Conversations with leaders from leading organizations – Cisco Systems: John Chambers

Guy Raz invites you to listen as he talks with visionary leaders of some of the leading organizations in their field. Along the way, you’ll hear accounts of crisis, failure, turnaround, and triumph, as the leaders reveal their secrets on their way to the top. These are stories that didn’t make it into their company bios, and valuable lessons for anyone trying to make it in business. These are stories that did not enter the DNA of the organization, and important lessons for anyone trying to do this in business.

Cisco was growing at breakneck speed when the tech bubble burst in 2001. As an industry veteran, CEO John Chambers knew firsthand that no company was immune to failure. Anticipating the need to transition, and using a ‘100 year flood’ as an opportunity to rise to the top of the market.