Getting proximate: Reflections from the first year of 40 Communities

[ad_1] Slightly greater than a 12 months in the past, Cisco introduced our subsequent large ambition: 40 Communities. The ten-year initiative is audacious by design: to work in communities the place we may be genuinely embedded, hearken to native leaders to know what’s working and the place wants are best, and focus our efforts the place Cisco can add significant worth. We have interaction, help, and make investments deeply in these locations, utilizing Cisco’s know-how, sources, and partnerships to handle complicated challenges and co-create and ship options that construct towards a future the place everybody can thrive.

In our first 12 months, we designated Western North Carolina as our inaugural web site within the devastating wake of Hurricane Helene, as communities grappled with isolation and the significance of connectivity and trusted native networks got here sharply into focus. Mumbai adopted as our second web site — and first worldwide market — constructing on Cisco’s 30-year historical past of partnership and purpose-driven innovation in India. Whereas these communities differ in important methods, our work has surfaced highly effective shared insights about constructing partnerships formed by native data, rooted in proximity, and designed for lasting impression.

Listening first: Letting communities lead Cisco’s Erin Connor (heart left) joins a gaggle of Cisco Disaster Response volunteers throughout a Habitat for Humanity construct in Western North Carolina. In September 2024, Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, isolating small mountain communities and disrupting important traces of connection. Cisco’s Disaster Response group mobilized to revive emergency connectivity to frontline responders, and by December, Western North Carolina turned our first 40 Communities web site. These early weeks illustrated one thing necessary about what efficient partnership appears to be like like in follow: the local people already understood the wants and the way finest to satisfy them — our handiest contribution was to pay attention.

Erin Connor, Director of Cisco Disaster Response, describes this “pay attention first” method as foundational to the work. “Now we have to begin by actually listening — by attempting to know what’s already occurring, who the native actors are, and what work is already being carried out,” she displays. “Approaching this with some humility and actually listening to know the priorities is important.”

“We’re not the consultants right here; the communities know their wants finest. After we pay attention first, we are able to present up as actual companions and catalyze work that’s already in movement”— Erin Connor, Director of Cisco Disaster Response That very same posture guided our work in Mumbai. Reasonably than arriving with predefined options, we convened a workshop that introduced collectively native thought leaders, tutorial establishments, nonprofit companions, and company friends to make clear neighborhood priorities and the place Cisco’s capabilities might add essentially the most worth. Their insights formed every little thing, from which focus areas to prioritize — like closing digital expertise gaps, supporting innovation and early-stage entrepreneurs, and constructing cyber resilience — to how we’d co-create options with our companions.

Throughout each communities, listening has grounded our work in native data and lived expertise, permitting us to form initiatives in real partnership with the individuals they’re meant to serve.

Proximity issues: Constructing belief over time <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy lazy-hidden wp-image-486358 " data-lazy-type="image" src="https://blogs.cisco.com/gcs/ciscoblogs/1/2026/02/WNC-Chief-Cares-Groundbreaking-in-Avery-Country-People-holding-shovels-1024x768.jpg" alt="A group of seven men holding shovels in front of a large mound of soil during the groundbreaking for a new housing build in North Carolina." width="427" height="320"/> Cisco’s Christian Bigsby (heart proper) on the groundbreaking for a brand new housing neighborhood being constructed by the Chief Cares Basis in Western North Carolina. From the outset, we knew that constructing belief could be central to the partnerships underpinning 40 Communities. However how does an organization like Cisco work with a neighborhood to construct and nurture that belief? The reply that has emerged throughout Yr One is proximity — embedding ourselves within the communities the place we work and being extraordinarily intentional about how we present up and keep engaged.

Christian Bigsby, Senior Vice President of Office Sources at Cisco and North Carolina resident, has seen firsthand how proximity builds belief in Western North Carolina. “Being proximate means displaying up in 3 ways. First, there’s preliminary triage, working immediately with individuals on the bottom. Second, we commit sources to indicate we’re right here for the long run. Third, we maintain that power and participation. You want all three to construct belief and be an efficient accomplice.”

Proximity has equally been central in Mumbai, the place Cisco has operated for 3 a long time — not simply as a enterprise, however as a accomplice in social impression. Via 40 Communities, we’re strengthening longstanding partnerships whereas cultivating new ones to stay attentive to evolving wants. In India, 30 years of proximity have laid a robust basis of belief — our job now could be to stay intentional about how we present up, pay attention, study, and adapt because the work unfolds.

“On the finish of the day, we’re not in search of to be vacationers in these locations. These are locations the place we work, the place we reside. We're dedicated to those communities as a result of we’re part of them.”— Christian Bigsby, Senior Vice President of Office Sources Staying targeted: Serving as a catalyst for lasting change Cisco’s Brian Tippens and Harish Krishnan attend a 40 Communities occasion in Mumbai, India. Listening and proximity strengthened one other lesson from Yr One: focus issues. After we consider areas the place Cisco’s know-how and experience add essentially the most worth — connectivity, workforce growth, help for startups and small companies, and digital resilience — we are able to function a catalyst for community-led, sustainable change.

Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Coverage Officer of Cisco India & ASEAN, describes how in Mumbai, India’s personal digital ambitions converge naturally with this type of targeted partnership. “India’s digital journey is reaching new heights, and thru 40 Communities Mumbai, we see immense potential to align with the federal government’s imaginative and prescient for a Digital India and function a real power multiplier,” he says. “By staying sharply targeted on priorities like digital expertise, small enterprise help, and cybersecurity, we are able to leverage Cisco’s core strengths to speed up India’s digital transformation.”

“This focus permits us to ship significant, scalable outcomes that foster entrepreneurship, strengthen cyber resilience, and equip individuals with the talents and instruments they should thrive in a quickly evolving digital economic system.”—Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Coverage Officer of Cisco India & ASEAN Brian Tippens, Senior Vice President and Chief Social Impression & Inclusion Officer, describes how this precept has held true throughout each communities. “In each Western North Carolina and Mumbai, our companions know the place the wants are, they usually assist us channel our sources for max impression,” he says. “Listening and co-creating with our companions helps us really feel assured that we’re creating these options with the wants of the communities in thoughts and driving systemic, sustainable change.”

“Irrespective of the place we’re working, the foundational ideas are the identical. Listening and proximity assist us perceive how Cisco can add worth and be a power multiplier for real impression.”— Brian Tippens, Senior Vice President and Chief Social Impression & Inclusion Officer Our dedication to interact, help, and spend money on 40 Communities stays audacious. One 12 months in, we’ve constructed a robust basis that can enable us to deepen our work in our first two communities whereas thoughtfully increasing to new ones. Driving significant change in a quickly altering world would require iteration and adaptation, however these ideas — listening first, getting proximate, and staying targeted — will function our north star within the years and communities to come back.