The People With Power at Cisco Amid Revenue Crisis, Flagging Employee Morale

Cisco Systems, the biggest seller of networking hardware for data centers, has held up better than the vast majority of tech companies during the stock market downturn. But the company spooked the market after saying in May it has struggled to get its components out of China amid Covid-19 lockdowns there, and it projected revenue would shrink in the current fiscal quarter compared to a year ago.

With nearly 80,000 employees, Cisco also is one of the biggest companies to let staff work from home indefinitely and to try to save money by discouraging in-person meetings with customers. Salespeople need to seek vice president–level approval for any expenses related to an in-person meeting—even a $20 train ticket, according to a current employee. Company bosses have been grappling with ways to keep employees happy amid high turnover, some of which has been related to such cost-cutting measures.

This org chart details the 70 most powerful people at Cisco as it navigates this pivotal moment, reflecting recent changes in leadership in its sales, cybersecurity and emerging technologies divisions.