
Cisco's CEO internal memo leaked - gulbrandr
http://blogs.reuters.com/columns/2011/04/05/text-of-chambers-staff-memo/
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angdis
Sounds like typical turgid ceo-speak. Is there anything in there besides
generalities about "vision", "strategy", and "market"?

"tough decisions" is usually a codeword for layoffs so I guess this a 2000
word note prompting employees to freshen up their resumes?

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TheAmazingIdiot
Yep, that's what the memo screams to me. Get your resumes updated.

And along with that, it seems too "proper" to be a leaked memo. I'm guessing
it was "Confidential" but intended to be leaked. Gives it that appeal of
secrecy.

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Laments
If it's not seen as rote/generic by those who read it, it's a good memo. If
it's seen as "office as usual," it'll work against itself.

This is smart organizational behavior being put into action: while 30 days
isn't enough time to meet with most in the company, it shows that the COO is
pushing to lead through consensus, and it shows that he's listening to common
employee problems.

On Reuters' website, people have been saying that this is a CEO being
deceptive; this is not the case. If they think that, either they're too used
to corporate communications burning them from this perspective, or they're
unused to clear, honest communications. This is a CEO and COO telling
employees that there will 1) be change, and 2) it will be mostly a
process/managerial change.

By getting employees' assent and respect, it makes eventual-changes easier,
and also allows for the regular employees to feel that there is clarity and
vision leading them (instead of inexplicable changes that confound both
internal employees and external pundits).

~~~
danssig
Cisco's always been honest like that. I don't care too much for their products
or strategies but I admire the honesty within the company.

After the bubble popped the company I was in came up with this idiotic new
plan: if you want a raise you have to convince the people above you that you
deserve it. This meant that if you wanted one (everyone did of course) you
could go to your manager and set up some goals to achieve that would get you
that raise. The manager would, of course, take what ever concrete goals you
suggested and make them more fuzzy. When the yearly review came 'round and it
was time to see how you were doing you would find that somehow you had not met
your requirements. Morale took a nose dive because none of us were getting
raises and it was all our own fault, despite our best efforts.

Then we talked to an employee of Cisco. Cisco had told them straight up, at
almost the same time to the day, that times were tough after the bubble popped
and that no one in the company would be getting any kind of raise until things
turned around. Not the CEO, not the janitor. No one. Then it all finally made
sense. I gained a ton of respect for Cisco and lost any remaining respect I
might have had for the hell hole I was working at.

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aarghh
Cisco has instituted boards and committees for everything in the last few
years. Besides layoffs and a re-prioritization, this memo also calls out the
lack of speed and accountability that has resulted; I believe this is an
indication that those structures are also going to be changed.

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metageek
I should mine this thing for my Android mission statement generator.

[https://market.android.com/details?id=org.thibault.android.b...](https://market.android.com/details?id=org.thibault.android.buzzphrase)

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portentint
Sorry, lost me at "We will accelerate our leadership across our five
priorities".

What the heck does that mean exactly?!!

