Series: 50 Most Pressing Questions Facing Managers in 2026.
SUMMARY
The world is changing so fast that your ability to keep up as a communicator requires constant reinforcement and feedback. A company can move faster and execute faster if it communicates well internally. If we were the most open, most transparent, most communicative company on the planet, we could go faster — that’s what Ron Ricci learned while working at Cisco.
WHY: Communication Skills Define Leadership Potential
Former Cisco CEO John Chambers believes that a company can move faster and execute faster if it communicates well internally. Chambers saw communications alignment as one of his two 3 priorities every fiscal year, along with revenue and profit growth.
In short, Chambers wanted a culture of where communications faciliated aligment to company’s execution road map.
At Cisco, communication skills are so important that every single Cisco executive who talks to a customer gets rated on content and delivery. It’s part and parcel of who you are as an executive.
The results serve two purposes. First, the results offer an executive feedback on how effectively they’re delivering the Cisco story and, second, senior executives review the scores to evaluate a person’s leadership potential.