a strong work ethic and worked long hours as a tradesman to give us a good life. My mother didn't go to college—she stayed home to take care of me and my two brothers, Bob and Rick, and later developed a career as a computer technician after we left home. We lived comfortable lives—we weren't affluent by any means, but we didn't lack for anything.
I think my father always regretted not getting his degree, so he impressed on my brothers and me from an early age that we would definitely be going to college. I started working when I was 12, delivering newspapers, and my brothers started working at a young age too. The expectation our father set for us was that the money we made would be put into savings for college. The main focus, however, was on studying and doing well in school.
When I was in high school, everyone was talking about going to college, but I didn't fully understand what college was all about. My parents didn't have experience with the college and career landscape to help fill in the gaps, so my brothers and I had to learn as we went through the process ourselves. We had to figure out what schools were available to us, how to apply, and what professions to pursue. I decided to talk with my high school guidance counselor about it.
The guidance counselor asked me a few questions and then he handed me a list of colleges. “Go look at these,” he said. “You may want to think about going to them.” I didn't realize it at the time, but that counselor set the path to my future.
Fordham was one of the schools on the list. I liked that the school was in New York City, and it had a strong reputation, especially for business careers. Going to school in New York City was an eye-opening experience for me. I was somewhat sheltered growing up in a small, rural town with my family, but at Fordham, I started getting more engaged in the community around me.
I wanted to try different kinds of jobs, so I worked for a hospital (a short-lived tour as an operating room technician) and a radio station while I was in college. The station broadcast throughout the Tri-state area—New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut—with a variety of music and news programming to reach multiple niche audiences. I was initially interested in majoring in journalism or the arts at Fordham, so I decided to become a business reporter at the radio station to explore both professions. I was exposed to the corporate world, and this was my first experience on how companies reported earnings.
While I was at the radio station as a news reporter, I had the opportunity to interview some significant people at the time, including President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale, New York City Mayor Ed Koch, and other political and business leaders. I would be standing in the press scrum trying to get in and hold up my microphone along with all the big networks: ABC, CBS, and so on—which were big moments for me as a small-town kid. I was learning firsthand about politics and business, and it opened up a whole new world to me. Those experiences were as valuable as the formal education I was getting in college. As much as I loved the creativity of working at the radio station and doing some filmmaking on the side, my rational side said I needed to go into business so I could get a good job out of college. So, I decided to major in accounting and finance.
As I neared graduation, I started knocking on doors in New York City, dropping off copies of my resume at companies I was interested in. The very first job offer I got was a full-time finance position from CBS at $12,500 a year, and I still have that first offer letter to this day. Although I was excited to receive the offer, I decided to wait and see if IBM would make me an offer following my summer internships. Luckily, the company made me a full-time job offer.
My education continued as I moved up the ranks at IBM. I started in an entry-level job, but I had the good fortune to socialize with different levels of people in the company and met several executives whom I personally aspired to be like, and who became mentors. I was really interested in leadership early in my career. There was something about helping people develop their skills and advance in their own careers that spoke to me. Within just a few years, I was promoted to manager and led a team of eight people.
When I joined the finance leadership team for IBM's EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) division, I spent most of my time in Europe. After that, I was tasked with overseeing finance for the San Jose–based storage business and I moved to California. The division invested heavily in Asia operations so I spent a lot of time traveling in China, Singapore, Thailand, and other Asian countries as we expanded disk drive manufacturing throughout Asia.
I learned professionally and personally by traveling extensively at a time when U.S. businesses were just entering previously inaccessible markets. I have vivid memories of walking on the Great Wall of China, boarding a Russian Navy ship in St. Petersburg, and bartering in Indian markets. I had many interactions with customers and other IBMers around the world, and they were often very open to showing me around and sharing different parts of their cultures—what was most important to them. Through these experiences I learned that cultural understanding is essential for doing business.
Although most of my fellow business students at Fordham had a goal of working for one of the large, public accounting firms upon graduation, I ended up accepting a position at IBM because the company really cared about its people. They focused on ensuring we connected as coworkers. They had a number of clubs, sports teams, family outings, and as someone starting a career, this was a wonderful way to learn more about colleagues by sharing hobbies and building relationships. We felt like a family; we felt like we belonged, and that has resonated with me ever since. I built many long-standing friendships that have stayed with me through today. I even met my wife, Brenda, at IBM, where we were colleagues growing our careers in the finance organization.
However, I recognize that during that era, for all IBM's strength of character, the company had accepted norms that by today's standards were biased against diverse people. While women and Black team members were not uncommon, my colleagues were predominately white men, especially in the more senior positions. And an uncomfortable truth during that time was that people of color and women were systemically disadvantaged. Thankfully, the IBM culture has evolved, as has the mindset of most leading businesses around the world, but we still have so far to go on inclusion, which I discuss further in Chapter 7.
This year alone has confirmed without a doubt that when you make character the foundation of everything you do, and when you're more inclusive of diverse people and backgrounds, you're a much more effective business leader. You benefit from different perspectives that result in far more equitable and innovative products. You develop trust, relationships, and partnerships on a whole new level, which in turn, drives loyalty and growth in your business.
I joined Cisco in 2004 as Vice President, Worldwide Sales Finance, when the company was in its heyday, and was promoted to CFO in 2008. Profits were soaring, business was great, and some of the best people I have ever worked with were joining in record numbers. During my tenure, the company more than doubled business revenues and profits. But then we faced major adversity in the wake of the global recession, which hit in 2008–2009 and affected Cisco for several years. I will never forget the day in 2011 when we received 11 analyst downgrades, lost billions in the marketplace, and suddenly had a lot more adversaries.
This was a time of significant company transition. Cisco had more than 66,000 employees globally and a very strong company culture. We had to quickly implement a cost-savings plan in excess of $1 billion—leading to heartbreaking rounds of downsizing and layoffs—while at the same time trying to maintain a positive culture. It was probably where I learned the most about how important culture can truly be when the worst happens all at once.
Throughout it all, our Chairman and CEO, John Chambers, set a remarkable example for others in the company to follow. During an earlier downturn, he had reduced his own salary to $1 a year.5 And while other employees volunteered to take pay cuts to reduce layoffs of their coworkers and help save the company, John declined—deciding that morale
