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