There is no five-year plan at Cisco, no distant goal other than getting bigger and more profitable by pushing bits in whatever direction makes the most sense at that time. Chambers' strength is his ability to live with that reality, to trust the smart people around him to brilliantly execute a plan written in sand, knowing that next year or the year after it will all change again. Chambers's natural role is that of sales manager, and he brings a sales-management approach to the whole company. He gives his private office number to customers and urges them to call if there are problems. Every employee at Cisco knows who is the customer is, because every employee is rewarded based on customer satisfaction.
Chambers does a lot of team building, often on a personal level.
He knows how to keep the nerds feeling secure. The son of two medical doctors from Charleston, West Virginia, Chambers hasn't lost his Appalachian accent or his country charm. He works hard to put people at ease and understands the importance of good manners. When a Cisco employee committed suicide last year, Chambers paid a call to the family the next day, fully vesting the deceased's stock options in the process. Gestures like that are remembered throughout Cisco.