All right, everyone. Thank you for joining. We're excited as you can see. Um We have a very qualified panel. So I'm personally excited to hear today. We're going to really talk about the power impact of diversity, equity and inclusion on organizations.So, what we want this to be practical examples um experience from their sweet C suite um perspective so that you actually have some meat you can take back to your organization um and work with. So I'm gonna start Ron. I'm gonna ask you each, each of you to just do a quick introduction. So, Ron, I'll start with you.

Thank you. I appreciate it and thank you everyone for joining and thank you for the producers and put the, put this together. My name is Ron Garrie. I'm the global CIO for HP. Um You probably know the brand uh based in Palo Alto. Um And I've been in this role for two years and I'm excited to have some um and contribute to this discussion.

All right, Glen, how about you?

So, I'm Leanne Hornsey. Um I also work uh very close to Palo Alto Networks in the Bay Area. Um I've done what I'm doing for probably about 30 years and I gotta say 30 years ago, um what is now a diversity, inclusion, equity um was a huge passion of mine. Um huge, huge passion and it's been amazing, literally, amazing to watch the agenda. Uh just become more and more important and more fundamental to business. So I'm really looking forward to this panel.

All right. Thank you, Chris. What about you?

Hello, uh Graciela Perez and I'm the Chief Digital Program Officer and executive lean leader at GE Health Care. And um just so excited to be here, stem in general has been a big passion of mine. I've been working with the Women Tech Network now for two years and I'm so excited to have G health care as uh one of two headline sponsors. Um And so diversity, inclusion, equity play a big role in our organization. If you think about over 70% of health care providers are women. And if we're not inclusive of women within our technology, then we're, we're missing out on opportunities.

Yeah, that's awesome. All right. So I'm gonna ask questions, we're gonna kind of go around. Um I might put you on the spot. We want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. So I think we can learn from our mistakes as well. Right. So the first thing I wanna ask is what lived experiences do you have personally that maybe you've shared with your company or has helped you in your role with your company. So, Ron, do you want to start off with this?

Yes, ladies first. But I guess I understand that a little bit. I do that. So, so for me um prior to HP, I was the CIO at Tota Financial Services, Farmers Insurance Express scripts and here at the State of Illinois, I was the CIO for Governor Pritzker here. And so for me just to 25 years in it, I've always been a person of color myself, always felt that I need to make sure that I bring up my peer group. Um I bring up women in tech is super important. And at one point, I remember that it was a challenge where, you know, we were all huddled one time at a CIO conference in L A and we're like, what could we do better? A bunch of the CIO S got together and we started a nonprofit called Stem Advantage. And the point of this was to encourage underserved communities and women to pursue careers in tech. And so instead of just sitting on the sidelines and going, whoa is me, we could, why is this so difficult? Whatever was, why don't we just jump in and both feet in? And how do we create a situation where we create sponsorships, internships and hopefully jobs. And some of the one of the big best stories I have is one of the young ladies that I, I help sponsor and mentor, she eventually join spacex as a data scientist.

Um But when she started, she didn't have the confidence she felt no one's going to listen to her. And today she's doing great things, putting people in space. And so for me, that's just one of those examples where um instead of sitting on the sidelines, let's jump in and do something about it. So that's one of the things that help shape who I am and how I think on a lot of things

that, right, because we talk about power and impact and that's both, that's both that you had not only on people but organization as well. Leanne. How about you? Anything personally for you that um I know you said you've had a passion for 30 years, which is amazing because I think sometimes this is a very new area for people. So I'm gonna love to have that expertise, but anything from you.

Yeah. Um There is something that I've shared with the company and it, it does help me understand this whole agenda and it uh it gives me passion. I grew up in a very uh working class family. I was white, but my family were Irish and in the UK. That's really not a thing. White. Irish Catholic is uh it's not a thing and I happened just happened to be very smart and I was sent to AAA school for sort of bright Children and I didn't have a uniform. I didn't have any money. I had the most appalling accident accent and all the other Children didn't. And I remember at the age of 11 going through exactly what it felt to be an outsider. Um, and, you know, I've told people when I talk about diversity, I actually could change my voice. I talk like this because I went through elocution lessons at the age of 11 to change my accent. People of color, people with different genders, sexual orientation can't. And it was that moment where I felt like an outsider and I could do something. Um I could emulate that made me realize just how hard it is when you can't and actually that you shouldn't have to because the pain I went through to try to emulate was ghastly for about 18 months. Um And so, one of the reasons I'm so incredibly passionate about diversity is I actually a little like Ron actually think much about diversity is about social inequality.

And I too do a lot of work in the social inequality space for Children from the age of 16 to 18 to try to get them into college. Um I actually think that if we could, if we could work with social inequality, we would solve. So, so, so many issues and this is too new to too many companies.

Yeah, we're gonna share in um the comments in your chat. Um You know, the difference between equality and equity because I think that is a, a very big distinction. So we're gonna share a couple of graphics that will help you um kind of see the difference of that. Um All right, Gracie, I wanna ask you specifically about maybe product design when it comes to DE I and maybe an, an impact that might have had with external customers or even internal, you know, all hot experiences.

Yeah. You know, and as I mentioned uh in, in the beginning and by the way, I'm just so inspired by Ron and Leanne's examples and I hope uh everyone joining us today is also inspired um because we're in healthcare and uh you know, large percentage of our customers and our, the people who work within healthcare inclusive of our customers as well as, as well as our patients um that we serve uh they, if we are not, um if we don't have that representation within our customer, from a design within our company, from a design standpoint, we're really missing out on that opportunity for key people, from developers to architects, to product managers and even for C suite decision makers to really make good decisions based on the knowledge of um empathy, being able to empathize with our, our customers.

And so, um so within our products, we use a lot of artificial intelligence and just being able to understand anatomically the differences, um subtle differences between race, gender, um things that actually can change over time for example, understanding that as a developer in the A I space is really critical, those nuances, we call them artifacts, data artifacts.

Um And having that knowledge is is super critical. If you just have um people who are either binary are very um uh they think in one direction only then your your products are going to reflect that direction. And so the importance of inclusion and diversity in product design cannot be underestimated. And we see that if you look at our ge products in the medical space, um we have for example, AAA newer um product design where we're actually increasing the opening of space into an MRI machine. This is a magnetic resonance imaging machine and just understanding that not people don't come in one size and having that flexibility and that capability has completely changed the face of MRI. So that's an example of someone saying, you know, that's that doesn't really accommodate the general population, you can do that based on data, but it takes people within your design team uh to really make those decisions. And then obviously also to be inclusive from the C suite onward because the funding decisions come from our C suite. So they also have to be on board with that decision making.

So just you know, diversity and inclusion across from the sharp end to uh the the folks who hold the the budget um super critical.

Well, and I know is taking a note on new topic would be a I bias maybe. And, uh, de I, so we, we're setting ourselves up guys for another panel. Um Yes. So those are really, really, um, interesting discussions to have because there is, um, really an investment, you know, a company has to invest in, um, those areas and to see the return. But I think that's very important. All right. So I want you to think about your early career self. So, you know, think back about that, I'm sure, you know, for some of you that was just a few years ago um with respect to just leveraging de I to your advantage. What would you tell that early self? So I know Leanne's kind of shared a little bit about that, which was great. Uh Ron Graciela, anything from you just, what would you tell your early career self in respect to leveraging De I

Ron? I'll let you go first

and you're on mute. So if you're on mute for us,

absolutely. I'm trying to make sure my dog's not barking. Well, the name is Mojito, by the way. So if I said Mojito be quiet, it's

OK. You're not, you're not drinking during our panel, right? OK.

Um So for me what I would tell my earlier self, there's many times and I think all the ladies on this panel and everyone listening to have those moments early in your career where you're like, did that just happen. And for me, it was either me being a keynote, but people assuming I am the coffee guy or someone handing me a valet while I am not the valet guy. Um, a couple of cases and two cases specifically security was called on me because they assumed I just happened to be in the wrong place trying to get free food and I was a cio at the time, first time being cio. So those early moments, you know, I go back to what my mom was telling me. It's like, you know, process and use it as a learning moment. Um And so what I've always learned from those moments in my career is like, how do I ensure this does not happen again? And everyone in the room understands to be completely inclusive of everyone that's around him. I think that's so important. I could have reacted poorly. I could have taken the valet key and throw it out the window or throw it in the bushes, but I use it as an education moment. No, I happen to be a peer of yours.

I am the keynote speaker and I'm on stage with Benny off in about 10 minutes. Hopefully, you like it, right. So how do you find those opportunities to teach? Um, so that's what I would do. And the other thing I would do earlier in my career is join the, er GS and the companies, our employee resource groups. Honest, like, no, I want to get it on my own way. Right? And later when I joined Farmers Insurance, for example, I started the black er G at Farmers, but I want to make sure that our marketing team will leverage the er G when they're looking about marketing to African Americans. For example, how do you create the er g have a business value impact as well? So those are the things I would have done probably sooner in my career. But those learnings, those experiences, you know, harden me a little bit. But I also said I need to do something different and it was a learning opportunity for those around me.

Well, my love because it sounds like you were building a bridge from an experience in inviting people over as opposed to creating, you know, just another issue or another point of contention. So I love that, you know, how you describe that I pictured just you build a bridge for people to cross over. I love that gella. How about you?

Yeah. You know, um I echo um runs run sentiments um in terms of, you know, people asking me early on uh who I supported and just assuming that um I, I was at a certain level uh just based on, on my looks, so to speak, you know, I can't tell you how many times. Oops, I'm in a room that I think has a light that's not a timer. Let there be light. Um uh The reality of life. Um And so I can't tell you how many times people come to me and ask me to cut my hair and, you know, at your level, you really need to, you can't have curly hair, which is uh indigenous to who I am, right? As a Hispanic and so curly hair. Um And so, um I, I think being aware if I was going to tell my, you know, my early self something, it would be to be very secure in your brand. We have a number of really great sessions during this conference. And when I attended last year, what really struck me is how strong and how many opportunities, how strong the the speakers are here, but also how many opportunities there are for those of you in attendance to learn about um branding and sometimes there's executive presence sessions as well that you can learn from.

But finding something that resonates with you, find a brand, be very secure because when people unnerve you and you can see that in Ron's example, Ron, they didn't, they didn't like completely push you over, you had that foundation you had and they can call you ballet or whatever.

But if you're strong in your brand, you just look at that and say that's on them. I'm good with myself. And so what I encourage everyone to do is take that time regardless of where you are in your career, to understand your brand, be comfortable with it. And then flaunt it, flaunt it. And may I just add to that?

Is that? Yes, absolutely.

I would just love to add to the piece of advice you've just given. Um, one of the things that I think is so critical is and, and I feel this for women very strongly be who you are and build on your own personality. I watch so many women and people of color trying to be something that they are not and that will equal disaster and failure because it's so it saps the energy to be constantly pretending. And you know, I learned with that example of the elocution lessons. Just jolly well, be who you are, understand yourself, understand your own personality and then build your brand on that. So many women become too aggressive in business because they try to emulate aggressive men, not a thing and actually very, very bad news, the absolute thing you should do as a young person is find out exactly who you are and then be comfortable with that. And to use the word brand brand that don't change who you are, but build on your own foundation. Otherwise you will be de energized, you'll be exhausted and you will be unhappy. I think that

well, and I love that you use the analogy of brand because let's just think about that when a company brands itself, if the, if the customer or potential customer doesn't get the brand, they don't just go OK, let's change our brand. We're gonna be something else. What do they do? They go back to strengthening their brand. How do we strengthen our brand? How do we get um somebody to build in and buy into our brand? And so I love that you guys have used that analogy about brand.

I just want to share a quote that I often use. It says, and I always say be yourself, everyone else is taken. I love

that. I do love that. So we one thing that about diversity equity, I, I really personally feel you cannot, you can have the most diverse board, you can have the most diverse c suite. But if you don't have a culture of inclusion, it's really hard to have any kind of sustainability in that change that you're trying to make. So I really want to talk a little bit about how do you drive inclusion inside an organization because that's where I see things fall apart. Um You know, you work really hard, you get diverse people and then you sit in a room and you know, whether it's, you know, somebody that identifies, you know, transgender, maybe it's, it's, it's a, you know, co of color. It's a woman. It doesn't matter if they don't feel like they have a voice, even if they're sitting at the table, you're not gonna have power and you're not gonna have effective change. So what do you guys do to really drive inclusion in the workforce. Ron. Let's start with you.

Ok. Um So there's several things, but I do believe it is tops down, but it also is grassroots. I think it's everyone all in. Um And so for me, I always have these meetings. So I'm fortunate to be in the role here at HP and I love it very inclusive organization, but I'm also on the board at Equinox, a publicly traded company and I see it there as well. And, and what I always do is there's always a prep for a meeting. I'll give an example. There's a prep for a meeting. Everyone's excited. Let's prep for the meeting and everyone's in the conversation and then everyone gets into the boardroom where there's other execs and all of a sudden, I, I this I saw this early in my career. Um Some of the, the ladies and some of the, you know, diverse candidates were wildflowers. They, for some reason, they didn't feel that they were authorized to speak. They created this, you know, this halo, this stopping point. And I was, you know, I caught wind of that early on because that was me at one point and I always made sure I would call them out. Like, what do you think about this Lisa or hey, in the prep session, Jerome, you had this great idea.

Could you please share that with the group? And as when I became in a leadership role, I encouraged it in real time to call out and I'll tell them in advance, be ready. I might throw you a softball or a T ball question in the room. I want you to show your value. I know I'm the, the leader in the room and I'm the kind of the spokesperson, but I can't do this without you. I need you to be present, right? And be prepared. And so for me, it was always, how do you do that enrique here at HP our CEO does it every day. So I think you have to encourage it. The other thing I'll quickly say is I've moved meetings around. We used to always have stand up meetings. You know, those were doing agile Scrum teams early morning meetings and I started realizing that some of our, our our females were not making it or some dads were taking kids to school. So I scheduled those meetings a little later in the day because I don't want to make sure it can be an option, take my kids to school or join the Scrum meeting. Why can't I move the Scrum meeting? So I try to find ways to make it more inclusive and make sure the time is available for everyone. But for me, it's an active, always aware, always listening, always trying to bring in the best of everyone. And so for me, that's kind of how I process it.

And I encourage that amongst my teams as Well, so, hey, what is everyone thinking? Bring him into the room and I always quote Hamilton, I've seen it 12 times to play. Uh I want to be in the room when it happens and you all want to be in the room. Now, you're in a room, you are required to be um contributors to that discussion.

That's great. And you're just reinforcing their value, their value in your organization. I love that. Garcia. How about you?

Hey, I, I really, uh you know, I capture one of Ron's um you know, his excerpts and it's really, it's, this can't be a one off where you check the box on. OK, I was inclusive at one time and you write an inclusive email to everybody. It's, it's gotta be habit. And so for those of us that typically are in the c suite, we've done this through habit. We have certain habits that have, have worked well for us. And so having the habit of inclusion, it just becomes, um it's, it's a very, you know, being healthy versus dieting, right? Being healthy just becomes your way of life. And inclusion really needs to be just that. So it's not a something, it's just the way we, we operate. And um so I kind of have this scan that I do when we have meetings in terms of always looking for fresh eyes. And do we have fresh eyes in the room? Because we often get tied to this either group think or the way it's already always been done. And fresh eyes could be early career, it could be um mature, it could be lots of experience, it could be out external experience. So you can leverage that. Uh And so um looking for the fresh eyes in, in our organization brings that inclusion and um there has to be at the basis of that psychological safety. So we do have organizations where you can include and Ron your example of women on the board.

But if there's not that psychological safety, encouraging people to step forward, it's, you're just, it's a, it's a face in the room versus really inviting that, that inclusiveness.

I love Margaret Buckley who's in the chat said that uh what she does is ask if anybody has an opposing view. So it's like that fresh set of eyes but then asking people, you know, that gives them permission to cause waves, you know, because I think another, another issue is that as well. All right. So Lee anything from you just on driving inclusion,

I, I actually think it goes way beyond meetings, way beyond meetings and way beyond the C suite. So um I, I actually do think inclusion does not happen naturally. I think people are not inclusive and you should start with that assumption. You should start with the assumption that people gravitate towards people like them and therefore, therefore, inclusion has to be worked at. It will not just happen, it will only become habit if you've worked it at grassroots. Two things I believe and two things that we do here at Palo Alto Networks. One I believe inclusivity is not a diversity issue. I think it's an individual people issue. You have introverts who are white males, you have introverts who are Asian males, you have introvert, you have different personalities, organizations need to take responsibility and they don't. But understanding that every single employee is different, every single employee, we, you know, we might all be women, we might all be men, we might be all people of color, but we are different within that, that card rate. You know, that, that, that community. And in, I actually think that employee employers have got this wrong. We have to understand that every single person is different and has unique needs at work.

So one of the things we've done is we've introduced flex work that applies to white men, Asian men, people of color women, whatever anybody can flex work their individual time because we all have different schedules. We all have different lives. We all have different needs. We have flexible benefits that are there for every single person who has different things going on in their lives. So inclusion has to start believing that every person is different and every person needs to be included. However, there are some communities that are less included than other society.

And for those communities, you need to give help and support and uplift. Um If I may, I want to share a story. Um I was at a company um not the company I'm at now and it was the most interesting all hands I've ever been in, in my life. I have no ownership of this. I'm just sharing it. Um It was during um Black History Month and a young black employee got up on the stage and it was the most extraordinary moment I've ever had in terms of de I, he stood there and he said, I've joined a tech company and you expect me to talk in meetings, you expect me to come forward and act like you, those people of you that went to Stamford or wherever, those people who have lived the life from the age of two to be told to, to be trained, to be a certain type of behavior.

I've been trained all my life to put my hoodie up and say nothing and to keep my voice low because I'm black and you asked me to suddenly change my personality because I walk in through a tech door. Hm. You could have heard a pin drop in that or for thousands of people, you could have heard a pin drop because we all suddenly went good gracious. We put these norms of behavior on people that it's not their norm of behavior. And until we understand that each and every person is different, but there are also communities that need support in a different way to be able to be themselves. We will not get the ee. Right. Right. We just won't, we have to do both, both things. And again, way beyond meetings, it goes into, it goes into personal development plans, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, I could talk about this forever but I think it's a really hard problem to crack and we need to be extraordinarily conscious of it.

Yeah. Well, and what I predict is that all three of your companies are gonna be inundated with people applying for positions because I think it is important for people to work. It's important for people to work for organizations that say what they mean and, and invest in those things. And so one thing I would tell people if you're in an organization that doesn't value any of this and, you know, is a struggle, go, go find some place to work. You know, there are incredible organizations, incredible leaders that are doing things. So, you know, and, and I think there would be a network of people to try to help you find that space. That's right. So, and we probably, I don't know if we'll have uh time or more questions than this. But I do wanna ask, do you see there's um the social responsibility and community service, does that play a role in de I ho how do those connect? So, Graciella, I'll start with you this time, I've been picking them up

again, you know, coming from a healthcare company where we all have this incredible sense of purpose for our patients. Um being part of the community is vital and um you know, just whether it's a donation of uh medical equipment or being of service within our community for our communities um with care, it's, it's super critical. And so, and then having that across uh you know, across the spectrum of community. So we're not because there's, you know, health has no gender, it has no race, it's um it's ubiquitous really. And so um when you are part of that greater whole, it, it, it makes complete sense to be entrenched and, and um you can go on our website and see the, the, the amount of um not even actually just in health care, but across ge we have our aviation and our um power and our digital businesses even outside of health care.

I think the spirit of GE um if you think that a lot of people associate GE with refrigerators and washers and dryers and things like that and we being in people's homes, it's, it's part of our GE culture really to give back and to be to resonate with our customers. And along with that becomes that has that responsibility of being inclusive um across a diverse spectrum. Because if you think of your users, they were really talking globally around the world, everyone at some point in their life has probably been touched by, by our ge products.

So there, there's a huge responsibility that comes with that. And so, um it's just, you know, it's really great. So one of the things that I wanna just um and looking at these great comments, please keep them going. Um um looking at the comments from our audience, um is that uh just having that sense of purpose. So whatever company you join and certainly the company rep you know, represented here, you can sense a passion that we bring. If you don't have that within your company, go find a place where you have that purpose and you have that sense of capability of having a sustainable um the capability to have sustainability within diversity inclusion and that, that you actually have a role in that. And so because we're out there and we want you, you want, we want you to join us?

Yeah, that's great. Ok, Ron, how about you just respon social responsibility, community service? And does that play a role in de I?

Absolutely. And, and before I kind of give this answer, I Leanne's roads are just lingering from the last, I mean, one of those things like, thank you because, you know, you said it so eloquently the way you put that, that I just perfect like and how do we build on that? So let's not forget what Leanna said in that last question. Please like it's just there. But on this question, uh we do have a responsibility I think for, to be a lot more inclusive and diverse organization. We do have to invest in the communities around us. We have to reach out and you know, the thing about, you know, there's three examples and I'll provide examples here at HP that, you know, part of this is a, you know, recruiting pitch, hopefully. Um but one is um as an organization partnering with HPC us is something, it's not cliche. We actually meet with them regularly. I meet with the cio s, but we talk about how could we actually help them work on the curriculum as a CIO and I've been kind of in the game for 25 years. What are the skills that I I'm looking for?

And so what could, you know, they could work on the curriculum? That's one thing, the second thing HP has done, which kind of blows me away and I wasn't aware of it until I got to know our treasurer a little bit better. Uh He invested and made major deposits in two banks, a bank in Detroit and a bank in Houston. And these were in um Black black areas. And the idea there is just to put the, the deposits there. And so that money could be reinvested in the local communities. So it's a very intentional effort to invest in that community. And the third one is for me is a personal one. This one really hit home. Um So my parents are from Haiti. They migrated back in the late sixties. And so I go back to Haiti whenever I can. We all know the story of Haiti is proud. We kicked out Napoleon. We've paid for it ever since. And um but the one thing that I'm proud of when I used to go back to the island, we couldn't go on the beaches, right? It was so strewn with garbage and stuff. HP has a recycling center on the island and ocean bomb materials are now used for the dragon fry laptop that I'm using today. 60% of this laptop is made from the recycled materials from Haiti. And I actually found out on a recent discussion.

I have a second cousin who works at that facility and his job and he's, he's creating a life for himself and his family that is just par on something that HP is not only talking about it, they're doing it. And so those are the things that are super important. So yes, to answer your question again. Um Community involvement, community engagement is so critical for DN I because we all work in a bubble and we got to get out of that bubble and see exactly what our work to do for the communities around us.

Yeah, I think it's how we learn. It's how we gain understanding. It's how we hear people's stories so that our perspectives change. You know, I think le and you had a great story of maybe how people's perspective will change when you're asking somebody to be different than who they are. Instead of saying, help me understand who you are and what drives you and you know, how you operate. So I, I love that story

and the storytelling really is what drives culture, it really is. And if, you know, if we, if we have old stories, it's never time like the present to actually create our new stories. And so if you feel like you're in a place where this um don't have that diversity inclusion, now start start today, start at this moment forward, creating the new stories.

I have a question from the chat. Um What do you do when a society refuses diversity and inclusion and results lead to alienation instead?

Mm I, I'm not sure can I can I just go back to the sustainability? And absolutely, I, I just want to, before we ask that question, I just want to say one thing just to echo what Ron and Graciela have said. Um listen, every company that's any good does good things for their communities. End of companies that aren't good, don't. And I'm sure we all do an array of things. The most important thing. The most important thing I truly believe about community giving all of the masses and masses and masses of what we do is one let our employees choose where they want to do good. Don't let the company tell them and we do that. And, and two, it's the truth when you do good for others, you feel good for yourself. So let's not underestimate the importance and the power of doing good. If you think you're good people doing good things, you're gonna be so much happier at work. So I don't care where you work but work for a blooming good company, doing good things for good people, right? And

I, I do think that the society question which is, that's a big, a big buy. I do feel like, you know, starting where you are with what you just said in your organization doing good where you can in your families, in your communities, you know, I do feel like it, you know, to buy, it's like it's like drinking the ocean, right? It's like you got just start somewhere. So I think maybe just where you are and what you have impact on or go join those organizations that are doing good for good people. You know, I love that

and then that I think that kind of answers your question that you, you had um you know, given to us is that we all have choices, be in a place where you can make a difference. We have, you know, this limited time on earth, we have our energy being and our time being our most valuable assets that we have actively take control of that, take control of your brand where you put it where you put your energy uh to use. And, and um so if you're not in an environment where you with diversity and inclusion and equity, go, go find that place. I mean, you can see the three examples here where, where we have it and we have openings.

So, and, and there's so many people in the chat that say they work for great organizations, go back, scroll up and look who they are, connect with them. Um You know, there's one other thing, you know, we talk about the great resignation and I hate when I see articles like that because I feel like what's happening are people are leaving companies that don't serve a higher good and they're joining people where they feel they have purpose, they're going to organizations that are, are getting it.

So I feel like there's, you know, there's a transition of people that um are going. So if you're a company that has a lot of people resigning, you know, maybe that's a wake up call that maybe that's a wake up call that, you know, you need to look at what you're doing.

Um Just go back to the question for a sec. I absolutely, there are so many things that can make us all feel disempowered, sad. You know, when I, every time I turn the news on, I almost wanna cry every single blooming day and I've gone through that whole thing in my life of, I just can't take this anymore. I can't take the pain. I can't take what I see. I can't say the, see, the, take the bad stuff. I go back to what Graciella said. The only way through the pain in this world and the terrible, terrible things that we see on the TV, every day is to do something yourself that makes you feel good. And it might be a tiny, tiny weeny thing, a tiny weeny thing, but it's all you can do. It's all you. I I've really learned. All you can do is start where you are to just echo what everybody else has said because it's too exhausting and it's just too negative to think about the be and some of the terrible things that are happening.

Right, Ron, I'm gonna give you a chance for any final comments. We're kind of coming to our time. So anything from you?

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. All right. I was still mesmerized with the words of the ladies. Um So, so for me again, thank you for this forum. Thank you for the conversation. And if I could double click on something Leanne just said, um it is sobering when you watch the news, it, it's, it hurts it, it honestly does. Um And so for me, everyone has moments in their life that kind of changes you a little and I'll just give two quick examples here in Chicago at 16. Unfortunately, I was a victim of a gunshot and uh I lost a family member. Um and I witnessed it and so for me, gun control is something that's always top of mind for me. And so I started partnering and doing a guns for sneakers program when I was in high school to try to get people off the streets. Right. That was that one thing. And after the earthquake in Haiti, I lost 12 family members in a quake. One of them called me the night of the earthquake and I didn't answer and it always resonated that. What if I answered? And so I'm now on a board called SBP and we rebuild homes after natural disasters in the US. Those are two things, the trigger points and there's others, we all have them that made me. So what could I do different?

Um and make a change so I could change the news headlines to say here are the good things that are happening in this world. So thank you. And I just sparked that thought, I think we all could find those moments and those opportunities.

Well, it has been an honor to moderate this panel as you all can see um in a did a phenomenal job of pulling these three together with your experience. Um You have their links to um linked in bio, so please connect with them. And again, you know, I'm gonna end with uh somebody here in the chat said in their company, they um are asked to do well and then to, or to do good things and then do well, something like that. There's been so many, so much interaction in there. So I love that. I um as our kind of mission is to go out and like Lean said, just do one thing that makes you feel good about what you're doing um in your organization. Thank you all for joining us. We really appreciate it and we look forward for more conversations in the future.

Great moderation. Thank you.

Uh huh. Thank you guys so

much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Annette Graciella Ro Leon. That was a fantastic, that was a fantastic panel, excellent session. I think, I don't know hundreds of comments at least to say it was really hard to track. I was just project some of them. You just brought this really authentic selves to our conference. That's exactly what we're looking for and I'm super honored to have had you today with us and thank you so much for making time for this conversation because our audience, women in tech and the tech world needs such conversations. Thank you very much for being with us today.

That was amazing. I don't know. Hundreds of more comments are coming right now. I'm

thank you, Anna. You're the one that put this together. So thank you.