As the Internet radically changed how people live, learn, and work, new opportunities were emerging in many areas. Cisco president and CEO John Chambers knew that the Internet’s and Cisco’s rapid growth had increased the difficulty for one top person to review new ideas, gather information, and make timely decisions. For Cisco to continue to grow, he reasoned, it needed to be more nimble and bring more products to market faster—in short, to innovate with speed. Chambers saw collaborative teams as the solution and designed a new, broader, and more inclusive system in which decision-making responsibility is pushed deeper into the organization. The new configuration includes an operating committee of 11 people, Chambers plus other top executives; several councils that manage $10 billion projects; boards that handle $1 billion opportunities; and working groups that support the councils and boards and perform other activities. The teams are cross-functional, interdepartmental, and even transnational. Each is organized around promising initiatives or product lines; other teams can spring up at the drop of a hat when needed. In the new company, to not share what you know is unacceptable, so few turn down an invitation to collaborate. Chambers says collaborative technologies permit almost instant access to information and to other people, providing new ways to interact. Cisco promotes all types of social networking: blogs, videos, and even an internal “MyCisco” system that employees use like an internal Facebook network. There employees can share what they have learned and provide details about their expertise. Initially, not everyone embraced the new teamwork structure. The old Cisco sported a “cowboy culture,” with leaders competing aggressively for resources. Nearly 20 percent of them left the company, deciding they couldn’t work under Chambers’ new setup. Leaders now share responsibility for each other’s success. They are measured on how well they collaborate and are compensated on how well all businesses perform, not just their own unit.

• As president and CEO of Cisco, John Chambers needs to focus several years into the future to keep the company successful. How do you think this long-term perspective helped shape his view of teamwork? 

• How do you suppose Chambers overcame managers’ initial resistance in forming collaborative teams?