The Grass is Greener When You Come Home

Yves-Laurent Sivuilu, Director, Cortex Systems Engineering, Americas

I left Palo Alto Networks about a year-and-a-half ago to work with a partner company and I learned a great deal about the business from their perspective.

However, I had a moment of realization during a meeting in Texas.

I attended a breakfast—chicken and waffles with eggs and coffee—with the CIO and CISO of a large Oil and Gas company and the conversation turned to cybersecurity, then shifted again to the toll the challenges of cybersecurity was taking on their personal lives.

The talk took many turns and shifted to cybersecurity providers and Palo Alto Networks came to the top of the list. As they discussed the Palo Alto Networks team, its willingness to help and its professionalism, it was at that very moment that I decided I wanted to come back.

I missed the culture, the collaboration and the friendships, and I missed being at the forefront of innovation and using it to positively impact the lives of other people.

Since I returned, my experience has been fantastic and exceeded all of my expectations. I have never felt more welcome. I was at a leadership meeting off-site recently and when I took the microphone to make a comment, I got an ovation. 

Everybody there wanted to welcome me back and it was a very emotional moment for me.

I am humbled by the opportunity to return and make a difference and I can tell you that the grass is not greener on the other side. In fact, the competition envies us and they want to be on this boat, taking the journey that we are already on.

My experience also taught me that life is about people and moments. If I can leverage the technology from Palo Alto Networks to give people back some of those moments, those hours, whether it’s time with children or loved ones, whatever it is, I have made an impact.

If we all do that collectively, then we have made an impact.

I wanted to be true to myself, I wanted to come back to the forefront of innovation, being able to use technology to make the condition of the human race better.

Coming back has been wonderful and I want to thank everyone for welcoming me. I truly feel at home.