Healing from recent events through compassion, curiosity and care towards one anotherThe recent events we’re witnessing across our country are tragic and heart-wrenching. From the violence and senseless loss of life of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, to the incident with Christian Cooper and the reports of escalating anti-Asian American acts in response to COVID-19. My heart aches for their families and communities – and for our Intel employees that are navigating racism, hate or discrimination in any form. I am shocked and saddened by what’s happening and, like so many others, processing this on top of an already stressful environment.
What I've heard from our employees on recent eventsOver recent days, many of our employees have reached out to me and to other Intel leaders, expressing their fears – not only for themselves, but for their families and friends. I appreciate every employee who has sent messages, participated in community discussions, and supported one another. I understand the pain and heartbreak of being subjected to bias and fearing for the safety and well-being of your loved ones. Thank you for your courage in voicing your concerns and for your compassion in coming together to help one another cope and heal. I want to especially acknowledge our Chief Diversity, Inclusion & Social Impact leader, Barbara Whye, for her continued outreach and support across an array of Intel communities. I encourage you to pause and read her thought-provoking post:
Where is the Human in Humanity?
Our commitment to a diverse, inclusive environment remains unwaveringAt Intel, we remain steadfastly committed to creating the most diverse and inclusive workforce on the planet, where our employees can thrive and bring their authentic selves to work every day. But it takes more than words to drive change – it takes being fully committed to taking actions. Through our 2030 corporate social responsibility goals
recently announced, we’re demonstrating our commitment to tackling societal challenges together. This is the right thing to do for our employees and for our business.
Ways that all of us can helpMany of you are asking what you can do to help. I've thought about some simple, yet powerful actions that I believe will make a difference. I also welcome your ideas and suggestions.
- Have greater empathy and compassion for one another. Practice active listening – seek to understand. You can never fully know what others’ experience is – but we can all work to get to know each other just a little bit better.
- Be more open to different perspectives and actively inform your thinking with diverse points of view. Acknowledge that we all have biases based on our own experiences. We can take deliberate action to be more open-minded and accepting, and less immovable in our views.
- Help live into our Intel values. Show up both internally and externally as the best version of ourselves – anchored in truth and inclusion, compelled to use our talents and technology to do good in the world.
- If you’re a manager, check in on your teams. Have open conversations, acknowledge their pain, anger, worries – and lean into their hopes and aspirations. As leaders, we have an important role to play in helping our employees through difficult times – and emerging a stronger and more unified team.
Please know that you're not alone and that we are always stronger together. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with you.
Stay safe and please help take care of one another.
(Note: this was originally an Intel internal blog post for Intel employees)
Sandra L. Rivera is executive vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and AI Group at Intel Corporation. She leads Intel’s development of leadership data center products for a cloud-based world, including Intel® Xeon® and field programmable gate array (FPGA) products. She also drives the company’s overall artificial intelligence (AI) strategy and product roadmap.
Before assuming her current role, Rivera was Intel’s chief people officer, leading the company’s Human Resources organization worldwide. In that role, she was responsible for greater business results through a culture that embraces diversity and inclusion. She also previously led the Network Platforms Group of over 3,000 employees that drove the transformation of network infrastructure to Intel-based solutions and enabled breakthrough ways to integrate Intel’s silicon and software portfolio to create greater customer value.
Rivera joined Intel in 2000 as a marketing director after the acquisition of Dialogic Corp. Before joining Intel, Rivera co-founded and served as president of The CTI Authority and served as president of the computer telephony division at Catalyst Telecom.
Rivera holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. She sits on the Equinix board of directors; she is a member of Berkeley’s engineering advisory board and a member of the Intel Foundation Board; and she is part of Intel’s Latinx Leadership Council.