From Scaling Cisco to Seeding AI: John T. Chambers on Speed, Strategy, and Reinvention

John Chambers led Cisco through the rise of the internet—transforming it into the world’s most valuable company at its peak. On this week’s Grit, the former Cisco CEO unpacks how he scaled the business from $70M to $50B+, pioneered M&A as a growth strategy with 180 acquisitions, and built what many called the best sales force in tech. Now leading his own venture firm, Chambers shares how he’s backing the next generation of AI-native startups. Guest: John T. Chambers, Former Cisco Executive Chairman & CEO, JC2 Ventures Founder & CEO Chapters:  00:00 Trailer 00:45 Introduction 01:45 Track record, relationships, trust 13:21 Acquisitions every year 17:32 Product-focused 24:40 Family, dyslexia, and without shame 30:46 Wang Laboratories 35:59 Ready being CEO 40:17 Reinventing your business 50:08 Numbers don’t lie 54:09 Sales calls and making mistakes 56:20 Adapting leadership style 1:06:32 Best leadership year ever 1:13:35 A busy, exhausting schedule 1:22:07 Candid with me 1:25:21 What “grit” means to John 1:26:43 Outro Mentioned in this episode: John Doerr, OpenAI, Wang Laboratories, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple Inc., Meta Platforms, FMC Corporation, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., John Mortgage, Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital, Alcatel Mobile, Lucent Technologies, Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc., Rick Justice, Pankage Patel, Larry Carter, CNBC, Jim Cramer, George Kurtz, CrowdStrike, Randy Pond, Rebecca Jacoby, Mel Selcher Links: Connect with JohnXLinkedIn Connect with JoubinXLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins