Cisco was recently recognized for its innovation with prominent placement at No. 5 on the Fast Company 50, a huge improvement over last year’s showing at No. 37.
Wedged between Apple and Intel on the list, Cisco was praised by the magazine for encouraging its business units to act like start-ups. Cisco also was recognized for its business-plan competition, which gave $250,000 to a graduate student who proposed an energy-distribution idea.
Fast Company’s write-up includes a short interview with Cisco CEO John Chambers on his approach to lean economic times:
“Focus on what we can influence, and not over or under react to things we can not. It’s a question of living in the world as it is, not the way we want it to be.”
