Cisco CEO: To achieve gender diversity in business, 'men have to consciously lean in'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In March 2013, Cisco CEO John Chambers sent out a memo to all 400 of his most senior employees, vice president and above.

“We can no longer pretend that biases don’t exist, nor can we talk around them,” he wrote, quoting Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in her book Lean In. “The result of creating a more equal environment will not just be better performance for our organizations, but quite likely greater happiness for all.”

Earlier that year, at a conference, Chambers heard Sandberg talk about the shortage of women in leadership positions throughout the corporate world. He realized that if he didn’t start taking the gender divide in the technology industry seriously, Cisco would fall behind its competitors. Chambers implored Cisco executives to not only read Sandberg’s book, but also identify specific changes they could implement to make Cisco’s culture more inclusive. (Sandberg most recently co-wrote with Adam Grant an op-ed in the New York Times on the subject.)

Two years after sending out his company-wide rally cry, Chambers caught up with Fortune to discuss the state of gender diversity at Cisco and the tech industry. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.'