From the Inside Flap
"Chambers is a West Virginia choirboy, soft-spoken, articulate, but inside he'll eat you up." --Peter Swartz, Analyst, Salomon Smith Barney
Cisco Systems's CEO John Chambers is one of this country's most dynamic and innovative chief executives. His team-oriented management style, technological agnosticism, and near-fanatical focus on customers fueled his company's unprecedented rise in the ultra competitive and volatile technology sector. His personal charisma, innate optimism, and natural competitiveness advanced not only his own remarkable career, but also the interests of his company and his industry. Under his leadership, Cisco dominated computer networking, expanded into critical new markets, and emerged as one of the world's most powerful and important businesses.
In his book, John Chambers and the Cisco Way: Navigating through Volatility, business and technology journalist John Waters investigates the Chambers/Cisco phenomenon. Through extensive interviews with industry analysts, venture capitalists, and Cisco executives, employees, customers, and competitors, Waters examines one of the most successful management approaches in recent memory, and chronicles the career and vision of the chief executive responsible for it.
Tracing Chambers's personal journey from computer salesman to Fortune 500 CEO, Waters considers the man and the manager in the context of today's volatile economy. Weaving the vision, philosophy, and career of Chambers with the emergence, management, and growth of Cisco Systems, he delivers an honest portrait of one of our most compelling business leaders, an executive who may well be the quintessential Information Age CEO.
The story of Chambers's rise to prominence and the evolution of Cisco Systems at the end of the twentieth century holds valuable lessons for seasoned executives, budding entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in business today.
From the Back Cover
JOHN CHAMBERS AND THECISCO WAY: Navigating through Volatility
Under the leadership of CEO John Chambers, Cisco Systems has become one of the world's leading technology companies. Chambers's management philosophy and business strategies have allowed Cisco to dominate the computer networking industry and to move into cutting-edge telecommunications markets. In the few short years since Chambers took over as chief executive, the once-invisible "Internet plumbing" supplier has become a household name, and its CEO has emerged as a leading light in high tech.
John Chambers and the Cisco Way: Navigating through Volatility offers an up-close look at the career, philosophy, and vision of one of America's top CEOs. Through expert insights and extensive interviews of industry analysts, venture capitalists, and Cisco executives, employees, customers, and competitors, this engaging book skillfully explores Chambers's rise to prominence and the evolution of Cisco Systems.
High-tech reporter and author John Waters traces Chambers's career from salesman to chief executive, explores his management style, and details his victories and defeats as Chambers steers Cisco through the unpredictable and volatile technology sector.
You'll see how past business experiences-both good and bad-have shaped the way Chambers manages today, and learn how he keeps Cisco on top by:
* Utilizing networking technology to speed processes and slash expenses
* Listening to customers to remain competitive in rapidly changing markets
* Empowering employees for light-speed decision making
* Organizing the company around networks instead of rigid hierarchies
* Implementing a proven growth-by-acquisition strategy
* Efficiently integrating acquired companies
* Aggressively moving into new and broader business segments
More than just a study of key business strategies and best practices, John Chambers and the Cisco Way is the compelling story of a businessman's personal journey. It is a portrait of a hard-working and innovative executive, perhaps not as well known to the public as his peers, but as influential as anyone in business today.
