Bulldozer00's Blog

Cisco Systems Inc. CEO John Chambers “gets it”. In this interview, he states:

“Today’s world requires a different leadership style — moving more into a collaboration and teamwork, including learning how to use Web 2.0 technologies. If you had told me I’d be video blogging and blogging, I would have said, no way. And yet our 20-somethings in the company really pushed me to use that more.”

Ossified corpo executive teams that still operate according to the 1920’s doctrine of  separation, closed door meetings, and infrequently used, one-way communication channels, deserve what they get – mediocrity and a disconnected work force.

On the subject of interviewing potential leaders, Mr. Chambers also “gets it”:

“Then I ask them who are the best people you recruited and developed, and where are they today? And that tells an awful lot.”

He knows that in order to build a viable, sustainable, and robust company, you’ve got to actively develop people and not just sit on your throne issuing brilliant commands from an omniscient position of superiority.