Cisco differentiates itself from competitors by being innovative in the way we think about technology and in the way we conduct our business. This spirit of innovation extends to how we develop leadership qualities in employees at all levels of the company. We strive to nurture transformational leaders who can contribute to our vision, act as agents of change, collaborate effectively, and execute on our strategies.

Leading a successful business in the face of strategic business transformation requires a unique combination of capabilities. To prepare our managerial and thought leaders to lead at Cisco, we have developed competency models for collaborative leadership called C-LEAD. C-LEAD for Executives is designed to build the leadership capabilities of employees at director level and above, and C-LEAD for Management focuses on developing competencies for mid-level managers and high-potential employees who demonstrate management potential.

 

Five Themes for Effective Leadership

C-LEAD defines what Cisco expects from its leaders and what they should expect from each other. It has five interdependent themes: Collaborate, Learn, Execute, Accelerate, and Disrupt. Each theme encompasses leadership expectations or competencies that together constitute the skill set of an effective leader.

• Collaborate: Working across boundaries, building teams, managing conflict, earning trust, and recognizing good performance
• Learn: Developing personal skills and coaching others
• Execute: Solving problems, making decisions, delegating, giving feedback, and demonstrating passion for the work
• Accelerate: Communicating goals and building capabilities
• Disrupt: Envisioning opportunities, innovating, taking risks, and leading change

We are integrating the C-LEAD framework into all our manager and leadership programs, including recruitment, assessment, development planning, deployment and promotion, and training. C-LEAD is also part of Cisco’s executive promotion and succession planning processes. By employing consistent assessment criteria internally to develop leaders, and externally to select managerial candidates, Cisco is developing a leadership team that strengthens our business and fits well with our corporate culture.