Connecting the Dots

Lessons for Leadership in a Startup World

By: John Chambers, Diane Brady

Narrated by: Allan Robertson, John Chambers

Silicon Valley visionary John Chambers shares the lessons that transformed a dyslexic kid from West Virginia into one of the world's best business leaders and turned a simple router company into a global tech titan.

When Chambers joined Cisco in 1991, it was a company with 400 employees, a single product, and about $70 million in revenue. When he stepped down as CEO in 2015, he left a $47 billion tech giant that was the backbone of the internet and a leader in areas from cybersecurity to data center convergence. Along the way, he had acquired 180 companies and turned more than 10,000 employees into millionaires. Widely recognized as an innovator, an industry leader, and one of the world's best CEOs, Chambers has 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.

Now Chambers is sharing his unique strategies for winning in a digital world. 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 gives readers a playbook on how to act before the market shifts, tap customers for strategy, partner for growth, build teams, and disrupt themselves. He also adapted those lessons to transform government, helping global leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create new models for growth.

As CEO of JC2 Ventures, he's now investing in a new generation of game-changing startups by helping founders become great leaders and scale their companies.

Connecting the Dots is destined to become a business classic, providing hard-won insights and critical tools to thrive during the accelerating disruption of the digital age.

Critic reviews

"[A] terrific book."—Forbes.com

"Connecting the Dots is powerful, penetrating, and unblinkingly personal. With a rich store of behind-the-scenes stories from his remarkable 20 years as CEO, John Chambers shares insights into the people, principles, and playbooks that powered Cisco's growth into a global Internet giant. Here is a must-read on best practices for any manager in any industry."—John Doerr, Chairman,Kleiner Perkins and bestselling author of Measure What Matters

"By turns practical and insightful, John Chambers' indefatigable spirit, sound judgment, and depth of experience shine through in Connecting the Dots. Throughout his career, Chambers set a standard of leadership and innovation over the better part of 20 years. And these lessons apply to all of us--in business and in life."
—Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase

"Great leaders are distinguished by the ability to move their society or company from where it is to where it has never been. They act on the basis of a set of core principles, both intangible and inspirational. John Chambers, an accomplished executive in his own right, distills those principles in Connecting the Dots with elegance and common sense."—Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State

"I watched John Chambers lead Cisco through massive tech disruptions, countless economic cycles, and scores of acquisitions that killed many of his competitors. This is a compelling story of effective leadership through good times and bad, filled with smart lessons about innovation, team building, and managing creativity. An important and relevant read-I highly recommend it."—Jack Welch, founder of the Jack Welch Management Institute, andformer CEO of General Electric

"I've always known John Chambers to be wise, and credit him for the business ideas that helped Oracle be successful. With the brilliant insights found in Connecting the Dots, I learned even more that I plan to use. Whether it's how to learn from difficult setbacks, find your courage as a leader, focus on the customer, and so much else, this is a must-read for any business person. A very personal and incredibly engaging book!"—Safra Catz, CEO, Oracle

"Explains how Chambers reinvented himself and his company over two decades and shares the leadership strategies that made him one of the last CEOs of a major tech company from his generation to step down."—The Washington Post

"If you want to learn from a master of Silicon Valley, then look no further than John Chambers. What he teaches the world's best tech startups today is captured in Connecting the Dots."—Marc Andreessen,General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Wealth of knowledge & experience delivered clearly

John Chambers is clearly one of the great CEOs of his or any generation. His track record speaks for itself as the basis of this audiobook. The insights on leadership are well laid out with examples & stories to reinforce the concepts. His view of the global future of business & government should at least be considered by any of today’s or future leaders.

Among the insights are traits to identify employees, great startups & how to navigate markets in transition to your greatest benefit.

Mr. Chambers has truly changed the way the World lives works plays & learns and shares that journey in this book.

Good lessons taken away

Good lessons learned and applicable in the tech industry. Was a little salesy towards the end of the book but the beginning and middle were great.

For entrepreneurs - a great walk through

I worked for Cisco from 2000 to 2006. Reading this book, now as an entrepreneur, definitely connected the dots for me.
This book helped me focus on the critical aspects of running a business, especially building business models.

One of the critical challenges for every startup is TIMING. the very long time between innovation and actual product readiness, especially for hardware startups, requires agility and an elastic business model, which can adjust to "Market Transitions," as Steve calls it.

Great book, especially for those who have already faced the challenges and want to do better.

Loved the playbooks

As a dyslexic entrepreneur, I connected with this book in ways I didn’t expect. I even applied one of the playbook strategies to a major customer, and it worked exactly as I had hoped.

Great insights into Cisco's growth

Great things don't happen without Great Leadership. John Chambers provides wisdom and specific examples of how he developed Cisco. Also, some insights into what is next for business growth globally.