What I Learned Through This Project

         Prospectively I learned about what it means to broaden your view of career and studies. I say this because most of this people we write about usually take a slight detour in what they want to be in the future of their career. There are ups and downs in life but it ultimately depend son how you counteract it to make it beneficial towards you. You should not let negative aspects of your life hold you back from your ambitious to become successful and most likely never settle for less. This has been a very entertaining and intriguing project for me and I enjoyed it.

While I was working with Cisco we began seeking skills proficient in the technology industry by utilizing active recruitment programs. During the 1990s Cisco was predominately known for its nurturing recruitment programs for individuals. Cisco was not just target people who had all the skills and abilities we even went for young individuals a taught them the skills necessary to work efficiently in our company. What better employee to have than a homegrown one dedicated to the company? Ultimately what I have learned in life is that it is necessary to listen to customers and open your view of targets in the market. This ideal goes in both ways in a sense of who you should target as consumers and potential employees. That being said I am John Chambers signing out! Back to you professor! (Yes, it was corny...I know...)

Starting My Career At Cisco

The president of Cisco, Morgridge appointed me to be Cisco's senior vice president of Worldwide Operations in 1990. The atmosphere of working at Cisco was entirely different from what I was used to. Things such as people carrying sleeping bags to work and wearing causal clothing like T-Shirts and jeans so as to keep them productively working around the clock. I soon found out that Morgride was one of the lowest paid-executives in the business. I was skeptical of this a first considering he's the president and all of the company. His work area was exactly the same as everyone else, no big office or anything. Regardless I still strived to prove myself to Morgridge with the utmost respect. 

A New Beginning At Cisco

        Still at a loss for words for my previous company that went from a profit of $2 billion dollars in 1989 to a $700 million dollar loss in 1990. That is just one whole year! Talk about 0-100 real quick...sheesh... Consequently in my search for a new prospective job of an executive caliber I sent out a dozen letters to companies. Out of all the letters I sent out no one responded... except for... go on try and guess. That's right! Cisco Systems! Cisco had been founded in 1983 by a married couple, Len Bosack, the head of Stanford's computer-science department, and Sandy Lerner, who held a master's in business administration from the same school.

The couple had been searching for a way have Stanford's computers to be able to communicate with one another. Bill Yeager had developed a device called a "router" which enabled communication between various departments of Stanford via the famous language protocol known as Internet Protocol (IP).

After that the couple then built their company around the idea of the router. By 1986 the company was making $10 million a year. Venture capitalist Don Valentine came along the midst with $2.5 million to gain a third of ownership of the company. The three individuals then made Cisco public in 1990. However due to altercations with Valentine the president of Cisco, John Morgridge and the married couple founders of Cisco left and sold their shares of $170 million back to the company.

The Struggles of Wang Laboratories ©

       I had undying respect for my boss, Au Wang. He was the most impressive man I have ever met, aside from my father. He taught me so much and trusted me to that degree as well. I could not have asked for more. Sadly...Au Wang died of cancer in 1990. From that point on Wang Labs took a turn for the worst in its business of prospects. Despite being executive Vice President of the company at the time Wang's son was appointed successor due Chinese traditions. Investors soon left our company as our stocks began to plummet. The company continued to produce Office Workstations that later would only be able to afford total costs of production and probably no profit in the long run. As the rest of the market steered away from workstations towards PCs you can probably guess where that left Wang Labs... I had endure the hardship of laying off five thousand employees to accommodate for losses towards the company. Just right before Christmas too! Can you believe that? Some people weren't getting presents that year... But anyways I resigned from the company in search for another job.

From IBM to Wang Laboratories

           After spending seven years with IBM I was worried about becoming stagnate in the promotion rate up the ladder in staff at IBM. So I decided to look elsewhere at another company. I soon found myself enticed with the aspects of An Wang who was the Chinese American Founder of Wang Laboratories. He gave a phenomenal speech that captivated me about where the world was going with technology and how he saw it. As expected his company was doing fantastic, even to the point where demand for products exceeded that of the supply the company had, causing shortages. Now normally that may seem bad at first in a economic stand point but for a business starting out it means you have relevance in the market. This also means potential business for the company. So I began working with An Wang and was able to lead his sales department division. At first it was difficult to adjust because the consumers I had to sell to weren't of regular Americans. I had to overcome ethnocentrism and adjust to a different culture of individuals. Nevertheless things worked out great for me.

Working At IBM

Anticipating where my business degree would take me I eventually accepted a job offer at IBM in 1976. Back in my day IBM was the biggest computer Industry which was also known as the Big Blue. Although there was much controversy and altercations with IBM at the time we had just released the most innovative and successful computer ever: System 360. So naturally afterwards I was asked by IBM to be a salesman for the product to get it more affiliated in the market. I was reluctant at first but I soon found myself very good at the task. I learned a great deal of things while working at IBM. For example I understood their shortcomings in the sense of the market they were targeting. Other companies such as Apple began targeting markets in respect for personal computers for consumers. This started a new era of business and technology. I believed in the area of management that your ideals should be centered around your customers rather than other businesses.

Gotta Get That Education!

With a one tracked mind in succeeding in school and my future career I assiduously applied myself to school in respect to my disability. Ultimately I was able to obtain both an undergraduate and a law degree from West Virginia University. And for any ballers out there my favorite sport was Basketball in school. Whilst playing during intramural games I demonstrated my competitive nature during games. I also played other sports such as tennis where I normally played doubles with a partner. This was a great opportunity to play with my wife, Elaine from high school who was my recurrent partner for doubles. Having been content with my life at this point it seemed great in my current years. However during governmental activities that including coal mining and chemical plants in my state things began taking a turn for the worst in my area. My state soon become subjugated as an area of poverty and dissipation, especially during the economic recession along with a population decline. I chose to venture out of my natural comfort zone to areas elsewhere. One of the places I went to was Indiana University in Bloomington, where I earned a business degree.

My Ambition Commences - 1950s

So upon my father being rich and wealthy in his profession he also helped deliver all the children of  Governor Jay Rockefeller and my mother was a certified psychologist. On top of that my family even owned our own restaurant in Charleston, West Virginia. It was here watching my family run the business that I soon became interested in acquiring my own business when I grew up. At this point my father noted the leadership skills necessary to run an efficient business in me when I was just a child! Incredible. Despite being stigmatized in the 1950s by the hardships of my learning disorder my parents still provided me with encouragement and faith in my abilities. With the trust in my capabilities and the wealth my family had they were able to obtain resources to assist me in my learning process.

How My Journey Began - 1949

Well hello there!

I am John Chambers! Go ahead shake my hand on the screen. Don't leave me hanging now! I know you see my hand there man! There ya go! Well anyways let's get right into this. I was born in August 23, 1949 in Cleveland, Ohio. I was even proclaimed a natural born leader in my years. My parents, John Turner “Jack” (Father), and June Chambers being a psychiatrist and obstetrician/gynecologist. So you know I had to uphold the success in my family name and live up to it. Despite presumptions challenges towards my success I was also presented with the disability of dyslexia, nevertheless that did not stop me.