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The Race to Mediocrity is one race you do NOT want to win

Engineering Manager
Former Employee
Worked at Cisco for 20 years
January 21, 2014
3.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros

Good pay and benefits package.

Cons

The company was taken over by bean counters who bend over to pick up nickels, letting dollars fly over their heads. Cisco's culture has been replaced through the addition of employees from other large companies, while losing long-term employees who are leaving both voluntarily and involuntarily in droves. The result is a dilution of culture and a race towards big company mediocrity.

Advice to Management

Remember the old Cisco, based on performance and creating a win-win for both the company as well as the employees and customers.

Stop cutting top-performing, long-time employees in order to bring in cheaper talent, as the brain drain will kill you.

Alcatel, Lucent, and Northern Telecom are companies that Cisco used to make fun of, and now they are beginning to look and act just like them!

Upper management needs to stop and take a breath. You can't build a house on a bad foundation, and the employees are the foundation of success for Cisco.

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