Let’s say your favorite ingredient in soup is cabbage. If I made you soup with just hot water and cabbage, would you enjoy it? Not likely. It’s bland – lacking kick, spice, sweetness, and umph.

We live in a world of vibrant colors, sweet smells, varied sounds, deep traditions, rich cultures and, yes, spices (much like the essential ‘spice’ in the world of Dune – a vital, life-enhancing element in a beloved sci-fi saga)!

So, why settle for a single ingredient in our soup? Diversity is the spice of life, and a single-note broth is boring.

Our soup

Our business goal, our big hairy audacious goal, is to become the most widely used platform to help our customers bring their ideas to life – to take a dream and create an invention; to build, run, and support software services.

These customers will think differently than you. They bring their own, equally valuable, perspectives, experiences, pressures, cultures, expectations, ideas, and views. All of these may be shaped by their place of birth, race, age, creed, culture, religion, gender, orientation, or other unique qualities that make them wonderfully different from you and me.

If we are to best serve this diverse customer base, we too must learn all we can about each one. Better yet, our own employee group should be a microcosm – a special soup brimming with wonderfully spicy, salty, savory, and sweet ingredients. 

And, not or

Perhaps the most important concept of inclusion is deciding to use “and” instead of “or”.
“Or” implies a winner or a loser; it signifies scarcity, is binary, and forces a choice of one or the other.
“And” implies inclusion, a growth mindset, and a world of abundance.  
Which sounds more correct? A world of scarcity and binary decisions, or a world of possibilities, growth, and potential?
At Atono, we choose “and”. We work as a team and we grow individually. We speak with candor and with respect.

Embrace diversity

We invite ideas, perspectives, and experiences different from our own. We seek opportunities to assist those working through disadvantaged circumstances. We don’t want our employees or customers to ever shield their authentic selves. Instead, we look to learn from and celebrate what makes each individual uniquely themselves.