2929: How Cisco is Empowering One Billion Lives Through Technology and Social Innovation

[00:00:00] NB Welcome back to another episode of the Tech Talks Daily Podcast, where yes I'm coming to you from the show floor here at Cisco Live. And today I've had the pleasure of speaking with Brian Tippins and he is the Cisco Chief

[00:00:15] Social Impact Officer. And he has a rich history in purpose driven roles in tech, and also a profound commitment to leveraging technology for societal benefits. And Brian's insights are set to enlighten us all on how Cisco integrates social responsibility

[00:00:35] into its core operations. And as AI and other technological advancements continue to dominate the headlines, Brian is going to share with me how Cisco equally prioritises impactful social initiatives, aiming to create a more inclusive future for all.

[00:00:53] And because I'm live at a tech conference, I think it's so important to get this message out there. So buckle up and hold on tight, so I can beam your ears all the way to Vegas, where you can join myself and Brian here at Cisco Live.

[00:01:07] So a massive warm welcome to the show, Brian. Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do? Wonderful. Yes, my name is Brian Tippins. I have the honour of looking after social impact

[00:01:18] for Cisco as our Chief Social Impact Officer. I'm a lawyer by training, spent about 30 years in technology and companies like Intel, like HP, like Hewlett Packard Enterprise, mostly in roles around purpose. I spent a number of years as a Chief Diversity Officer, a

[00:01:30] number of years as the Chief Sustainability Officer, some time looking after foundation. In 2022, I decided to take a little bit of a break and take a sabbatical, but that didn't last very long because Cisco came calling and I learned about the depth of the purpose

[00:01:42] driven work that Cisco is driving. So I've been here about a year and a half now and really, really enjoying myself. Well, I always say on this podcast that technology works best when it brings people together

[00:01:52] and a lot of your work is the epitome of that. We've met here at Cisco Live and despite AI predictably grabbing all the headlines, there also seems to be a big theme around social responsibility and making a difference. Is this something that's really important to Cisco?

[00:02:10] It's very important to Cisco and most companies will say that. They'll say it's important to them and you can go to their corporate headquarters and see the artifacts on the wall about we want to make the world a better place, right? But it's truly part of how

[00:02:20] we operate. Our purpose at Cisco is to power an inclusive future for all and we take it very seriously. We talk about good for the world and good for business and so we don't think about the work that we do around social innovation, investments and impact as something

[00:02:32] separate. It's very much tied to business strategy and in a way that's quite kind of unique for Cisco. Yeah, 100% with you on that. Can you tell me a little bit more about Cisco and its belief

[00:02:43] in the importance of investing in social impact programs? Because again, a lot of this work can get kind of get lost, especially at a tech conference where AI is grabbing all the headlines.

[00:02:53] So can you tell me a little bit about that and how these initiatives align with Cisco's overall mission? Yeah, we talked a lot and you raised a good point. There were certainly discussions of AI and technology, new product releases but hopefully you saw that we wove purpose across

[00:03:07] all of Cisco Live coming from the physical floor, the world of solutions, our purpose pavilion where our customers and partners could come in and see some of the work that we do around crisis response, around critical human needs, around environmental sustainability.

[00:03:19] It was also woven into a lot of the stages and we talked a lot about a big audacious goal that we were able to meet last year of positively impacting a billion lives over

[00:03:28] a decade and we reached that goal a year early and we're actually able to surpass that goal. And as you pointed out, as we think about that, it's not about philanthropy, it's true social investment, it's truly future-proofing the business in a lot of ways, ensuring that

[00:03:41] we're connecting the unconnected, we're providing skills development to underrepresented communities, we're really tying the work that we do around social investment to the success of the business. And I'm glad you mentioned one billion lives there because I think it was 2016 Cisco set

[00:03:54] a goal to positively impact one billion lives worldwide by 2020-25 but you recently met that goal a year early so can you tell me a bit more about that initiative? That is something that we're super proud of.

[00:04:07] So this predated me, again I mentioned I've only been here about a year and a half but in 2015-2016 our then new CEO at the time, Chuck Robbins, sort of laid down this challenge.

[00:04:15] I'll step back and say for the entire life of Cisco, giving back and investing in communities has been a big part of what we do. We've got this long history of working directly through Cisco or through our foundation, investing

[00:04:26] around the globe around education and economic empowerment, around climate, around critical human needs. For many years we would just do the work and not really talk about it much. It was the right thing to do.

[00:04:36] In 2016 Chuck laid down this challenge and says we've got this great history of investing in communities around the globe. What if we brought the full power of our innovation to bear and set a big ambitious goal? What more could we do?

[00:04:48] If we would look at our ecosystem and kind of set some goals and aspirations, what better impact could we make? And so we set that goal at that time to positively impact a billion lives over a 10-year span.

[00:04:58] I was in the 2016 timeframe and we targeted a couple of key programs. The economic empowerment pillar of the work that we do through the foundation, through hundreds of nonprofit partners around the globe. We also targeted the work of Cisco Networking Academy, the skills development engine that's

[00:05:12] been around for about 25, 26 years and has trained tens of millions of learners around not just networking but IT essentials and cybersecurity. And so the net of that is we were able to announce that we met that goal and not only

[00:05:24] did we meet it, we met it one year early and we surpassed it. We hit 1.1 billion lives positively influenced. And so we're thinking now about what's that next ambitious goal that we're going to set to continue to make big impacts around the globe. It's absolutely phenomenal achievement.

[00:05:38] And just to bring that to life a little bit, are you able to share a specific example of how Cisco social impact programs have advanced things like social justice, expanded skills development or support economic empowerment and digital inclusion? Are there any examples you can share? Sure. Yeah.

[00:05:57] I'll talk about our social justice commitment a little bit because it's something we're quite proud of. We've long had a commitment in Cisco to diversity, equity, inclusion in the workforce. We've long had a chief diversity officer and team that look after making sure that we're

[00:06:09] setting and meeting goals around representation in terms of women and leadership and ethnic minorities. We've long had a focus on creating conscious culture and inclusive culture inside Cisco. But the company took some steps to further advance that in 2020.

[00:06:22] And you recall what was going on in the 2020 timeframe and the great racial reckoning. This was after a number of killing of unarmed African-Americans in the US, notably names like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in the Monterey area.

[00:06:34] And that was causing a lot of light to be shown on some of the inequities there. And so Cisco at that time, like many companies, asked themselves, well, what else more could we do?

[00:06:42] And so we'd actually begun the work before the tragic murder of George Floyd, but what was going on there in the summer helped to expedite our initiatives and efforts to figure out what more we could do to be a force for good in communities and underrepresented communities

[00:06:55] around the US. And what manifested itself after a lot of work and even bringing an external consultant to put together a program to approach how we could drive better social justice commitments, we created a social justice program with a focus around 12 primary pillars.

[00:07:09] And the pillars are quite broad. Some of them focused on traditional notions of diversity, equity, inclusion in the workforce. We're gonna hire more diverse executives. We're gonna commit to more training. We're gonna focus on inclusive leadership, right? Those traditional notions of internal focus.

[00:07:24] And many of the pillars were externally facing, things like the setting up of a $50 million venture fund for women and founders of color, organizations that typically didn't have access to the same level of venture funding that majority populations had.

[00:07:37] There was also a pillar around increasing the diversity of our partner base. There's a pillar around commitment to historically black colleges and universities. And we've learned over time that that focus and the successes that we've had with a specific

[00:07:48] community where we started, we can apply to other constituencies as well. And the work that we do around historically black colleges and universities, if successful, can also be replicated to other minority serving institutions and Native American institutions. And so we're proud of the work that we've done there.

[00:08:03] We've seen lots of good progress in that space. Richard Penalty just to expand on that a little in, in what ways do Cisco social impact initiatives such as climate sustainability and responding to humanitarian crises? How does that contribute to both positive change and business outcome?

[00:08:20] Because you mentioned a couple of times about the business value side of it as well. Yeah, it's really about connecting the unconnected, right? Connectivity is more than just having a Wi-Fi connection. Connectivity gives you access to skills development, to resources across the globe.

[00:08:34] We for example, you mentioned our crisis response capability. We have a long history of responding to natural disasters around the globe, be it a fire in Maui or earthquake in Morocco or typhoon in the Philippines where we can bring some of

[00:08:45] our resources to bear to provide connectivity to first responders and displaced communities. It used to be as we were helping people in refugee crises, they would cross the border and need food, water, and shelter.

[00:08:57] We're learning now, I think we probably learned at first as we were trying to be a force for good with communities evacuating Syria, but also in Ukraine that they're crossing the border and saying, do you have a Wi-Fi connection? That's the first thing they're looking for, right?

[00:09:09] Connectivity is sort of a basic human need, a basic human right. And we're able to provide that. And by doing so, we're providing not just connectivity to critical human needs and resources, but also to skills development, creating a new workforce, creating a group of learners

[00:09:22] that now have access to economic opportunity, but also become potential employees to Cisco and other technology companies. And so by connecting the unconnected, we're providing opportunity that at the end of the day is beneficial for us as a business as well.

[00:09:35] And I guess it doesn't matter if it's IT, whether it be business or trying to make a difference in the world, you can only improve what you measure. So how does Cisco measure the success and the impact of your social impact initiatives

[00:09:47] and what metrics are used to ensure these programs are making a real meaningful difference? Yeah, I'd say there's a few different ways because we have such a breadth of programs. In some instances, it's around our ability to increase, for example, the diversity of our partner base.

[00:10:01] We're measuring the number of diverse own partners, right? As we think about diversity, equity, inclusion in our workforce, it's around measuring representation, it's around measuring employee satisfaction, employee engagement. We spend a lot of time measuring the extent to which our team members are able to get

[00:10:16] engaged in their communities. We've been successful in reaching a goal over the last few years of an 80% target of our employees, 80% of our employees reporting that they take at least one action inside of a year, make a contribution to a nonprofit, do a volunteer activity.

[00:10:32] And that's important because it drives employee engagement, employee satisfaction, which drives retention, it drives satisfaction. It helps Cisco be named at the top of the top employer lists each year. So that's a measurement in terms of one billion lives positively impacted.

[00:10:45] When we set that goal, we knew that we had to be very transparent about what we were doing, but also that we were going to do what we said we were going to do.

[00:10:52] And we actually employed the services of an outside consultant to go in and work with our nonprofit partners to ensure we truly were impacting a billion individual lives, not doing double counting or overlap.

[00:11:04] So I'd say it's a number of different ways that we measure, but we're keenly focused on measuring the impact of the actions that we take. And on that topic as well, if we bring up ESG here, obviously environmental, social

[00:11:17] and governance goals, it's becoming somewhat of a controversial topic. It's not just about your business. And if you are dear to it, it's also your partners, etc. And who you collaborate with. So why do you explain on why at Cisco you remain committed to these initiatives?

[00:11:33] How do you address some of that skepticism from certain stakeholders? I'm sure you've come across it now and again. Yeah, definitely. So I'd say it's quite the current trend. You can call it sort of the weaponization of woke or the anti ESG movement.

[00:11:48] I think it's kind of a, it goes to the fact that what we have done, what we've all been committed to doing goes to our core beliefs and values. We were never reactive in taking the positions that we took.

[00:11:58] Even the activities that I told you about in 2020 when we put together our social justice program and made additional investments around social justice inside the US, we were very much anchored to a set of beliefs that have always been our beliefs.

[00:12:10] Technology for good and equity and proximity and coalescence and security of being. And I think that's led to some of the, I'll call it the stickiness of our programs. We haven't pulled back by any means on any of the commitments that we've

[00:12:23] made. We were very transparent about the commitments that we've made and continue to be every year in our annual purpose report. We talk about the goals that we set, how we're progressing against those goals and what our new goals are going forward.

[00:12:33] And so that transparency has a bit to do with it. But I think it's largely around just being rooted in a belief system. I think it's the companies that you've seen that were very reactive in setting their

[00:12:43] goals that now a few years later you see pulling back from those goals. And in terms of how we think about this, it's not getting too caught up in the terminology and the terms and the ESG and then different monikers that may be used to

[00:12:55] describe the programs. What company wouldn't want to be a good steward of the environment? What company wouldn't want to have a workforce that looks like the communities where they live and they work or represents the diversity of their

[00:13:07] customer base? What company wouldn't want to invest in local nonprofits that are doing good and providing humanitarian aid? Right. So it's stepping away from the terms and the trends and just doing the work that anchors back to our beliefs that have always been our strong beliefs.

[00:13:20] And not only that, all those things that you're doing, it comes back to business value, which is a thing that we've brought. We've come back to a few times now. So how does Cisco, how does your social impact programs enhance things like employee customer and partner engagement?

[00:13:37] And what benefits have you personally observed from fostering this culture of giving and community involvement? Because it seems that there's something magical happening here and people might not appreciate just what you're doing.

[00:13:48] I think we think about it in the terms exactly as you laid it out in these multiple different pillars of stakeholders that we're thinking about when we approach this work. It's around our employees. I mentioned our employees really enjoy being able to be engaged and working for a

[00:14:01] company that provides them opportunities to receive employee matching for donations that they make to contributions. They're able to take advantage of programs that we have in Cisco, like what we call our time to give program that gives up to 10 days for employees to go out and volunteer

[00:14:14] in their communities, which they really appreciate. That leads to higher levels of engagement, higher levels of employee satisfaction. We're able to attract and retain the best and brightest workforce, this young workforce that wants to work for a company that they see their values aligned to their values,

[00:14:29] where their career aspirations can be met. So we think about it from an employee lens. We certainly think about it from a customer lens, right? The work that we do around impact, whether it's environmental sustainability, diversity, equity, inclusion, investments in communities helps us endear ourselves to our

[00:14:45] customers who increasingly want to ensure that they're buying from a supplier whose values align with their value. Here at Cisco Live in Las Vegas this week, we're spending a lot of time talking to our customers about how we can better align with their programs or come together around

[00:14:58] humanitarian aid and issues of impact. It's around our partner base, the diversity of our partner base and the innovation of our partner base helps us to go even further in terms of impact.

[00:15:08] Our partners tend to be the feet on the street in the communities that know very well the needs of those immediate communities. And so we're able to leverage those relationships to go even farther.

[00:15:16] And so it's a very full stakeholder sort of spectrum point of view that again ties us back to business value at the end of the day. Yeah, it's such an important topic right now, whether it be younger workers or socially

[00:15:27] aware customers, they're looking at businesses to make the change and be socially responsible. It's so critical. It definitely is. And for anyone listening that just wants to find out more information, I know I think it

[00:15:39] was the BBC. I've got three videos about this, the one billion lives worldwide by 2025. Anyone wanted to find out more information about that, about the social impact work that you're doing? Is there any way in particular you'd like to point everyone listening?

[00:15:52] Yes. If you just Google Cisco Social Justice, you can come to our social justice web page that talks about the 12 pillars of our social justice program and also those 12 social justice beliefs that I mentioned to you.

[00:16:03] And you can learn more about the BBC videos at Cisco's one billion lives web page on that video on that web page. Rather, we link to those videos. There's three so far that are actually amazing.

[00:16:14] The production value is great and it dives deep into stories of three nonprofit partners that we use to help meet that billion dollar that billion lives impacted goal. And there'll be more of those videos over time.

[00:16:25] But I encourage listeners to take the time to look because that billion lives number is a great big number. But at the end of the day, it's the stories of impact and the people impacted that really,

[00:16:35] really matter. So I encourage people to take time to take a look at that. And then I'd love to engage with your listeners on social. You can find me at Brian Tippins on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on various platforms. So I encourage listeners to connect.

[00:16:47] Well, so I'll add links to everything there. And as I said in the very beginning of the episode, I say that technology works best when it brings people together. So one of the things the reasons I invite you on here was how you're bringing together the

[00:16:58] full power and innovation of Cisco's tech, but also your teams, your resources and an extensive ecosystem to further your mission, to power that inclusive future for all across the globe with a measurable impact. I think that is the key point there.

[00:17:13] But thank you so much for shining a light on this today. Thank you for the opportunity to share some of what we're doing. I appreciate it. Wow. Truly inspiring to hear about the impactful work Cisco is spearheading in social impact under Brian's guidance there.

[00:17:27] And for me, today's conversation is a timely reminder that technology's greatest value comes from its ability to bring people together and make a meaningful difference in the world. But what are your thoughts on how companies can balance innovation with social

[00:17:42] responsibility? I invite you to join the discussion, share your perspectives. Email me techblogwriteroutlook.com, LinkedIn, Instagram, just at Neil C. Hughes. Please join the discussion, share your perspective. But that's it for today. So thank you for tuning in.

[00:17:58] Make sure to catch our next episode for more insights on how technology is shaping our world for the better. It's a narrative we don't hear enough, but that's it for today. So thank you for listening. And until next time, don't be a stranger.