Connecting the Dots: Lessons for Leadership in a Startup World [Audiobook]

Legendary Silicon Valley visionary John Chambers, one of the world's greatest business leaders, shares the playbook and philosophy that transformed Cisco into a global tech titan and now inspires a new generation of leaders.

When Chambers joined Cisco in 1991, it was a company with 400 employees and one toaster-sized product - a router - and $1.2 billion in revenue. When he left 20 years later, revenues had reached $47 billion, and Cisco was a global tech giant that was the backbone of the Internet, a leader in areas from cybersecurity to self-driving cars. He acquired 180 companies along the way, turning more than 10,000 employees into millionaires. Over those years, he received awards for innovation (the Edison Achievement Award) and as one of the best-performing CEOs in the world (Harvard Business Review), not to mention several awards for his leadership in philanthropy and social responsibility. He outlasted and outmaneuvered practically every rival that ever tried to take Cisco on - Nortel, Lucent, Alcatel, IBM, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, to name a few - with a track record that is studied at business schools worldwide.

Now, Chambers shares the leadership principles behind it all. From his early lessons and struggles with dyslexia in West Virginia to his bold bets and battles with some of the biggest names in tech, Chambers developed a series of playbooks for beating the odds and anticipating trends. Using stories and insights from his career, Chambers shows how to act before the market shifts, use your customers as your chief strategy officers, acquire and partner for growth, find the right people and build the best teams, and how to disrupt yourself.

Today Chambers, who has been listed among the "World's Best CEOs" by Barron's and named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People", has adapted his lessons to help transform government, becoming a trusted advisor to global leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create new models for growth. He's also coaching and investing in the leaders of a number of game-changing startups through JC2 Ventures.

In the digital era, companies can go from zero to a billion to bankruptcy in a matter of years. The winners won't be the biggest or richest players, but the ones who can connect the dots - in any size enterprise and in any industry.