Cisco's new CEO cut from same cloth as predecessor

If Cisco Systems was looking for a new boss in the old boss's image, it could hardly have found a better candidate.

Chuck Robbins, who was named this week as the next chief executive of the world's biggest networking equipment company, is a career salesman with an easy southern manner - just like his long-serving predecessor, John Chambers.

Both men talk a big game. Mr Chambers has been renowned for an expansive ambition that has helped boost Cisco's revenues, in his 20 years at the helm, from little more than $1bn to an expected $49bn in its fiscal year that is just coming to an end.

Not to be outdone, Mr Robbins predicted this week that the "internet of things", bringing connectivity to inanimate objects of all kinds, could expand the market opportunity for Cisco tenfold.

Nor is he prepared to play second fiddle to Mr Chambers when it comes to the hard job of cost-cutting and restructuring: like other maturing IT concerns, adapting to the era of cloud computing has already involved some painful adjustments.

Referring to the subject of his undergraduate degree, Mr Robbins used an internal Cisco video to send a message about what lies ahead: "Being the mathematician with the focus on numbers, we're going to drive a level of operational rigour that is even a little tougher than what you did, John."

A native of Atlanta, Mr Robbins has returned with his family to base himself in his home town for two stints while climbing the corporate ladder at Cisco - drawn, according to one person who knows him, by family ties and the convenience of the city's flight connections for a salesman who spends much of his life in the air.

From the moment he joined the company as an account manager 17 years ago, Mr Robbins' career has followed a closely defined track. He is credited with developing the network of so-called "channel partners", or independent resellers, that accounts for 80 per cent of the company's sales. His most recent role as senior vice-president of worldwide field operations put him in charge of both the reseller network as well as Cisco's own 16,000-strong sales force.

That relatively narrow career path has meant Mr Robbins will have to live in his predecessor's shadow for at least a little longer. Mr Chambers will continue to take a leading external role as executive chairman, dealing with governments and customers around the world - a key responsibility for Cisco, which has faced intense pressure in China and other countries over concerns about the security of its equipment following the revelations by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor, about US internet surveillance.

Mr Robbins' personal style is likely to leave him well placed for the transition, according to people who know him.

"He's clearly competitive, but you don't see the competitiveness in him," says Mike Cote, a former associate in Atlanta. "It is much more the collegial way." He attributes Mr Robbins' style to his experience as an accomplished student athlete, having played basketball at the University of North Carolina, one of the country's top sporting schools.

Joe Bankoff, a prominent Atlanta lawyer, also credits him with a collaborative style: "He strikes me as someone who does as much listening as talking."

Like all incoming chief executives, Mr Robbins this week promised to do plenty of the former in the first weeks after he takes over his new role on July 26. But with the competitive pressures on Cisco only set to grow, the time for action will come soon enough.

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