Top 100 Cisco Partner Summit Highlights (40-21)

Many of the following event highlights (40-21) come from Guest Keynote Speaker and Bestselling Author Marcus Buckingham, Cisco Chief Marketing Officer Sue Bostrom and Cisco Chief Development Officer Charlie Giancarlo. Here we go…

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40) Still Hungry: WebEx is Cisco’s 119th acquisition. More are coming…

39) Money Changes Everything: Giancarlo says Cisco will invest $4 billion in R&D this year. TelePresence, Giancarlo notes, was developed internally rather than acquired.

38) Building Its Brand: Cisco is the 18th ranked brand in the world, according to BusinessWeek–but the fifth-ranked IT brand behind Microsoft, Intel, IBM and HP. Bostrom isn’t satisfied. Hey Sue: Where’s Apple on that BusinessWeek list? (Apparently, pushed under consumer brands.)

37) Audio Branding: In addition to recently changing its logo, Cisco is now exploring “Audio Branding.” The company is trying to determine what sounds represent the Cisco brand. Bostrom demonstrated her point by playing two notes from the Jaws theme as well as the ESPN SportsCenter jingle. Suggestion from The VAR Guy to Bostrom: How about this for the Cisco Audio Brand?

36) We’re Not Novell: Cisco insiders were insulted when The VAR Guy suggested Microsoft could destroy Cisco’s business much in the way that Microsoft destroyed Novell’s business in the 1990s. Okay, maybe it was a stretch by The VAR Guy.

35) Breaking Bread: The VAR Guy had a beer with CRN’s Bob Faletra Wednesday night. Yes, The VAR Guy is still poking around the channel. And this time he’s armed with a blog. Watch out.

34) Voice Over IP: One of the least mentioned terms here at the conference. VoIP is dead … long live unified communications?

33) Dancing Without the Stars: The VAR Guy was invited last night to Pure, a hot Vegas club. The club was hot. The VAR Guy was not. It was one beer and off to blog some more.

32) Busy Signals: The VAR Guy’s wife has called him exactly 32 times over the past three days. The VAR Guy was in constant meetings and only picked up twice. Sorry dear. The VAR Guy will be home Friday. He hopes you haven’t changed the locks.

31) Router: There’s another term The VAR Guy didn’t hear once during the event. My, how times have changed.

30) Thirty-something: The average age of a Second Life player is 32, according to Bostrom, meaning that Web 2.0 isn’t just for kids. Another Cisco employee pointed The VAR Guy to a rather funny alternative site, www.getasecondlife.com.

29) He’s Not Dead Yet: Sure, the remains of Star Trek veteran Scotty were recently blasted into space. And Dr. McCoy (“Bones”) is nothing more than bones these days. But Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) is still alive and well … and here at the conference.

28) Lean, Mean Fighting Machine: Picture John Candy in Stripes and the infamous mud wrestling scene. A similar scene involving some VARs and a certain networking company from Los Angeles occurred in Vegas last night. No, The VAR Guy didn’t climb into the ring.

27) Ben & Jerry & The VAR Guy: Dessert at the conference luncheon today included cannoli and vanilla ice cream. Wish you were here, ajdoctor.

26) Goodbye MySpace, Hello Cisco PartnerSpace: A forthcoming social network on Cisco.com that will allow Cisco partners to interact with each other as well as engage with customers. Expect news in May, according to Bostrom.

Now, thoughts from Keynote Speaker Buckingham…

25) Build On Your Strengths: It’s a myth that you will grow most in the areas of your greatest weaknesses. In reality, you will grow most in the areas of your greatest strengths. Unfortunately, only 14 percent of employees are playing to their strengths at work. If you’re not one of those 14 percent, focus on yourself instead of trying to fix those around you, Buckingham said.

24) You Are Who You Are: It’s a myth that as you grow your personality changes. As you grow, you become more of who you already are. You can change values, skills and knowledge but your core personality will remain the same, Buckingham asserted.

23) Rethink Your Team: It’s a myth to think that a great team member puts his strengths aside and does whatever it takes to help the team. In reality, a great team member volunteers his strengths to the team most of the time. Some say “There’s no I in team.” But as Michael Jordan said, “there is an I in winning,” Buckingham noted.

22) Learn to Hate Losing: “Show me a good loser … and I’ll show you a loser,” quipped Buckingham.

21) What Ultimately Determines Employee Success?: According to Buckingham, the following question will help you to determine whether an employee will enjoy long-term success: “At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day.” The VAR Guy is proud to answer “absolutely.”

Here’s our Top 20, featuring thoughts from CEO John Chambers.