With Intel’s recent move to promote better hiring practices, many tech companies have begun to take a harder look at issues of diversity in the workplace. At the VMwomen Panel, Renee Zaugg, VP of IT Infrastructure and Application Development at Aetna, Inc., spoke to a packed audience of both men and women about how to make sure people of all genders have equal opportunities at work.

In an interview with Jeff Frick, cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, Zaugg brought up the importance of intentionality in improving gender inequality, saying that unequal treatment is frequently not on purpose or even recognized. “No one does that intentionally,” she said. “It’s in our fabric of how we grew up and how our preferences are, and it’s so easy to sit back and do what you’re used to versus doing something uncomfortable.”

But doing things that are uncomfortable is part of how the tech industry has produced so many innovations, and diverse workplaces can be a core part of that strategy. “As leaders in our industry, we need to disrupt, we need to innovate, and you’re not going to do it with the same people,” Zaugg said.

Big companies like Intel can afford to make broad changes in their policies to improve hiring, promotions and compensation on a large scale. But Zaugg offered strategies that individuals and smaller companies can also take advantage of to benefit from a bigger pool of perspectives. “Everybody has their go-to people,” she said, but it’s important to continually develop and widen that trusted circle.

“Go to somebody else,” she stated. “And you know what you’re going to find is that the go-to people are exhausted!” Many times, those key players are grateful to have more support and fresh ideas. “What you’re doing is you’re developing somebody else and getting a different perspective.”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage.

Photo by SiliconANGLE