With Chambers, Cisco was one (really) big family

SAN MATEO, Calif. — John Chambers was Silicon Valley's longest-serving CEO, but he always maintained Cisco Systems was a 70,000-person family.

When an employee experienced tragedy, Chambers ("JC" to Cisco's workforce) often dropped what he was doing and offered counsel. When he learned a Stanford University football player had stumbled through a particularly rough patch on the field, he arranged an internship to bump up his confidence. When a valued worker left, JC took it personally.

The affable Chambers made no secret of his emotions when we shadowed him at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early 2013. While on his private jet, Chambers pored over binders filled with personal information about key business contacts so he could add a touch of his formidable Southern charm.

That same day, he abruptly broke off a behind-the-scenes briefing at The Venetian hotel. "If you'll excuse me, I have an important matter I need to attend to," Chambers said. "I just got a note about one of our employees. I need to help them now."

With Chambers transitioning to executive chairman and ushering in Chuck Robbins, 49, as Cisco CEO, the 65-year-old Chambers takes on a new role — just as Oracle's Larry Ellison and Alibaba's Jack Ma have before him in new, non-CEO roles at their companies.

Chambers is likely to retain his avuncular mien with Cisco's rank and file, and remain as meticulous as always in Cisco's dealings when he steps down in late July for Robbins, a longtime sales executive.

His demands pushed employees — and Cisco — to dizzying heights. A steely-eyed Chambers could be as persuasive as the glad-handing JC.

In 2000, the company (CSCO) was briefly the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of $557 billion.

But the network-equipment company scuffled after the Internet-stock bubble burst, and it has never regained its lofty standing. Its current market cap is about $150 billion.

Tech is constantly changing and Chambers, one of the industry's mainstays, saw plenty of it while canvassing the planet to spread the Cisco gospel.

He saw the highs (late 1990s), lows (early 2000s) and middling (last few years) during a legendary 20-year stint as CEO. Cisco rang up $1.2 billion in revenue when he was named CEO in 1995; today, it's around $50 billion.

Along the way, Chambers displayed a human touch that few tech CEOs share.

In an era of self-aggrandizing start-ups with bloated valuations and even bigger egos, it was refreshing.