Friday, May 13, 2011

Cisco, Microsoft CEOs Get Slammed, Is History Repeating?

It might be coincidence that stories about how both Microsoft and Cisco leadership have "failed" for the last decade appeared on nearly the same day.

CEO John Chambers is one of the most revered executives in the history of the technology industry, and Steve Ballmer's badge number at Microsoft is "30." Both have lead their firms for a long enough period of time for analysts and investors to make qualified judgments.

Since talking over as CEO of Cisco in 1995, Chambers has grown the company's revenue from $1 billion to more than $40 billion. For 15 years, he has been a soothing, straightforward presence in the industry, free of the bombast and arrogance that so often characterizes big-league CEOs.

But nobody who follows computing technology can be unaware that no company that has lead in one era of technology also has emerged as a leader in the following wave. That's literally "no company."

And it is possible that despite that recognition, both executives are simply finding that they cannot fight history.

johnchambers lookingout tbi
Read more here and here.

1 comment:

Fred Stein said...

oops. "no company" Have you heard of Apple? First to market with a true SmartPhone (meaning a phone, whose application environment is equal to or greater than the value of its off-the-shelf function); Still the leader in total App revenue (5x Android MarketPlace); Still the leader in Tablets (too early to call, but no one else is close).

They are the leader in the "Post PC Era". I think Steve Jobs coined that phrase when he launch the iPad. Post PC is a true next wave paradigm shift. Sorry for the all cliche phrases.

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