Values...

As I wrote recently in my reflection on 20 years at Omniture & Adobe, I have come to learn the most important elements that make a great place to work are the values, and of course the people that hold them. Culture truly is a competitive advance and strong values are a basis for culture. I'm so pleased and blessed to work for a company that esteems such high values and expects the best from employees. While many companies boast strong values, I want to share a bit about my experience at Adobe and how the people here embrace them.

Adobe's core values are to be: Genuine, Exceptional, Innovative, & Involved. I'm so grateful to be part of a company that is clear about values and holds employees to a high bar. I've reflected on these values and want to share a few thoughts about each...

Genuine - What a word! This one word truly captures the people at Adobe. Honest people with integrity that partner and engage in collaborative and respectful ways. We encourage a culture of regular career check-ins and open dialogue across teams and managers. As both a leadership team and across the broader employee base, we talk about working across organizational boundaries and titles to solve problems and delight our customers. We embrace diversity and hope all employees feel safe and comfortable being their genuine self.

Exceptional - I'm truly blessed to have been able to (and still continue to) rub shoulders and work with truly exceptional people. While this includes our exceptional executive leadership with folks such as Shantanu Narayen, Donna Morris, Abhay Parasnis, and Brad Rencher, it doesn't stop there. Across the organization, from fabulous interns we host each year, to Sr. technical talent and leaders, there are so many great people to learn from and work with. Finally, we talk about delighting our customers and provide exceptional experiences with our solutions. This concept truly encompasses all that we are and strive to be.

Innovative - For nearly ten years, I've watched innovation in our Experience Cloud business, evolving from Analytics to Marketing tools, to Enterprise Experience and now into commerce (Magento acquisition) and B2B marketing automation, which we announced recently through the acquisition of Marketo. We are adding amazing new capabilities to our creative solutions on the desktop and mobile devices, and more recently you can see the amazing work that is happening and still coming around AI, ML, and VR. Our CEO regularly speaks of "looking around the corner," a concept our leaders and innovators have truly embraced.

Involved - I'm regularly amazed, though I should probably stop being surprised as it's just who the people are, at the willingness and desire to give back to our Adobe communities. Whether it be San Jose, India, Romania, Boston, or Utah, I see our Adobe team giving back though Sub-for-Santa programs, our annual week of caring with United Way, assembling refugee kids, working with the Boy Scouts, mentoring and encouraging high school students in STEAM, helping the homeless, and the list goes on.

While these values capture so many great aspects of what's important to and at Adobe, there certainly are other themes that span these topics. Let me share a few thoughts on a few other topics...Diversity & Inclusion, and Pay Parity. Personally, I feel strongly about the value and benefits of building diverse teams. Utah, where I am based, presents some unique challenges in this area, but I'm so grateful to have great team members and talent partners to help us build diverse teams and to ensure everyone feels welcome and included.

Adobe has also become a leader in pay parity across gender, working hard to ensure we pay both men and women fairly for the same roles. Our pay parity, parental leave, and other programs are leading the industry. We even recently announced a new parental leave program, providing up to 16 weeks of paid leave for either parent of a new child.

At the end of the day, some would say that a 'job' is 'work.' But it doesn't have to be (and shouldn't be) just that. It's an opportunity to share a passion, build great relationships with customers and coworkers, and make the world a better place. The strong core values at Adobe help drive us toward these objectives and I look forward to more great things to come.

To my friends and co-workers who embrace and live these values so well, THANK YOU!

If you love what you hear, and feel you represent these values, consider joining our amazing team. Check out the opportunities at adobe.com/careers. #adobelife

The opinions expressed are my own and not those of my employer.