John Chambers, CEO and Executive Chairman of Cisco said, one of the biggest bets the company made was to bet on India as a source of talent, helping the company achieve its dreams and aspirations.
Addressing 12,500 of Cisco’s employees across the country from the company’s Bengaluru campus via Cisco TV on Friday, Chambers, who is in the city with incoming CEO Chuck Robbins, said: “I would put Prime Minister Modi among the top 5 leaders I have met in my life, and let me tell you, I have met a lot of leaders.
“He has the courage to put together a vision, strategy and execution plan for a Digital India that we identify with.
“He has the rare characteristic for a political leader, to think like a businessman with operational skills. The only one I have seen who thinks like him is President Clinton.”
Stating that he had never seen a person with those skills and that power that Modi had, who was so humble and good, Chambers said: “If you look into his eyes, you know he really cares and understands how to make a difference in the lives of every citizen of India.”
Chambers introduced Robbins to Cisco employees as a man of tremendous vision, strategy and execution capabilities who is best at building great teams and getting quick results.
“Chuck also walks the Cisco culture. He is an amazingly good person – When I shared with him that he was to become the next CEO, he cried. Not out of excitement or anything else, but because he was concerned how the other people who didn’t get the job would react. Now, that’s classic Cisco culture for you,” said Chambers.
Vision and strategyStarting his address to employees with “I love India” Robbins said, “We have the right vision and strategy. How many other companies walk into a meeting with a Prime Minister and have 15 minutes allocated for the meeting; and I didn’t think he (Modi) wanted to break away at the end of 45 minutes. That’s not because he likes us, but because, what we have to say right now and our capabilities are so relevant to what is happening and what’s getting ready to happen over the next 5-10 years in India.”
Outlining what he and his new leadership team will do over the next 60 days, Robbins said the need of the hour is to move faster. Urging employees to prioritise and accelerate opportunities around the company’s software, Internet of Everything, cloud strategy, analytics and other technologies, he stressed the need to simplify communications internally and simplify how customers consume Cisco’s technology.
“The reason why we have such high margins is because we deal with complex issues and others can’t deal with them. But, we have to simplify how we talk to our customers and how we communicate internally, because if we have to move fast, we need to be simple and clear.
He said the company will continue with its operational rigour but will do it more dynamically in real time and keep up the culture that Chambers has built.
“Last night we flew from Delhi to Bengaluru and were very exhausted as we had just 4 hours of sleep every night since we set out at 6am on Sunday morning to China. John was on the phone last night calling Johns Hopkins to get a doctor to help an employee who needs medical help and that’s the Cisco culture. And so, my goal is not to screw that up, but to continue to improve employee experience to make this place the best place to work for and turn every employee into a brand ambassador for Cisco.”