Cisco is great coast company. No new ideas allowed and when you tries innovative all managers don’t allow by putting up hurdles and process. They like failing. Now I just coast and fall inline until i get new job outside.
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authority without accountability is the objective at the senior level of corporate america. who wants to be held accountable for bad decisions? let the guy with 3 kids and a mortgage take the blame for bad decisions
When was there ever accountability at Cisco?? Chambers was always perpetually 3-5 years out from being accountable for anything. Anyone up the correct management chain was never help accountable for anything. If you weren't in that chain, you get blamed for all the sh-t, even if you weren't accountable. I remember many EPM reviews with my managers where accountability was always brought up and I just sat there staring at them with a sh-t eating grin on my face.
"Making people accountable, reward risk taking, encourage cross functional collaboration, that sort of thing. But for that to happen, Robbins must go."
Switch companies. That type of culture is not necessary at a company that sells & markets legacy network equipment. Cisco needs a divided workforce that lacks accountability.
Once the sales culture took control of the company, there was no more striving for technical excellence. In fact, technical excellence meant sales people actually had to learn something hard and explain it. It was just much easier just selling ethernet switches and set top boxes.
Y’all think the grass is greener everywhere else. Look at Tesla axing its entire autonomous driving vehicle division in a second. We’re talking about 200 top-notch computer scientists with skills that are very difficult to find. Gone because of an unstable egomaniac CEO. And brace for the Twitter disaster that’s now looming because of Musk’s childish attitude. Or what has Apple released in the past decade that really made you go ‘wow that is so insane’! They only cater to fanboys, the innovation ideas blackboard has run out of chalk. Many places inside Cisco suck for sure, the ELT is way beyond its past due date and as clueless as a dog biting its own tail. Heck, I wish my SVP would resign already. No bias for action, nodding appreciatively at anything anybody suggests while watching the building go down in flames. But it isn’t paradise everywhere else you know. Cisco can be fixed by defining a proper set of corporate culture rules. Not the woke kind used to distract the press. I’m talking proper meaningful principles to guide management and employees. Making people accountable, reward risk taking, encourage cross functional collaboration, that sort of thing. But for that to happen, Robbins must go.
While I was at Cisco I was promoted twice in 4 years. Took on tons of new responsibility and saved the company millions of dollars.
For all my effort and pushing? Cisco couldn’t even raise my salary fast enough to keep pace with inflation.
F—- Cisco. It’s a company coast and collect a paycheck for doing the bare minimum.
If I was wise, I would have just stayed in my original position where I had automated my workflows and only working 10-15 hours a week.
I used my time well at Cisco so my advice is you do as well. No one can see the future but we can use the past to get a good idea of the direction this is heading. Mediocrity is a disease and hiding just to coast it out is a huge contributor to this.
"If you are "hiding" "coasting" or "semi-retired" you are hurting yourself, your peers, and most likely setting a terrible example for your children."
Are you new to Cisco? Attempt to learn new skills, and actually contribute value to Cisco. You'll be sidelined by political bureaucrats that are threatened. "hiding "coasting" or "semi-retired" is valued by Cisco culture
The company is ruthless in how it funds and defunds efforts. While there is always talk about things like the People Deal, the Cisco Family, etc. its all marketing.
Put in solid effort, help your peers, and get a pay check. If you are "hiding" "coasting" or "semi-retired" you are hurting yourself, your peers, and most likely setting a terrible example for your children. Not something to be proud of. In contrast there are plenty of people working 12 hours/day, others working on weekends, many forced to pick up the workload of others who have left - while you golf.
Looking out for yourself doesn't mean not doing a solid days work.
The delusional broken english poster is on to something regarding worthless sales people. We have the worst short attention span ill-educated sellers I’ve ever encountered. We could do better with AI bots. Customers would appreciate it. My worst nightmare would be having to attend IMPACT explaining a new product or feature to a bunch of chicken brained sellers asking if my solution retires iACV goal. I feel for our SEs. Poor blokes are in Van Diemen’s land for sure.
"tens of billions acquiring questionable companies that all went down the drain. "
"Don't leave out Flip Camera!"
like to add few more..
Linksys
Collaborate.com
Broadsoft (doubt we generated any money out of it yet)
Startent Network
WhipTail
Ubiquisys (Small-cell)
Intucell
CiUS (own tablet)
BraodHop
vCider
IronPort (slow death)
and many more.....
It like kids (ELT) buy every toy they see in the market :-)
We need to hire more salesmen. These cr---y products don't sell themselves. Without the account teams removing all the bilge water with large buckets - this boat is going down in one or two quarters.
Cisco is great work life balance. We are best place to works. Why people hate and thinks we have bad engineers. We have great technical talents but bad marketing and L00ser salesmen creats problems for roadmaps and lying to customers! The put usless features in the Aha and make order of development to change always. Chuck needs to sit and talk to engineers!! We can help make better our products! Also need to fire all salemen and replace with PSS or some such
"tens of billions acquiring questionable companies that all went down the drain. "
Don't leave out Flip Camera!
Chambers started boosting revenue through cost cutting right after the dotcom bubble burst circa 2001. He’d mandate the CFO du jour to save a billion per year in expenses. He never bothered running the business intelligently, making strategic investments and cuts where appropriate. That bozo overspent tens of billions acquiring questionable companies that all went down the drain. Scientific Atlanta, Tandberg and NDS were acquired for a total of 15 billion dollars. Let that sink in for a moment. Fifteen billion dollars. Cisco threw it all away just a few years later. Imagine spending just a tenth of that on proper R&D internally.
When did you join the company? Guess around then
I’ve two years left before retirement. I do very little and am happy hiding out. It’s like being retired. I can golf a lot and travel to F1 races.
This isn't mediocrity, it's a sh-t show.
Disgusted. Done.
Prior long-term Cisco, and current customer.
Calling Cisco for technical support, the support we are paying good money for, is a frustrating quagmire of garbage process and outcomes.
I don't fault the TAC Engineers. Most sound miserable, unengaged, and just don't care.
Whoever up the chain at Cisco that made these decisions to turn TAC support into the state it is now; needs to go back through Business School and take a few years review.
I am responsible for a fairly decent sized (once mostly Cisco hardware) enterprise. I can't get anything done with TAC without extreme babysitting. Disgusting to someone who worked TAC long ago for many years.
Because of this, the EOL Cisco infrastructure, year by year, goes to competitors. I would rather go through the pain of migrating to another OEM than staying in this mostly worthless relationship, now as a customer.
No one up the chain is listening.
To those staying, look what is happening. How long will your job safety last?
Would love to see a reply from someone up the management chain.
Around 2008. We missed out on cloud, security, and saas. Our brand has deteriorated too much in the m&a community to acquire any innovative companies/products.
Cisco now focuses on overpaying for mediocre acquisitions to obtain artificial revenue growth. Pay $2 billion for a short boost of $60 million in revenue... rinse & repeat
Mediocrity is being willfully ignorant of the fact that this question has been asked every week for many years and asking it again.
Deadwood that don’t keep taking other’s time are merely useless yet perform better than those causing the same damage repeatedly, like asking the same pointless question.
After the Great Recession. Cisco has been driving full speed towards mediocrity since then.
Get what you need out of Cisco and leave. Unless you’re nearing retirement, then just enjoy a healthy six figures for being lazy.
Asking for a friend.