Hi all - Yaacov, certainly, no one should underestimate Mr Chambers. That said, mgt ability is one of the many ingredients for success, granted that it is one of the most important ones, since a great leader 1) will make fewer mistakes; 2) will make a come back and 3) will lead the crew into uncharted territory. That said, a great leader is not born overnight. Everyone has gone thru baptism-by-fire. Mr Chambers learned his rope at Wang Lab, which I ve written off in my tax returns :)! OTOH, look at Mr Armstrong over at AT&T. He was a great leader revival the fortunes of 2 companies. But T is the wrong company at the wrong time, as opposed to CSCO being the right company at the right time. As NW said, the wind of change is everlasting, if Mr Chambers can keep up, more power to him, but when you are at the top of the hill, the wind is blowing more strongly. Look at INTC, the paranoid mgr was arguably one of the best, but when x86 centric worldview has passed its prime, there is a lot of soul searching.
To me, CPQ has been to the abyss and back. Failures and miscalculations, yes. But MC is actually a better leader than EP, he has a bit of luck too. The worst of integrating Tandem and DEC is behind the company, and MC is not a rigid boxmaker, storage, services, wildfire, and even supercomputer, anything make a buck and a name, go for it. And he is methodical. Can't ask for more for a company being written off 2 yrs ago!
best, Bosco |
