John Chambers and the Cisco Way: Navigating Through Volatility

by John K. Waters

John Chambers and the Cisco Way gets to the heart of a phenomenon that has taken center stage of world business. Through expert analysis and insight acquired through extensive interviews with venture capitalists and Cisco executives, customers, and competitors, author John Waters skillfully explains the management style of CEO John Chambers and his role in Cisco Systems' success in the volatile technology sector.
Beyond exploring his key business strategies and management philosophy at Cisco, this book chronicles Chambers' amazing journey from IBM salesman to Cisco CEO. In just a few short years, Chambers has presided over the creation of more than $480 billion in stockholder value, and has expanded his company into nearly every part of the networking industry. John Waters gives readers an inside look at one of the most successful managers in history and places his story within the current business landscape and market environment, offering new insight into Chambers' innovative leadership.

Genres: Business

192 pages, Hardcover

First published February 22, 2002

Reviews

[John Burnor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overview of early Cisco (through 2001) with a particular focus on John Chambers. While the author is clearly a fan of Chambers and Cisco, the book does examine criticisms, failures, and the down turn. Fairly deep exploration of Cisco's origin story and early CEO's also lends some extra depth. Detailed appendix of all of Cisco acquisitions through that point provides an interesting road map of Cisco's innovation through acquisition strategy and an overview of the 1990's startup market and exits.

Overall, an interesting book for someone interested in Cisco, early Silicon Valley, the dot com era, and the development of internet networking.

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too breezy. Find a HBS case study and read the intro. It'll be faster and probably more thought-provoking.