Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

@1ooz - classic "Cisco only needs people to carry the buckets behind the horses of acquisition."

Same sh-- at Oracle.

Cisco suffers from the "club/good ole boy" mentality, with significance starting in '99 when they formed the first service provider group, and it became political, with groups of friends watching out for and keeping the others on board. If you didn't want to or couldn't align to a power group, you were going to languish at the same spot/level until you were fired or left on your own. Over time, this group think/protect mentality has created a "protected class" internally. This is evident in most corporations, not unique to Cisco, however there seems to be a willing embrace of it in Cisco - example being MPLS, their own spin-in team was used repeatedly and celebrated for the close group who were richly rewarded. Some execs leave or get asked to go to another company only to qualify /prep it for acquisition (Acano is recent example). If you are not in a group, it is a job with risk. I've been able to be on both sides, but left because of some ethical issues I couldn't be part of. It is important to know whether you are in a power circle/group or not - and knowing it, be prepared if you are not, you are always vulnerable. It has little to do with skill, change, ability or achievement, end of day, it is about the loyal followers, or those who will do what is asked without questioning it. You won't find it different outside Cisco, unless you go to small companies.

On the technical side there are a few REALLY good engineers who have stayed in positions well below their capabilities for golden handcuffs, the ability to telecommute from areas dictated by family needs, etc... It breaks my heart as I know what they are capable of, but Cisco only needs people to carry the buckets behind the horses of acquisition. Hopefully with the disposal of MPLS Cisco won't have to buy back yet another broken version of their own software.

There are some people who don't leave because of their age. It is tough going for people age 50+. I know this from experience.

Some Dir/Sr. Dir in strategy do not have the background even...no functional skill nor any subject matter skill. They don;t understand what a router is but do cloud strategy for Hilton. People in accounting are doing strategy for Chuck. i know one Indian lady who has a certification course from Stanford in some project management (BTW she is shameless to flash it on her LI profile) and is a director of strategy for a key business unit....

I left the company for a start up 3 months back. decent pay and at least have thoughtful conversations with my smart colleagues.

Cisco is cash cow all executives know even if they do not do anything, they will be taken care of for the next 5-6 years. Challenge will begin for the execs who come after these idiots to fix the company. By that time, the market would have moved over and Cisco would have no cash left...

The CFO is the biggest idiot...just knows how to calculate growth rates from year x to year y....and no other insight on company products....You should see how she talks during earnings calls. As if a 4th grader is talking about technology. The other lady Collete Kress was better and was very strong in finance and strategy. She was supposed to take over CFO role from Frank. But was very ambitious and left to become the CFO of NVDIA. And has done amazing job at turning around that company. When she was there no body even knew about the current CFOs within the company. So people who stay back once the good ones leave driven by ambitions are the left overs... to screw others...

Having worked at Cisco for 12+ years, I have seen plenty of useless Directors / Sr. Directors and above. While there are some good ones, most are enjoying their lifestyles and perks, without doing much work or adding value to the company. The definition of “strategy” is often starting a “planning” process for every fiscal year, which is a re-hash of the previous year’s decks. Their key strength is politics and connecting with their kind within the company - most of these people don’t have the skills to find jobs outside the company, and they use their internal connections to keep dodging RIFs and transferring within the company.

There are definitely some smart ones that stick around - for various reasons. Like people who live elsewhere than SJ/RTP for various reasons, work remotely and don't have a lot of opportunity where they currently live.

Directors doing strategy? I wish. Ours hasn't made a 'strategic' decision in 5 years.

As someone who has provided executive support to some of these folks, I could not agree more. Just seeing the bonuses these people get made me gasp!

I agree that there are many people in senior management who are self-serving idiots. I disagree that the workers who stayed on are not smart. Most, if not all,of them were promisedpromotions and raises. Americans are raised to believe that they will be rewarded based on merit. Whoever it is who advises Cisco management is aware and takes advantage of this fact. Not to mention many people take advantage of the flexible work schedule which allows them to spend time with their families. This is invaluable. Cisco has been dumping it's best and brightest for years. It will go down in the history books that John Chambers not only destroyed Wang but he also brought down Cisco. The moral of the story is don't ever let someone whose calling was to be a Baptist minister run a technology company.