Shelly Blackburn missed BIG time in security bookings. Don’t let the earnings announcement fool you. Yes, Security was up 13% but that includes reoccurring revenue, but Security bookings were completely down and did not make plan. Of course,?there has been no email from Shelly cause she is completely inept. She has no prior Sales Leadership experience and it shows. Why Cisco put someone with no sales leadership experience in charge of one the hottest technology markets is beyond belief. She is trying to go big in Small and Midsize and those customer segments don’t move the needle and that is reality. She had a chance to invest in security and completely blew it. Palo Alto, Microsoft, Crowdstrike, Zscaler and our other competitors have industry veterans leading their sales and we have someone with no sales leadership experience leading ours. Security is at its hottest ever in the industry and Cisco is failing just like it failed to miss the AWS transition. In my 20+ years of sales, I have never seen a worse Sales VP then Shelly. How can Cisco sc--w up again and miss on one of the hottest technologies.
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And now she as VP in Microsoft!! Ohhh gosh....
The overarching point is not about genitalia - it is about merit and capability. I don't personally think she is terribly qualified for the current role, but not because she is a woman, nor do I think that her replacement is qualified for that role either, also having nothing to do with her biology. There is absolutely this artificial philosophy going on, there are other people who have been "placed" into roles where they are completely unqualified in that food chain as well - and this culture is absolutely led and encouraged by Gerri and Maria. I can't possibly comprehend how any of this chromosome override is of any value to the shareholders in the company. But at the end of the day - Chuck Robbins is the person responsible. He hired these people, and apparently approves of their decision making process - and that is ultimately who must be held to account.
Agree the “uterus” comment is low. I have no problem with women in leadership as there are very deserving women that are leaders me should be in official leadership roles. Unfortunately, Shelly is not someone that should be in a VP role, especially a Sales VP role. Her upcoming Q4 Town Hall this week will be about her and her strategy, how it is coming together and security is poised to grow due to her. She will have an excuse for why security missed the bookings. Of course, it will not be her fault but it will be everyone else fault. That is Shelly from years gone by from her collaboration days to her SEM days to her partner days, even when she was VP of security engineering. Shelly NEVER takes the fall but someone else will. One last thing, Shelly will open up the town hall reminding everyone in attendance that she is a VP.
The uterus comment is low down to the ground and beyond comprehension. Grow up man. I’m all for calling people out but talking underneath their clothes is utterly ridiculous. Knock it off.
The comment about Shelly - "But she has a uterus" is low. There are plenty of horrible male leaders out there and they keep getting promoted - I remember the previous Sales Security Leader who got promoted 3 times up to SVP despite missing his numbers every year. He just happened to be the son of a previous CFO and only left because he found a better job somewhere else - where he didn't last more than a year.
You may come here with bitterness about Cisco being "woke" or diversity, but you are missing the point. Cisco's issue is the same as it was with JC: it has always been about who you know, not what you do or accomplish.
Thank you Cisco.
PAN
Where is Shelly’s email or video recording bragging about her strategy and plan. Yep, non-existent as she is a joke. All we ever hear from her is “My strategy….” or ”my plan….” She is right, it is her strategy and her plan that has decreased security sales bookings while the competitors security bookings are growing significantly. Are you kidding me that we are decreasing security bookings in one of the hottest technologies out there. No email or video from her now. She has no sales leadership experience at all and it is clear she has no idea to lead a sales organization.
Cisco has the same relationship based culture as the Soviet Union. It's not about merit or performance, but your status in the communist federation party.
Cisco executives could have 25 failed initiatives and still be paid millions.
I am in GSSO and agree with the post. Shelly is literally clueless. She needs to be replaced. She ruined the security sales engineering team, then hired another one of her friends, who is unquestionably unqualified, to take over security sales engineering, and now Shelly has literally shrunk the security sales when all the competitors are growing 2x, 3x, and more. They need to replace anyone she has hired.
There is plenty of fat in Security, only a few actually care, and the rest are there to do the minimal and use work-life balance as an excuse.
The OP is worthless and clueless even after 20 years at Cisco. If you've really been at the company that long you'd already know Cisco hardly gets it right. Shelly becoming a security leader despite6e experience duh it's Cisco that's how they roll.
But she has a uterus!!!
Shots fired, shots fired!!!