Cutting the tribe (Patel, Biri) was a first step. Now all of the ELT should be fired for ruining a Fortune 500 company and destroying lives of the innocent, hard workers thanks to vile ego & greed. The Cisco Board of Morons are too chicken sh-- to fire all the ELT at once. So who's next? I say it's the bitter, ageist, Ruba, and the insider trading scumbag who is Asian with a Polish last name, Hilton. Or perhaps Ruba will get fired at age 40 so she can be victim to her own a---backwards staffing policies. Perhaps Fran, who is constantly rewriting the People Deal so it aligns with philosophies of Hitler, Saddam Hissein, Pol Pot and other failed dictators? Is it Kelly, the she-male CFO, destined for a career more suitable for her like wrestling or UFC.
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Hey Guys
I'm hearing a rumor (but that's that - rumor; haven't seen anything on the paper) originating around BoD, that they've started hunting for new CEO. This doesn't mean that Chuck gets the boot immediatelly, but looks that his days are counted.
Again - there is a chance that this rumor is just part of some power-play at higher echelons, but that's what I heard.
Totally agree. Just been retrenched and I agree it was an age thing but couched as grade. In my 6. Years at Cisco I have seen them systematically remove the top grades of sales staff to retain lower grade less expensive resources. Very short sighted but hey if you ate Dedicoat and planning to retire on your millions in a year or two why care?
Even if they were removed, their golden parachutes extend to many millions of dollars. So to get rid of one of them they will have to LR dozens of IT or Engineering folk to balance Kelly's book again! It's tragic really when you think about it.
The good thing is that the execs know that change is required to keep the company relevant. The bad thing is that the there is too little talent ELT and down to turn the ship around. There are just too many people that know nothing of the business (and not learning) but have been hired in exec ranks. Their contributions can only be generic at best - because they are going through the motions to make fancy frameworks with little connect to reality to collect the fat paycheck. Each of them can easily last multiple years and kill precious innovation time. All the names mentioned before are right on - Ruba Borno (clueless about execution); Kevin Bandy (has never run anything before), Fran (no manager accountability in People Deal only leads to cronyism). Bidi did nothing and was rightly booted - but his hire was a glaring mistake as are some of the others.
Ever see those trains in India where people hang on the outside? That's engineering. A few of our ruling class of engineers are inside, sipping fine wine with RSUs. The majority of us are surfing on the outside, ready to be thrown off or ordered off by the authorities at any moment.
Regrettably it does feel like the train is freewheeling at the moment and the engines are turned off. The patrons still wave to onlookers as they glide by and pretend nothing is wrong. I can't help but think of that scene from the Titanic movie where the band continue playing to the end despite everyone around them knowing the game is up. Our once great company is now descending into the clutches of vultures, who, as the train freewheels to a stop, will attempt to squeeze every last dime out of her to line their own pockets. Only the trains business class passengers will be afforded this pillage while those of us on the working class carriages will be silently discarded as they continue to sip champagne in first class and congratulate each other on how well they are doing.
Cisco is on the wrong side of history. The Cloud and merchant silicon are the future. They will do what Intel platforms did to the IBM mainframe. They still sell big iron but IBM is a shell of the glorious company it was in the 1960s through the 80s. This of course is only my opinion and I could be wrong - often am. Maybe Cisco can find/create/buy new markets but so far the results have not been encouraging.
Or we are just riding the train like everyone else , picking up bonuses,pay rises and RSUs and just milking it for as long as possible.
I guess you're riding the train for an additional stop or two. Unfortunately, I got thrown off the train and didn't get any pay raises or RSUs. I did enjoy my bonuses. My stock options were underwater, so I had to let them go.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
This won't be the first company to coast along while the exec's milk the company for all it's worth and get rich off it while they whittle down the company screwing over the peons who remain.
Or we are just riding the train like everyone else , picking up bonuses,pay rises and RSUs and just milking it for as long as possible.
Nobody is here to innovate or revive the company it's just a cash cow. To many competitors eating the company alive so even the big wigs are getting their share of the pie before it dries up. We all know it's happening some of us just don't want to believe it:
Clearly the board is useless. At the last all hands Chuckie introduced Amy L Chang as a " new board member" and enthused about how often she had been "showing up to work" in contract to the other ie "old board members". ... ouch. Sounds a bit like the Supreme Court where you gotta appoint one of your own to get any traction. At 39 she has a couple of decades less on the clock than the youngest of the others. Funny how as an engineer one is considered past it after 50 but for old white guys & gals with 60 to 70 years on the clock , no problem. Clearly superior human beings ?
@Kk9Epw7-zwx - You nailed it.
I also agree strongly, don't waste your energy on bitterness, folks. Gets you nowhere. Focus that energy on picking up some skills/certs/training, networking, cleaning up the LinkedIn profile and getting out.
There is no better revenge than being successful.
I'll take Kevin Bandy for $200, Alex. He may be a "leader" but not the leader of a company like Cisco. He is a consultant-hack with very little experience needed in that role.
Bezos wanna be.
Dedicoat will retire in the next two years, that is certain. However before he leaves he is committed to leaving a legacy of reducing the average age of the sales org. They can't obviously target people based on age, so are targeting grades instead. All very sad what Cisco is becoming.
I am going for Mark Chandler. Wasting 100 million dollars on stupid law suits. Doing shady deals with the Clinton Foundation. Shaking down vendors for political contributions. Hated by all of us who work for him. It has to be him..
Trust me when I say this, Cisco has puppet Board. Any other Board would have done something.
Cloud strategy is not working.
Not sure why there is so much animosity towards exec staff. Cisco is in deep trouble that can't be fixed. Execs know it. They are just trying to extract as much value as possible for shareholders and themselves before the ultimate demise within a decade. Irreparable damage was done long ago on Chambers's team's watch. Current execs are managing a declining environment as best they can.
If you Cisco will ever get better then you are delusional. It gets more precarious and miserable every year. Don't get angry with execs. There is nothing they can do to fix this. Cisco doesn't have enough of the right kind of talent to fix itself. The best it can do is to continue to feast on its still large but rapidly shrinking customer base before better technologies completely disrupt it.
Don't waste time being angry about the current reality. Spend the energy on getting a new job instead.
Is Kelly going through gender reassignment? Her transition is not going well.