Technology is changing quickly, and governments around the world are making consequential decisions about how to capture its benefits while managing new risks.
At Cisco, Government Affairs works at the center of those conversations. Whether discussing super intelligence or artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, or digital infrastructure, our role is to bring together policy and technical expertise, help policymakers understand what is possible, and support approaches that strengthen security and connectivity, enable innovation and adoption, and expand the benefits of technology.
That work requires the ability to translate complexity into clarity, build trust across institutions, and bring different perspectives together around practical solutions.
My year as a Fellow in the 2026 CSIS Women’s Global Leadership Program reinforced just how important those skills are.
Alongside 24 senior women from business, defense, intelligence, and diplomacy, I spent the year examining geopolitical and policy challenges while also being pushed into experiences designed to test how we communicate, collaborate, and lead.
Some of the most valuable lessons came from unexpected places.
In one session, we faced live interviews with a national journalist, challenging us to distill complex policy issues into clear, concise messages under pressure. In another, we conducted a live symphony orchestra. The lesson was immediate: policy leadership rests on clear direction, close listening, and defined alignment.
We later took those lessons onto the Potomac River in tandem canoes, where trust, coordination, and adaptability mattered more than the individual titles or expertise we held. If you were not aligned, you did not move forward.
Those experiences felt surprisingly relevant to the work we do every day. At Cisco, we bring a global, yet uniquely local, view of how technology is and can be deployed, how policy choices can affect networks, businesses, and communities, and where greater coordination can help deliver better outcomes. Government Affairs works with policymakers to connect those real-world insights to public policy objectives and help turn broad ambitions into practical, workable approaches.
Doing this well means understanding not only a stakeholder’s position, but the priorities and concerns behind it. It means communicating complex technology issues in a way that is clear and useful. And it means building enough trust across government, industry, and partners to identify where interests can align.
That ability matters even more as technology policy becomes more interconnected. A decision about AI can quickly become a conversation about workforce, energy, security, or competitiveness. Cybersecurity policy can affect everything from critical infrastructure to international trade. Data rules can shape whether businesses and governments are able to securely operate across borders. And in this environment, no one person or organization may have every answer.
Ultimately, progress depends on more than having the right ideas. It requires earned trust, clarity, and the ability to bring people together around a shared path forward — a commitment Cisco brings to every discussion.
