Cisco is looking like a baseball/hockey/soccer/basketball/football team with a lot of old players. As a member of them, I am feeling like an old player that cannot get the long term contract offered by the team management. You always feel you are on the edge of the cliff and falling off one day around the end of FY. Every year, July is like a free agent signing of a year contract renewal by the management.
If you observe your role becoming a bit part player, you need to change your mentality and move forward yourself in your own mindset. Every year will become a contract signing process. Ok, I got the contract this year. Ok, I did not get the contract this year. This is the reality.