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Robbins, who was raised in Georgia, shared the example of Jeetu Patel, the company’s president and chief product officer, who grew up in India, and said their different life experiences mean they think differently, and diversity of thought often leads to great ideas, which is just the “power of diversity”.
For Chuck, it’s not about metrics, numbers, or programmes, but about building teams of people who look at problems differently so that he gets two creative solutions.
“I want a room full of people that give me four different possible ways to solve a problem or tackle an opportunity, and you don’t get that if you have a room full of white men from Georgia,” said Robbins.
He was addressing the media at Cisco’s office in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex on 9 July.
His comment assumes significance, especially given that global tech giants have retreated from their diversity and inclusivity policies.
Trump’s assault on diversity
After taking office in January, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, directing government agency chiefs to terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies at federal agencies, federal contractors, and the private sector.
He also asked them to take action against “illegal DEI policies or practices”.
He encouraged the private sector to end DIE practices and preferences. In an earlier order, Trump had asked to end all DEI-related programmes, jobs, and training.
Following the executive order, tech giants such as Meta Platforms Inc., AlphabetInc., and Amazon.com Inc. have cut their DEI goals.
Accenture has also scrapped its global diversity and inclusion goals after evaluating the changing US political landscape, according to a Reuters 7 February report that cited an internal memo.
DEI programmes help increase access to and remove barriers to education and jobs for people from diverse backgrounds, races, and genders.
Companies with more diverse executive teams keep performing better financially over time, according to a 2023 study of more than 1,000 companies in 23 countries by management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
In 2015, top companies based on diversity were 15% more likely to do well financially. By 2023, that number rose to 39%, the study showed.
India operations
The US networking giant no longer considers India just a great place for cost savings but as “an extension of the engineering”.
Robbins sounded bullish on India, and said: “I’m not sure there’s another place on the planet where you would expect the growth like India in the next 5-10 years.”
“We’re challenging the team by continuing our investments here,” he said, pointing out that the company has been in the country for three decades now.
Cisco began operations in India in 1995, establishing the Global Development Centre in Bengaluru, the second-largest such centre outside of the US.
Two years ago, the US company made an investment to expand its manufacturing in India, which will generate $1 billion in total revenue, including exports, Mint reported on 11 May 2023.
Cisco is seeing potential in India because of the digitalisation wave, and its service offerings are finding demand in cybersecurity defence solutions.
It employs over 16,000 individuals in India, but it does not disclose the business it gets from India.
Asia Pacific, Japan, and China contributed 8% of Cisco’s total revenue of $53.8 billion in 2023-24.
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