HD6060-.A84-2008-PDF-Athena-factor-Reversing-the-brain-drain-in-science,-engineering,-and-technology

The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering, and Technology
HBR Research Report
How did this innovative program get off the ground? At an executive staff meeting a year ago,
CEO John Chambers noticed that most people in the room were homogeneous—and many had
been with the company forever. When he asked how many had been at Cisco five years or longer,
the majority raised their hands. Chambers’ takeaway: To reflect the breadth and scope of its global
operations, Cisco needed to diversify its executive ranks and change the face of leadership. He
talked about transforming the Company to the next level—Cisco 3.0—to gain skills sets and meet
the needs of a wide range of customers around the world.
Thus ETIP was born. The program was intended to disrupt the standard talent development
process. Traditionally, Cisco hired talent in the early and middle stages of careers and then grew
this talent into leaders. It was rare to recruit senior executives externally: Over the past five years
only 18 hires at the VP level have come from outside the company. ETIP changes that reality. The
program calls for 72 lateral hires over the next 18 months at the VP level and above. What’s more,
35% of these hires need to be women and underrepresented minorities. “The goal is to create a fast
track to leadership for these new streams of talent,” says Neal.
Begun in April 2007, ETIP is off to a successful start—23 new VPs have been hired. Twenty-one
percent of these new hires have been women and minorities, including the new CTO, an Indian
woman. This is just higher than the crucial 20% ratio, the tipping point for women and minorities.
Cisco uses a three-pronged recruitment strategy for its ETIP program. First, the company works
with two search firms that specialize in diversity. Second, it continues to use traditional search
firms but stipulates that they must present a diverse slate for every position. Third, it has hired
an internal executive recruiter—a woman—who works with job candidates and helps persuade a
female or minority hot prospect that Cisco is a good fit. Neal says that while the company is, “first
and foremost, trying to hire the very best candidate, an even better candidate might be the most
talented candidate who is also a woman or minority who mirrors the marketplace.”
A planned complement to ETIP is ETAP, the Executive Talent Assimilation Program. This
program helps to assimilate new hires into the Cisco culture through the “3 E’s”: education,
exposure, and experience. It will help new recruits build their internal network faster. ETAP also
imparts less-obvious lessons, such as the ten “must-knows” at Cisco that aren’t in the employee
handbook. To take two examples: Don’t confuse working together with having relationships—
contacts are fine, but relationships return your calls; and PowerPoint is Cisco’s lingua franca—
think of how much more effective you are in France when you learn French.
ETAP will invite new senior recruits to the Executive Action Learning Forum, a 12-week strategic
initiative where VPs—organized in teams of about 15—gain exposure to John Chambers and other
senior leaders. The Forum gives them the opportunity to work together on a real-time business
issue as well as facilitating connections with established leaders in both domestic and international
divisions of the company.
This new assimilation program will create a support infrastructure and “a collaborative
environment” for senior recruits. It is designed to move them successfully from “day one through
year one.” Working with collaborative technologies, Neal’s team connects with the new recruits
on a regular basis, helping them navigate the nuances of Cisco’s culture, so they can be most
effective. There are even some one-on-one sessions, which allows for customized brainstorming
and feedback. Many new senior recruits welcome help developing and positioning a “First 90-day
Plan.”
ETAP aims to increase “stickiness” by giving new senior hires the tools they need to succeed—
particularly females and minorities who may be the most at risk. ETAP’s goal is to push the
retention rate to 75% of lateral senior hires—a sharp increase over the traditional 50%.
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