Gender Diversity’s link to Business Performance at Cisco France

At Cisco France, Vice-president of European Markets & General Manager, Laurent Blanchard sets Gender Diversity as one of his top five management priorities. Advancing the number of women at senior levels and increasing the company’s ability to attract women candidates is necessary to grow Cisco’s business in the way that it needs he would like to see it grow. Blanchard states, “It’s extremely important – actually it is fundamental – that we have diversity within our management teams… If we don’t do it, we are less able to take decisions in a collaborative manner and if we keep our very hierarchical approach in terms of decision-making, we will fail.” Through inspiration from McKinsey’s report, ‘Women Matter’, Blanchard realised that certain personality characteristics that are more commonly held by women, “were going to be even more critical in steering our business through the tougher business environment that we are all entering.” Diversity expert Michael Stuber comments, “ Her assessment is confirmed by the International Business Case Report IBCR, published early this year.
To proactively approach Gender Diversity, Blanchard and Cisco’s Diversity Team developed an initial three- to four-year action plan to pinpoint the reasons why Cisco lacks women employees and to attract more women to apply into the company: Cisco is also putting new focus on managing and promoting existing female talent and introducing increased work flexibility. With monthly progress reviews and necessary adjustments, priorities and actions will be examined and redefined each year.

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