????“網絡行業很殘酷”

????Pund-IT公司首席分析師查爾斯?金表示：“無論以什么指標來衡量，約翰?錢伯斯這一路走來都取得了令人矚目的成就。”

????1995年，當時46歲的錢伯斯開始擔任思科首席執行官。彼時，互聯網的興起推動思科急劇發展壯大，公司的路由器和交換機很快被視為日益網絡化世界的重要支柱。2000年3月，思科曾一度超越微軟(Microsoft)，成為全球最具價值的公司，此后經歷了諸多困難時期：幾輪裁員、并購失敗（還記得收購Flip攝像機公司那場鬧劇嗎？），股價低迷。

????近年來，隨著新興技術趨勢不斷挑戰思科的核心業務，錢伯斯領導的這家公司也一直承受著巨大的壓力。舉例來說，軟件定義網絡(SDN)比傳統的網絡設備成本更低且更靈活，而思科當年正是靠傳統網絡設備成名的。

????思科確實找到了應對之策，那就是收購Insieme。（錢伯斯在公司最近的財報電話會議上表示：“我認為SDN是未來的趨勢，我們會從中受益”。）但是，金指出，盡管思科在其核心網絡市場仍然是領先者，而且在x86服務器這樣的新領域運營良好，仍然有人“抱怨思科行動太遲緩，創新產品也少于其他公司。”。

????負責與451 Research研究公司協作的研究主管彼得?克里斯蒂表示：“整體而言，互聯網是個殘酷的行業，因為它不像計算機，應用程序并沒有發生太大的變化，交換還是交換，路由還是路由，然而半導體的進步已使成本商品化，且對價格構成下行壓力。錢伯斯推動了許多嘗試，以拓展思科的產品組合，并搶占更大的市場份額。有些嘗試很成功，如服務器計算和IP電話，有些并不成功，如Flip攝像機。”

????那些失敗的案例成為批評者們要求錢伯斯退休的理由。而支持者則表示，錢伯斯表現出了韌性和愿意冒險嘗試的信心。

????451 Research研究公司資深分析師克里斯汀?雷諾在20世紀90年代末和本世紀初曾在思科錢伯斯手下工作了十多年。他贊賞錢伯斯在其任期內著眼于長遠視角，而這往往是任期較短的首席執行官所忽視的。雷諾回憶道：“我剛開始在他手下工作時，公司只有1000多人，我離開的時候，他已經使思科成長為擁有65000人的公司。在他的領導下，思科成功抵御了大規模市場轉型，不僅存活下來，而且實現了蓬勃發展。”

????錢伯斯的其他前同事也有類似看法。前思科高管杰西瑞?烏拉爾現在是思科競爭對手Arista Networks公司首席執行官，他說，“我認識他超過二十年，他領導思科經歷起起伏伏，始終干勁十足、果斷無畏，這令人欽佩。”

????擔任首席執行官，在公司順風順水時會得到褒獎，在公司陷入困境時則會遭到指責。以思科的裁員為例，錢伯斯是促進公司增長的功臣，但同樣要為裁員負責。雷諾表示：“我知道2001年的裁員令約翰很不好受，2009年的裁員也是一樣。這對他來說也不容易，但這是每個企業發展周期的必經之路。”

????在其職業生涯的早期階段，錢伯斯從事過多年的銷售工作。可能正是這種背景，幫助他堅持了下來。《應用開發趨勢》(Application Development Trends)特約編輯，《錢伯斯的思科之道》(John Chambers and the Cisco Way)一書作者約翰?沃特斯表示：“偉大的推銷員都有一種特別的現實樂觀主義態度。他們異想天開，同時又腳踏實地。此外，錢伯斯對客戶極其關注，這些個性使他能穩坐首席執行官交椅。”

????‘Networking is a brutal business’

????“John Chambers has had a remarkable ride by any measure,” says Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT.

????That ride began back in 1995, when Chambers, then 46, took Cisco’s top job. At the time, the rise of the Internet had put a lusty wind in Cisco’s sails, and the company’s routers and switches soon came to be viewed as key vertebrae in the backbone of an increasingly connected world. Since March 2000, when Cisco briefly edged out Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company, there have been plenty of rough patches: several rounds of layoffs, failed acquisitions (remember the Flip camcorder?), and lackluster stock performance.

????Cisco under Chambers has also been under considerable pressure in recent years from emerging technology trends that challenge its core businesses. One example? Software-defined networking, an approach that is considered to be cheaper and more flexible than the traditional networking equipment upon which Cisco built its name.

????Cisco does have an answer for that, which it calls Insieme. (“I see SDN as something we’ll embrace and get the benefits of,” Chambers said in the company’s most recent earnings call.) Still, there has been “some public grumbling about the company being late to that game and with less innovative products than some others,” King points out, even as Cisco remains the leader in its core networking markets and performs well in newer areas like x86 servers.

????“Networking as a whole is a brutal business because, unlike computing, applications haven’t changed that much—switching is switching and routing is routing—while semiconductor progress has commoditized costs and put downward pressure on prices,” says Peter Christy, a research director for networking with 451 Research. “Chambers has driven many attempts to broaden Cisco’s portfolio and grab more wallet share. Some, like server computing or IP telephony, have succeeded brilliantly. Others, like consumer efforts—e.g. the Flip camera—not so.”

????Those failed bets are fodder for critics calling for Chambers to retire. Supporters, meanwhile, say he has shown resilience as well as the confidence to make bets that may not work out.

????Christian Renaud, a senior analyst also with 451 Research, worked under Chambers at Cisco for more than a decade in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He credits Chambers’ tenure for a long-view perspective that short-term CEOs often miss. “He steered the company from just over a thousand people when I started working for him to over 65,000 when I left,” Renaud recalls. “Under his leadership, Cisco has successfully weathered large market transitions, and not only survived but thrived.”

????Other former colleagues tell a similar tale. “Having known him for more than two decades, I am amazed at his nonstop energy and decisive courage in navigating Cisco through both its highs and lows,” says ex-Cisco exec Jayshree Ullal, who is now chief executive of Arista Networks, which competes with Cisco.

????It is an inherent part of the CEO role that you get credit for the good times and blame for the bad. Take Cisco’s layoffs, for example—Chambers is equally responsible for those as he is for the company’s growth, Renaud says. “I know how much the layoffs in 2001 emotionally impacted John, as I suspect the layoffs in 2009 did as well,” he says. “This can’t be easy for him, but it is part of the cycle of every business.”

????Chambers spent many years in sales during the early part of his career. It’s possible that background may be part of what has helped him endure. “Great salesmen run on a special kind of real-world optimism. You know—head in the clouds, feet on the ground,” says John Waters, editor-at-large for Application Development Trends and author of John Chambers and the Cisco Way. “Add an almost devout focus on the customer, and you’ve got a combo of personal traits that surely helped to keep him in the big chair.”