Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Speaker 1: Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2: You and Week, Climate Week Global Citizen coming up this weekend.
Speaker 2: There is a lot going on in and around New
Speaker 2: York City right now. There's a lot going on for
Speaker 2: companies too, which with the un and all of this.
Speaker 2: Though here in New York City specifically, it means a
Speaker 2: lot of global leaders come here and we get to
Speaker 2: check in with them. Among them Frankosuitis, she's executive vice
Speaker 2: president and chief People Policy Purpose Officer at Cisco Systems.
Speaker 2: Delighted to have her back here in our Bloomberg Interactive
Speaker 2: Broker studio. Hello, how are you good.
Speaker 3: It's great to be with you again.
Speaker 2: It's great to have you here. We have a nice
Speaker 2: tonk of time. But I want to start with because
Speaker 2: I always like to do, because you are, you know,
Speaker 2: front seat with what's going on at the company and
Speaker 2: what's going on in the environment. How would you describe
Speaker 2: you've seen what you've been at Cisco twenty seven years.
Speaker 2: That's correct, It's amazing. You've seen a lot of different
Speaker 2: business cycles and you've seen the technology world change in
Speaker 2: different cycles there. How would you describe today's environment, I.
Speaker 3: Would say it's incredibly dynamic. I think that our customers
Speaker 3: view technology a little differently than they did I would say,
Speaker 3: even three or four years ago. I think there's an
Speaker 3: understanding that digitization and technology is an enabler for their success.
Speaker 3: And as a result of that, I think it changes
Speaker 3: a lot of the conversations that we're having with our customers.
Speaker 3: Even a good example of that is on the sustainability front.
Speaker 3: Whereas I think I would say five years ago, our
Speaker 3: customers were looking at the checklist like what do they
Speaker 3: need to do from a regulation perspective, and what they
Speaker 3: believed was coming, I think now there's some really good
Speaker 3: discussions around how do sustainability intersect either with their business,
Speaker 3: their technology, what they're doing, what is the opportunity in that?
Speaker 3: And I think as a result of that, a lot
Speaker 3: of the conversations that we're having about whether it's modernizing
Speaker 3: infrastructure or security has a little bit of a longer
Speaker 3: tail than it did once before.
Speaker 2: That's interesting. Is it a good business environment? Though?
Speaker 3: I think it?
Speaker 2: What's the right word, what's the right adjective to use?
Speaker 3: I think dynamic to be honest, I think.
Speaker 2: What is dynamicase dynamic to me sounds upbeat.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think it is upbeat in that
Speaker 3: technology is front and center. I think our customers are
Speaker 3: coming to us and we're coming to them to figure
Speaker 3: out solutions, and I think as long as we're having
Speaker 3: those conversations, it makes us better. I think there are
Speaker 3: a lot of dynamics that businesses are responding to that
Speaker 3: I wouldn't put in the positive category.
Speaker 1: What are some of those?
Speaker 3: So, I mean it's everything from the fact that we
Speaker 3: still have a war on the ground in Europe. I
Speaker 3: think leaders are still trying to figure out how they
Speaker 3: want to work. I was in a meeting earlier today
Speaker 3: and I will tell you there was not a lot
Speaker 3: of love for what I would consider hybrid work. I
Speaker 3: think leaders are trying to figure out what's the right
Speaker 3: way to work. My people want something a little bit
Speaker 3: different than I do. That's an interesting dynamic as well.
Speaker 1: Describe that when you say there's not a lot of
Speaker 1: love and what were you hearing?
Speaker 3: I think what I hear, and it's understandable, is that
Speaker 3: in some cases, I think leaders want to go back
Speaker 3: to something that was a bit more predicted, right, So
Speaker 3: you know, we would all come in three or four
Speaker 3: days a week, and you know we would do.
Speaker 1: Our jobs five or six days as twenty nineteens.
Speaker 3: And what's interesting is that I think from a business perspective,
Speaker 3: it would be so much easier if there was a
Speaker 3: one size fits all. But the truth of the matter
Speaker 3: with work is that depending on your job, depending on
Speaker 3: where you work, who you work with, there's so many
Speaker 3: different flavors. And I think that's an example of a
Speaker 3: dynamic that leaders are having to deal with and really
Speaker 3: think through what makes the most sense.
Speaker 2: For what would you tell leaders? Because correct me if
Speaker 2: I'm wrong, but Cisco has been doing hybrid and make
Speaker 2: depend you know, people have a lot of flexibility for
Speaker 2: pre pandemic for years. So what would you tell leaders
Speaker 2: about what works, what doesn't, why it makes sense? Why
Speaker 2: what like? What would you say?
Speaker 3: I would tell leaders to focus on the work, because
Speaker 3: I think work will guide on how we need to
Speaker 3: come together. But I would also tell leaders that I
Speaker 3: think all of us are now event planners because I
Speaker 3: think we have to think about the events that bring
Speaker 3: our teams together, that build the culture that we need
Speaker 3: to have to ensure that we have the connections that
Speaker 3: we need. But I don't think it's a one size
Speaker 3: fits all. I actually don't think that whatever we create
Speaker 3: this month may be applicable next month. I think there's
Speaker 3: just a tad bit more agility in how we work,
Speaker 3: and as leaders, I think we have to work hard
Speaker 3: to really understand what does success look like and do
Speaker 3: I have key measures that allow me to understand whether
Speaker 3: or not my teams are doing what we need them
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 2: Has it helped you in terms of finding workers? And
Speaker 2: I would I'm very curious what you have to say
Speaker 2: about the labor market. We're seeing signs of some softening.
Speaker 2: But I'm just curious how being flexible helps you and
Speaker 2: then what you are seeing overall in terms of labor market.
Speaker 3: It can help you, but you have to be really
Speaker 3: deliberate with what you want that team environment to look like. So,
Speaker 3: as an example, there are some of our areas from
Speaker 3: a technology perspective, where we want the best of the best,
Speaker 3: and we're happy with wherever they are in the world,
Speaker 3: and we have the technology for them to join us
Speaker 3: via video and so we don't worry about the fact
Speaker 3: that they may be remote from other members of the team.
Speaker 3: But that's a deliberate choice. But I think when you
Speaker 3: have a level of flexibility, it's just going to allow
Speaker 3: you to cast a wider net on who you bring
Speaker 3: into the company.
Speaker 1: How do you create those spontaneous moments that you know,
Speaker 1: those water cooler moments here at Bloomberg, those pantry moments.
Speaker 1: I mean, Joe Weber, editor at Bloomberg BusinessWeek, tells us
Speaker 1: every week that there was some article, even a cover story,
Speaker 1: is the result of just bumping into one of the
Speaker 1: reporters of the pantry.
Speaker 2: Or strolling over to somebody's desk.
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 3: I think it takes work remotely. And this is the
Speaker 3: rub I will tell you, Like this was a long
Speaker 3: time ago. I'm gonna say like fifteen or twenty years ago.
Speaker 3: I remember I created something called the virtual hallway conversation
Speaker 3: because I had a team that was all over the
Speaker 3: world and we would schedule this ten minute quick sync
Speaker 3: and the only rule was we couldn't talk about work
Speaker 3: for the first few minutes, because sometimes we ump should
Speaker 3: and in the hallway we just talk about like how
Speaker 3: your kids, what are you doing? So I guess what
Speaker 3: I would say is we do have to work hard
Speaker 3: to create that. When you have flex it doesn't mean
Speaker 3: that you don't come in. I think you just have
Speaker 3: to be really thoughtful when people come in. What is
Speaker 3: the best use of our time.
Speaker 2: Would you say there's a little softening of the labor market, you.
Speaker 3: Know, it's interesting I would say that despite the fact
Speaker 3: that there is some softening, boy, the talent market is
Speaker 3: still hot in.
Speaker 2: Many, many areas.
Speaker 3: And I look at an area like security as an example. Globally,
Speaker 3: the belief is still that there are four million security
Speaker 3: roles that are still open and that we can't find
Speaker 3: the talent for those roles. The other thing that we
Speaker 3: understand is about you those Would.
Speaker 2: You say you have roles that are open that you.
Speaker 3: I would say that we're always looking for amazing talent.
Speaker 3: But I think around the world there's some struggle getting
Speaker 3: to people that have some of the skills. On the
Speaker 3: security side, about half of those roles are more entry level.
Speaker 3: And so for what that means is there's such an
Speaker 3: opportunity to train up talent and really help them get
Speaker 3: the skills that get them started.
Speaker 1: How do you start? How do you train up that
Speaker 1: talent earlier in their careers, earlier in their lives. I mean,
Speaker 1: where does this start within our education system? You know?
Speaker 3: It's interesting because if you look at the US President Biden,
Speaker 3: I think about nine months ago, convened a group of
Speaker 3: leaders together against the backdrop of security, and the approach
Speaker 3: that the team was taking was to look at what
Speaker 3: are the security skills that everyone needs to have, what
Speaker 3: are the security skills that only many need to have?
Speaker 3: And then a few, right, And so when you get
Speaker 3: to the few, you are talking about your chief security officers,
Speaker 3: the top of the top. But for all, what you're
Speaker 3: talking about is maybe we need to start to teach
Speaker 3: our students in elementary school about passwords and how to
Speaker 3: be secure. And so I really start really early, to
Speaker 3: be honest. And then I think the other thing that
Speaker 3: I would say is when I look at Cisco and
Speaker 3: other tech companies, we used to spend a lot of
Speaker 3: time at high schools, and now we're taking that down
Speaker 3: to elementary school as well. So I do think we
Speaker 3: need to start earlier and earlier, and especially for girls.
Speaker 2: That is fascinating. Hey, listen, we've got about a minute
Speaker 2: and a half left here. You guys at SOSCO, you've
Speaker 2: had ESG initiatives and missions and goals for a long time.
Speaker 2: Remind us a little bit about the impact that that
Speaker 2: has had on the company financially and just overall in
Speaker 2: terms of the cultural environment.
Speaker 3: The impact is significant. So it was about three years
Speaker 3: ago that we created our new purpose to power an
Speaker 3: inclusive future for all, and that really started to guide
Speaker 3: everything that we do across the company from a sustainability perspective.
Speaker 3: We launched about a year ago our net zero goals
Speaker 3: for Scope one and Scope two, which is twenty twenty five,
Speaker 3: Scope three which is twenty forty. We now have an
Speaker 3: SPTI approved plan, which basically means that we have a
Speaker 3: scientific plan that has been reviewed and approved. I say
Speaker 3: all of this because I think that inclusive future means
Speaker 3: we need to have a livable planet. That inclusive future
Speaker 3: means we need to have really good people practices within
Speaker 3: the company and to influence communities more broadly, and that
Speaker 3: we're doing everything we can from a digital divide perspective,
Speaker 3: I do think, Carol, that how we focus on sustainability
Speaker 3: will be an amazing business for Cisco too. So as
Speaker 3: an example, some of our technology now is so much
Speaker 3: more energy efficient with higher bandwidth, like our Silicon one products,
Speaker 3: and that's a great growth business for us. But it's
Speaker 3: going to save our customers a ton of energy on
Speaker 3: the other side, and that's the opportunity.
Speaker 2: Well, and I do think about when you've got the
Speaker 2: hottest year on record, like how that kind of shapes
Speaker 2: and whether that makes companies like yourself even rethink. You know,
Speaker 2: is it sooner that you try to do this's just
Speaker 2: got about ten seconds? Do you think about maybe trying
Speaker 2: to get there even sooner?
Speaker 3: We have to and I think the technology and our
Speaker 3: people will push us to do that, which is great.
Speaker 2: I know you're going to be involved in Global Citizen.
Speaker 2: You can always are. It's this weekend. I'm so grateful
Speaker 2: for you finding time for us. Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2: Fran Casudas she's executive EP Chief, People, Policy Purpose Officer
Speaker 2: at Cisco Systems. Here in studio