Do you think new leaders could actually change anything, or would it just be more of the same? I’ve been here long enough to remember when Cisco was a truly great place to work, but it feels like those days are gone for good, no matter who’s running the show.
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@nb true. Also, those companies have a much larger pool of H1s and that’s how they are separating from other stagnant tech companies.
Yes leadership could have made a difference - when you look at Google, Microsoft, NVIDA, etc they have very sharp technical CEOs and have been able communicate and lead their companies into key technology trends unlike Cisco who has always seemed to be caught flat footed over the last 15 years. Having a CEO that doesn’t have any technical background or savvy has been one of our Achilles heel for too long… so many missteps it’s just embarrassing and has cost us dearly over the years…..
@bf All you folks blaming DEI will never look inward, and never get better. Good luck to you.
Delete DEI and perhaps we have a real chance at recovering.
You think a change at the head of the beast will make things any different? CR is doing his job as intended. He's making sure the real heart of this company, the shareholders, are getting the return they deserve. Do you believe CR really cares about anyone in the positions that have been eliminated? Maybe in some abstract way, sure, but not enough to consider any of those people as little more than a contributing factor to a number on a spreadsheet. And if making that number go down means the shareholder profit number goes up, then it's just another day of being CR. Replace him and the next person will just continue to do the same.
Anyone in a position to impact real change on the lives of the people who build the stuff is in a tough spot. Most for-profit tech companies optimize for speed, optics, and quarterly numbers... not for long-term service quality or user value. So they're asked to make sure the work keeps getting cranked out in the face of declining headcount, constantly shifting priorities, and general economic uncertainty. And they're asked to make sure the people above them continue to look good, so they can make the people above them look good (and so on) so that the stock looks good. It seems there's little value placed on managing down beyond cracking the whip, and all the value is placed on visibility and optics.
Yes, different leadership would help, but also a global cultural shift is still in process. You're living through the era of the consequences of meritless hiring. The toll is being paid. Merit-based hiring and culture is coming back, but it'll take a few years to feel it.
Hot take: also recall that during the meritless hiring era, a ton of women were hired into various positions across all tech companies. It is also true that women are statistically more likely to be on anti-depressants and SSRIs vs men. Third, hiring based on characteristics rather then merit, guarantees a lesser quality employee. With those three incontrovertible facts, that will predictably be downvoted despite the truth, the current state of tech companies is not only understandable - but predictable.
No, CR has done too much damage. No undo button. The market isn't sentimental, money has moved on.
Remember all of the damage and chaos at Cisco is happening in a tech bubble. Wait until the bubble unwinds, things will get much worse.
@aj its like Luca C used to say - "if you notta building a product, or you notta selling or supporting a product, you overhead and can go". Chuckles hated MPLS, and funny thing is they hated him. They made Cisco - Chuckles is riding that wave as far up the beach as he can!
Guys I hate to break it to you. Its not leaders, or even cisco, it’s tech in general. Layoffs all over the place
Back in the day we were hot, everyone wanted to work here. The best from most companies were competing land a role. The issue was we started hiring the defeated people from the competition. They brought in their lackeys. They talked a really impressive game around new directions and refreshing approaches. Just words - Corporate talent entropy in action. The street is just starting to question this 2B in AI "orders" because it would be prison if we said "revenue". Dell has 7x that number in orders. Yes, Cisco missed the AI wave just like cloud. But the board is getting rich so all is ok on the Titanic!
@OP - I agree. The mid 90s were the best of times at Cisco when it was still a relatively small company. The behemoth that it has become over the years only weighs it down with too many people, too many products, too many politics, too many layoffs, too many policies, too many cases to open, too many layers of management and way too much red tape!
No. Once a company is rotten with this sort of executives it is near impossible. Name 1 company that had such corrupt and uncaring people that turned around suddenly We are done and forever be a mediocre company trying to chase that hot girl who would never pay a second look
I think Black Clark leaving will set the company back another decade. Cisco. Is. Cooked. The ghost of Black Clark will haunt each and every organization.