. That's the power of having 23,000 Cisco employees across the world involved in these communities.
Brian: George C. Fraser is an amazing author. When I was in university, his book Success Runs in Our Race was obligatory reading.
He talks about networking as equally important as education and experience. I’ve gone through my entire career believing that to be true. And these Inclusive Communities provide the ideal dynamic for establishing and growing one’s network.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to get more involved with making a social impact at Cisco?
Gloria: While getting involved in Inclusive Communities is important, just becoming an ally is powerful.
One of the best ways one can be an ally is to make sure that you ask and listen to the person or the communities where you want to be an ally.
No matter what you do at Cisco, everyone can be an ally. Everyone has a voice, superpower, or privilege that someone else doesn't have. By asking whose voice is missing, and doing what you can to bring those voices to the table, you can contribute to achieving social impact inside and outside of our organization.
Brian: One of the priorities is to make financial contributions because Cisco can match those through the Cisco Foundation, doubling the impact. There are also ways to get involved in various campaigns. There’s no shortage of volunteer opportunities.
Who inspires you?
Gloria: For me, there are two people: One, my father, who has passed away. He came to this country in the 1940s as an uneducated Bahamian immigrant. He worked four and five jobs to feed and educate his family.
Even though he faced tremendous discrimination and harassment, I never saw him complain. He gave me the values that I try to pass down to my children: Respect all people, have an unwavering faith and integrity, and be committed to hard work.
My 19-year-old daughter, Grace, also inspires me. At 16, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. She's fine now, but in the process of watching this child go through 40 medical procedures, she graduated with honors from her high school.
While she was going through all her treatments and medical procedures, she built an online community of half-a-million girls across the world called Girls Supporting Girls. She was putting out positive messages and encouraging other girls and women to stop bullying each other on social media. I admire her resilience, her strength, and her commitment to give back to others despite her challenges.
Brian: John Hope Bryant inspires me. If you don’t know John Hope Bryant, you need to know John Hope Bryant. He’s the founder and CEO of Operation Hope, which does amazing work around financial literacy, economic empowerment, and home ownership and counseling.
What I admire most about John is singularity of purpose and commitment to purpose. It's not about the color of your skin or where you live. It's about economic empowerment and the freedom that that brings and the dignity that comes along with that.
Connect everything. Innovate everywhere. Benefit everyone.
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