At Palo Alto Networks, we’re committed to creating an environment where all the members of the team feel inspired to do their best work and contribute to the mission of protecting our way of life in the digital age. To do this, our team must better reflect the world we live in and secure with our products and services. For us, this means Palo Alto Networks should lead our industry on inclusion and diversity (I&D). It’s ambitious, but achievable, as we focus on fostering a workplace that welcomes every culture, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, background and experience.
A key feature of our corporate culture is self-awareness, so let me start by sharing my perspective on how we’re currently doing. The short answer: we must do better as a company.
On our website, you will find numbers and percentages associated with the composition of our team across race and gender, which, as you can see, does not represent the world in which we live. While the data is humbling, sharing it is an important step in the work and commitment required to achieve true inclusion and diversity across our organization.
As a company, we’re experienced at bringing technology leadership to the market: launching, iterating, improving, and repeating those steps until we are the best. We will do that here as well. Research shows conclusively that diverse teams are more creative, innovative, and perform better than teams that are not diverse. Having people from different backgrounds – particularly those who have been historically underrepresented in the tech industry – at the decision-making table will lead us to better business outcomes and result in better products to meet the needs of the broad spectrum of people we serve worldwide. It’s common sense backed by empirical research. More importantly, it’s the right thing to do.
These numbers have prompted me to think a lot about the corporate culture we have cultivated at Palo Alto Networks. While I am proud of our core values of putting our customers first, transparency, and a “no egos” approach, at the end of the day, inclusion and diversity must be part of our company DNA if we are to make meaningful change. We need the entire company to embrace this effort.
Ultimately it all comes down to action. We’ve launched a number of initiatives to build a culture of inclusion at the company, through our own internal programs and by signing on to the CEO Action for Inclusion and Diversity pledge. Here’s a snapshot of where we’ve been focusing:
There is so much more to do and, in addition to the internal discussions we’ll have as a company, we continue to seek input and advice from outside experts. We are committed to providing you with updates on our progress and look forward to suggestions and feedback.
Mark
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