Cisco's Robbins to reshuffle leaders in first act as CEO
Presidents Rob Lloyd and Gary Moore head for exit as incoming CEO looks for 'flatter' structure
Cisco's Chuck Robbins has said his first priority as CEO will be to make the company's leadership structure "flatter" as he announced the firm's co-presidents will leave the firm the day after he takes over at the top.
In a blog post, incoming boss Robbins (pictured) – who takes over from John Chambers on 26 July – said over the next two weeks, he will announce full details of the "next-generation organisational structure" which he claims will be simpler and flatter.
"This simplified structure will allow us to move with speed to accelerate our innovation and help our customers transform in the digital age," he said.
Robbins officially named Rob Lloyd and Gary Moore as the top execs who are heading to the exit, but Re-Code claims the firm's CTO and chief strategy officer Padmasree Warrior will be joining them – although Cisco was not available to comment at the time of first publication.
Warrior took to Twitter today and posted an image of a quote which read: "What is coming is better than what is gone", but stopped short of confirming the reports directly.
On his blog, Robbins said overhauling the top flight of leaders was essential for Cisco's success.
"As I transition to the role of CEO, my focus areas are acceleration, simplification, operational rigour and culture," he said. "These will be the foundation for Cisco's continued evolution that will position us for the future. The moves we have already made as a company in the past three years in engineering, sales and services were designed to deliver innovation with speed and meet the needs and expectations of our customers.
"To drive our continued success and leadership, our organisation structure must always evolve as the market changes. Going forward, we will move to a flatter leadership team designed for the speed, innovation and execution that is required of us over the next decade."
He said Lloyd and Moore have played a crucial role in Cisco's success to date.
"Rob and Gary have provided tremendous leadership for Cisco," he said. "I believe that one of their greatest achievements is the breadth and depth of the leadership team they've helped build. They are both deeply passionate about developing great talent. I am confident that many of those world-class leaders they have recruited and mentored will no doubt lead Cisco into the future, and for this I am incredibly grateful."