Inside Illumio Values: Seeking Out Those Who Seek Truth

Wondering what it’s really like to work at Illumio? This series, written by employees, drills down into Illumio’s core values. Hear from Sean Duggan, Data Analytics Manager, People Operations, about how we ‘seek truth’.

Have you ever had a colleague that gave up seeking truth in their work? Someone that stopped asking the most important question on a project: is this the right thing to do?

When I see someone who has stopped seeking truth, it rarely has to do with a lack of curiosity, passion for a project or understanding of the corporate strategy. More often, it is because they raised too many questions, got shot down too many times and they determined that the quickest way to get a project off their plate was to stay quiet and check a box.

The only way to avoid this outcome is to build a culture rooted in pursuing truth. This trait revealed itself to me during my very first meetings with Illumio’s senior leadership, including our CEO Andrew Rubin. They asked pointed questions—wanting to understand my perspective, my own core values and how they aligned to seeking truth.

Since joining Illumio, I have had the opportunity to see this value play out in countless ways. At our annual employee conference, Onwards, Andrew Rubin asked employees to ruminate on the below points:

• Ask yourself if what you are focused on is it tied to our strategy
• Equally and honestly, ask yourself if you are getting in the way of our strategy
• Openly seek truth when something is getting in the way
• Disagree, debate and come together

With these empowering words, our focus as a team remains aligned. No one here comes to work to check boxes on a to-do list. We come to do real, value-added work that drives our growth strategy, supports our customers and makes a difference for a world facing unprecedented cybersecurity threats. If anyone ever starts to question whether what they are doing matters, they have an Illumio value-stamped license to stop and seek truth.

We, as Illumineers, also had the opportunity to watch this value play out as we responded to the challenges of the pandemic, its impact on work-life balance, and our operating model. Weeks after California’s shelter-in-place order went into effect, Illumio sent out its first pulse survey. The People Team and our Executive Staff leveraged these surveys at regular intervals to check in on individuals and see how they were transitioning to Work-from-Home. Mostly, Illumineers felt supported through the programs and initiatives designed to ensure a smooth transition. However, the surveys revealed that a high percentage of team members were not opting for time off and this was taking a toll on our collective mental health.

Illumio shared the results of the survey with the entire company. Then, introduced ‘Illumineer Days’: holidays offered to counteract the reluctance to take time off. These Illumineer Days proved a success in allowing our people to unplug from work and come back ready to focus on the opportunities before us. All of this came about because Illumio was first willing to seek truth and take action in response, even when it meant looking at hard realities and challenging workforce dynamics.

If seeking truth is a value that you consider core to your own professional journey, I invite you to explore our current opportunities at Careers at Illumio.