CHRO IN ACTION The “gray areas” where functions intersect and value hides Francine Katsoudas, Chief People, Policy and Purpose Officer at Cisco, thinks of her role as “being focused on anticipating market transitions and understanding the business strategy and how it links with our people strategy to accelerate growth for the company.” It’s a relatively new approach, but it reflects the Cisco C-suite’s evolving understanding of how people, technology and data must combine to drive productivity. As Katsoudas explains: “Historically, you would have business discussions and talk tech and data—and then you would talk separately about people. Now we’re understanding that success means braiding these discussions together.” This “braiding” manifests itself in relationships and new ways of working within the executive team. To illustrate, Katsoudas points to her increasingly collaborative partnership with Chief Information Officer Fletcher Previn, which shines a new light for both on how technology can elevate people to drive greater productivity in their company. Given Cisco’s business, and the networked solutions the company develops, their learnings can also inform the company’s client offerings. Katsoudas notes that Cisco’s work to unlock employee potential and create better experiences— from recruiting to workforce planning, to skill development and ways of engaging—is dependent on leaders. “Elevating leadership expectations and focusing on longer term outcomes is critical,” she says. “Data and insights from our HCM cross- enterprise platform reinforce the efficacy of this approach and can help create efficiencies that can be reinvested to further improve people’s ability to collaborate and deliver value.” As a result, Cisco is fast-tracking change for its people, its business and its communities. 23