Cisco's Vision for an Inclusive Future

Nearly forty years ago, Cisco set out to connect the world with our technology and to deliver innovation — and unique value — to our customers, employees, partners and communities at large.  To build a business that’s great to work with — and great to work for — committed to the greater good and making the world a better place.

In 2020, these deeply held commitments gave rise to Cisco’s Purpose to Power an Inclusive Future for All.

Cisco’s Purpose — and the way it’s operationalized to leverage our unique strengths and drive social impact that’s lasting and real — is what drew me to the company.  I joined Cisco in late 2022 to lead the first Social Impact Office in exploring new approaches to innovation and expanding Cisco’s capabilities to build tech-enabled solutions for the critical challenges facing our people, planet, and society.

In exploring new approaches, Cisco is ushering in a new era of impact — setting inspired, ambitious goals and challenging ourselves to develop solutions with the power to change billions of lives.

Two years into our exploration, what we know is this:

Focus and simplicity are essential to driving new levels of innovation.

Focus and simplicity: redefining the scope of Social Impact

To fuel our ability to innovate, we’re simplifying our organization by bringing together the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Social Impact teams as one – as a new Social Impact and Inclusion Office.

Together, we’re focusing on what matters most – driving positive change by addressing our biggest challenges inside our organization, across our ecosystem, and around the world. We’ll eliminate redundant structures, complexity, and distinctions between internal and external impact. And we’ll build on what we all do best – creating opportunities where everyone can thrive.

Our work has never been more important – or more relevant – to fulfilling Cisco’s Purpose.

Creating an expanded portfolio of solutions will better leverage our natural synergies and give rise to new insights, ideas, strategies, and operational excellence.

The best path forward is usually the simplest, but rarely the easiest.

A new era of impact: Cisco’s Social Impact and Inclusion Office

The new Social Impact and Inclusion Office will innovate, accelerate, and drive exponential impact through an expanded portfolio of solutions, including Digital Inclusion, Economic Empowerment, DEI, Social Justice, and Critical Human Needs.

We’re deepening our work to strengthen our inclusive culture where everyone can thrive, break down barriers to address systemic inequities, transform communities through skills development and opportunities, revolutionize digital inclusion, and mobilize in times of crisis to provide for essential human needs.

Our employees and our extensive ecosystem of partners, suppliers, and customers will continue to expand the ways they can engage and contribute their unique strengths through volunteering and donating resources and expertise.

The nearly 28,000 members of Cisco’s 31 Inclusive Communities will continue to play a vital role in our progress as allies and agents of change, contributing valuable insights from multiple cultures and perspectives.

And we’ll build on our momentum from the past few incredible years – surpassing our ten-year goal to positively impact One Billion Lives and setting a record-breaking new trend in engaging more than 80% of our employees to give back to the communities and causes that matter most to them. Over 70,000 – that’s nearly 86% – of our employees took action to give back in FY24 – with 700,000+ employee volunteer hours and $30M+ in employee donations and matching gifts.

The path forward

Perhaps the most compelling – and challenging – words within our Purpose statement are the last two: for all.

For Cisco, our employees, the new Social Impact and Inclusion Office, and the global nonprofits, educational institutions, governments and organizations we partner with to create opportunities for everyone to thrive, for all is a vision – a focus – and a deep commitment we share.

My team is already hard at work charting a simple, powerful path forward together. For all. We look forward to sharing our progress and the new possibilities we discover along the way.

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