Why is Cisco filled with career politicians?
Cisco Politician Lifecycle
Identify buzzword
Obtain funding & create organizations to justify their salaries
Waste shareholder money + self-promote + build strategic internal relationships
Attempt to cover up the lack of business value the organization generates
Reorg - Leaders obtain promotions, while evidence of the wasteful spending disappears
repeat
To be fair, career politicians, cronyism, nepotism, favoritism, and many other 'isms are not unique to Cisco. It's been the same in every company I've ever worked for, to a greater or lesser extent. And don't get me started on the military...
It's simple, really. Cisco is not growing; the name of the (new) game is managing the decline. If you can create the facade that your group is the one to bet on for the next "win", Cisco will throw money at you until you prove otherwise. When that ends up as a failure, simply rinse-lather-repeat. They'll keep doing this because they're desperate to break the cycle of decline.
Sounds like the Indian style government is alive and well at Cisco!
Cisco is huge and in mature industry now. There is ample room for political posturing. This was not always the case. Does anyone recall how much knowledge was exchanged fifteen years ago? Mostly mailer aliases. It was very common to be "flamed" on an alias by not researching the question beforehand, or not handling a customer-facing issue in a logical manner. This was how people learned. There was no real fear of reprise or political intention. Perhaps political aspects are inevitable the larger an organization and company becomes, but many people who choose by personality and motivation to be mid-range workers cannot relate to the behavior. Guess it's part of the culture, so call it politics; maybe just call it humanity.
Tounge and cheek for sure. Regardless of our warts, our SE/DEs/ AMs/PMs//developers are better than the the alternatives in most cases. Don't get me wrong, our mansgrntvis shut but we can works around that for the moment she part. We are a big company in a mature industry for sure but we are not done. Don't loose faith or let the h1d stuff cloud your judgment. The more minds focused on how to make us better the better for us all.
Cisco is just like United Airlines that the employees are not empowered, and the CEO is an idiot, except there is no video to show how much the customers are suffering.
We do so because it's gratifying to experiment with new business models that drive business outcomes through digital transformational narritives- at the end of the day. Also, the pay is ok and all the lowly engineers and SEs can s--- up to me trying to grow their career into becoming politicians as the try to escape the triteness of their unfulfilled existence.
Because they can.
While receiving a good salary, benefits and perks.