 From Palo Alto, it's theCUBE, covering Women Transforming Technology 2017. Brought to you by VMware. Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of Women Transforming Technology. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight, and I'm here at VMware with Cindy Braun. She is the Vice President of Social Impact here at VMware. Hey, Rebecca. Welcome. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Thank you, it's great to be here. So first of all, I want to commend you because this conference is fantastic and you really taken a lot, you put it together. We did, of course it's a consortium so we could not do this without the partners that we have and of course the great team that is working on this. So, you know, certainly can't take credit for it but it is, the team has been tremendous in putting this together. Well, some of the feedback that I'm hearing is that this conference has a great mix of technical sessions but then also professional career-based sessions. Wow, what's the balance that you're trying to strike when you're putting it together? Sure, so this is actually part of what we are aiming at is, you know, there are other conferences that focus on technical women, that focus on women in a certain industry and this is where we wanted to have that conversation to build a community for women in tech and I think it's a bit of a uniqueness around that being able to create the network, the support system, the conversation that is happening and becoming even more important in today's world and that's what we're trying to do here is how do you create the conversation, how do you continue the conversation and this is our second year of doing it. Obviously last year was such a success that coming back this year was almost a no-brainer and something that we really wanted to invest in. And the theme, breaking barriers. What was the thought behind that? You know, I think it's where we're at from a diversity perspective where most companies, particularly in Silicon Valley and in tech areas, how do we break those barriers? How do we break through? How do we take other people's stories and tell the story of breaking through, of building momentum? And, you know, we've got a lot of work to do but this is where VMware is focused is how are we going to pull together and make change? And, you know, for us it's always been driving it into the business of making it a business-led initiative as opposed to an HR-led initiative which is where a lot of companies do this and really making it, you know, both top down and bottom up because it's about changing consciousness, it's about changing the conversation and it's about seeing the movement in both the diversity side which is the numbers associated with it and the inclusiveness side which is how do you bring your whole self to work? How do you feel comfortable? And that's also, you know, you can see from where we're, you know, the kind of people that are here that's what it's about is how do we change the face of, you know, women in technology? Glorious Dynam is giving the closing address, what a bold choice. To choose a feminist, I mean, this is a women transforming technology is the conference and choosing a feminist icon to close it out. Right. Talk to that. We were obviously having discussions who would be the right choice and her name came up and really it was, wow, could we get her? And she was available and I think we're going to all be in for a treat this afternoon. You know, we just got to spend some time with her one-on-one Q&A and it is run so deep with her. She's actually pretty soft-spoken, she's, you know, but you can see that this is how she lives and breathes her life and I'm just so excited. I can't wait to get in there and hear the keynote. One of your responsibilities here at VMware is being in charge of the foundation and VMware has a very unique approach to giving. Yeah. Tell us more about that. So, you know, the approach that we've had is again, most of what VMware's in our culture is about is about choice and about engaging our people as opposed to many other sort of giving philosophies which is really a top-down approach. So what we do is really give our employees the same, you know, where do they want to give? How do they want to engage? And, you know, we call this citizen philanthropy and we talk about it that every individual can make a difference and that's citizen philanthropy but at the end of the day, that's how we get to having a collective impact, right? And it has been phenomenal. We have done, you know, some work internally around employee engagement, what does this mean? And we're seeing phenomenal results from, you know, just how embedded this is in our culture, how proud people are of being able to give in this way, how much they value this as a culture. And we're seeing more and more of this, you know, within all of our employees. You know, most people talking about millennials, you know, really wanting to have this sense of purpose but I'm seeing it across the spectrum. It's not just millennials, it's people as my age which is much more than a millennial. All the way across which is how do we get that sense of purpose, how do we give back? And that's essentially what the foundation approaches is how do we awaken the philanthropists in everyone? So where are the, where are employees giving back? I mean, give me some examples of how citizen philanthropy plays out. Across the board, so, you know, we invite our employees to engage, we invite our employees to, and we very generously offer 40 hours of service learning, right? I think just even that phrase, we don't call it volunteerism because really we're focusing on the being of service and what do you learn from that, right? And I think that has a profound impact on people and it's not just about oh, I'm going to do two hours here or there, it's seeing the impact this has and then being able to apply it back to their own, you know, selves and see how this grows them and changes their perspective of the world. You know, when we first launched the foundation, it was under this then CEO, Paul Moritz, and he's made this comment of, you know, anybody who works here has won the lottery of life, right? And it is, it's part of who we are and being able to give back is such a tremendous privilege and people feel that and we can, we see it. I mean, we just did a survey and we're working on our employee NPS score, which is, you know, would they recommend the company? And we found that those employees that have engaged in our foundation programs are, you know, 25% more likely to recommend the company. So you can see how this is really embedded. So it has an effect on retention. A, retention, B, the culture, and that in turn has an impact on hiring because they're recommended to their friends and who, again, are looking for more in a company than just how am I going to earn my paycheck? And I think that's part of what the foundation allows us to accomplish for people. I mean, I think that quote from your former CEO has stayed with me, you've won the lottery of life. Do you think that that is part of the culture in Silicon Valley too? I mean, there's a humility there. I mean, gotta be honest, it doesn't appear that way. There's a lot of privilege out there. And I think that's the opportunity that we have. And I think we're seeing some of this changing, you know, with the Warren Buffett's giving away his money, with what the Gates Foundation is doing out there. But I think there's a constant reminder of that sense of privilege, that where we are in the world and how, you know, we almost have a responsibility to give back and make a difference for others. Sorry. Well, Cindy Braun, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, this has been a pleasure. I'm Rebecca Knight, your host at theCUBE. This is Women Transforming Technology at VMware. We'll be right back.