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“I have always firmly believed that work should have a higher purpose.” — Lenny Stein
Lenny Stein, SVP of Global Affairs at Splunk, heads up Splunk’s global corporate, government affairs and social impact initiatives including Splunk for Good, an “effort to identify means and work with groups that can use the power of data to improve the human condition.” Partners of Splunk for Good include The Global Emancipation Network, with whom Splunk is helping to try to put an end to human trafficking.
Prior to joining Splunk eight years ago, Lenny received his law degree at Harvard and went into private practice with a focus on public policy. He worked with the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board and was a staff member on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Through all of this experience, Lenny has discovered the importance of work going beyond serving the individual’s needs.
“I have always firmly believed that work should have a higher purpose,” Lenny says. “In addition to providing a source of income and sustenance, work should provide the opportunity to leave the world in a better position than we found it. And I have constantly found that a higher purpose animating a corporate environment makes all the difference between what a company can achieve and what it can’t.”
On this episode, Chad and Lenny discuss the three main focus areas of Splunk for Good — disaster relief, cybersecurity and job training — the partners Splunk is working with in these areas, and why Lenny believes work should always have a higher purpose.
Quotes from Lenny:
“Splunk is trying to solve the world’s problems and we are in a hurry. Today we see the potential of data to help improve the human condition.”
“One of the things that has become very clear is that we lack a common stand, either within the United States or globally, when it comes to appropriate protections when it comes to individual privacy. Part of the challenge we face is the difficulty of our traditional legislative processes to keep up with the rate of technological change.”
“Dark data refers to the data that exists within organizations that the organizations don’t know exists let alone don’t understand the value of that data either for their business or for other stakeholders.”
“I have always firmly believed that work should have a higher purpose. In addition to providing a source of income and sustenance, work should provide the opportunity to leave the world in a better position than we found it. And I have constantly found that a higher purpose animating a corporate environment makes all the difference between what a company can achieve and what it can’t.”
“There are no dress rehearsals in life. If you’re not having fun doing what you’re doing, then you need to be doing something else.”
