Cisco Systems : How Did I Get Here? (Bloomberg Business)
July 17, 2015 at 01:38 pm EDT
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In the 1950s
"I was a good student, but not in English or foreign languages, in part because of dyslexia.
With Peter Lynch, vice chairman of Fidelity (left), and Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, 2001
Presenting to staff, 2014
"I sent out about 100 résumés, and no offers came in. It was very humbling. So I networked.
"Cisco was a company nobody knew, with 400 people and $70 million in sales.
"In July I become executive chairman. I'll work half-time. Chuck [Robbins] is the CEO, and he'll make the decisions. Usually when high-tech companies transition, the next leader struggles, so we knew we had to do it differently.
Middle row, center, with managers at Wang, 1985
"My friend asked me to interview. I said, 'Steve, I didn't go to school for nine and a half years to do sales.' I thought technology was a little geeky. He said, 'I got two tickets to the basketball game.'
"Wang made minicomputers. There were 12 geographies, and only two were making money. I knew how to fix that, and 11 out of 12 were profitable within a year.
"When I became CEO, sales were $1.2 billion. Today sales are about $48 billion.
Cisco Systems, Inc. is the world leader in designing, developing, and marketing Internet network equipment. Net sales break down by family of products and services as follows:
- network equipment (68.9%); switches and routers, technological software and systems (storage, Internet access, and security systems, wiring, gateways, connection interfaces and modules, etc.), etc.;
- services (24.3%): technical assistance, network design, execution, and integration services, etc.;
- security products (6.8%).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Americas (58.7%), Europe/Middle East/Africa (26.6%) and Asia/Pacific (14.7%).