2023-May-03

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30 Years at Cisco and Still Loving It

BY LISA CASALEGNO

WITH HELEN GALL

4 MINUTE READ · 6 MINUTE LISTEN

A lot of people love working at Cisco, but very few love it for 30 years.

Ronni Hargrove, customer success leader for CX Americas GES East, is one of 66 people to reach this milestone out of the 80,000 Cisco employees working today. She’s as unique now as she was in the beginning of her career.

You could say she’s a trailblazer.

Ronni came to Cisco in 1993 for her dream job as a systems engineer. She had set her sights on working for a router company and worked her way up to the role of network manager before applying for the job at Cisco.

At the time, women made up less than 10 percent of engineers in the industry. She remembers being the only woman in a room of 100 men at her first system engineers meeting in San Jose, but that didn’t slow her down. Landing the systems engineer role was the beginning of a long and varied career at Cisco.

In addition to her experience as a network manager, Ronni believes the key to succeeding at Cisco is her willingness and ability to continually learn new things.

“I’m very fortunate to be wired to think that I can do it. So I’ll go into new things and be OK knowing that I don’t know,” she explains. “I share this because I know it’s difficult for a lot of people.”

In 1995, Ronni was promoted to SE Management. And a few years later, she made the first of many pivots in her Cisco career, transitioning from Sales to Technical Support Services.

The mission-critical nature of the work was appealing, and Ronni found opportunities to help create new service offerings and capture more revenue.

Ronni has gone on to hold leadership roles in professional services, strategy and planning, business operations, services delivery, and more. In addition to working with different teams, she worked in different customer segments, including Public Sector, Service Provider, and Global Enterprise.

She eventually ended up leading larger teams, and today, Ronni is a senior director leading Customer Success for the CX AMER GES East team.

“A career journey is not always linear,” Ronni said. Waiting for a promotion opportunity in the organization can be frustrating, but that a company as large as Cisco has much to offer in lateral moves. Her cross-functional experience helped expand her skillset and understanding of the business more with each move.

Ronni also learned you don’t have to have all the experience listed on the job description to land the role. “It’s okay to earn your next opportunity and still grow into your job,” she says.

Since Ronni had many mentors who supported her along the way, she pays it forward.

As she celebrated her 30th Ciscoversary in March, she heard from people she mentored and women who see her as a role model.

“Thank you for clearing the path for other women and for sharing yourself, with so many of us at Cisco,” wrote Delivery Director in CX Americas, Public Sector Carrie Campion.

“Cisco is blessed to have your leadership, coaching and overall influence for all these years,” wrote Director, Customer Experience Branden Ritchey. “You make everyone around you better.”

Ronni has deep respect for her colleagues. She finds it energizing to be surrounded by people who share her passion for helping customers leverage technology to achieve their business goals. She believes Cisco hires only the very best.

It’s the people — both customers and coworkers — who make Ronni love where she works.

While the work is rewarding, Ronni also enjoys the opportunity to give to the community through Cisco programs like Time2Give and volunteering dozens of times throughout her Cisco career with her coworkers.

Over her 30 years, Ronni saw Cisco and the IT industry evolve from early networking to true digital transformation that has changed the world. When she joined Cisco, it was just a router company. The internet was limited and communications were still mostly dial-up.

“I had a conversation with Former CEO John Chambers about the need to have additional products in our portfolio to give our customers what they need. And he said, ‘Just wait, you’ll see!’ Then Cisco started doing acquisitions,” Ronni recalls.

Her ability to envision the future, determination to learn and solve problems, and willingness to be flexible and take risks fueled Ronni’s success. She has repeatedly proven she can handle any challenge.

So, what’s her secret? “Gravitate to what energizes you,” Ronni says. “You’re likely to be more successful if you enjoy what you are doing.”

Join your colleagues in the #LoveWhereYouWork contest and share why you love working here.

Related Links

• #LoveWhereYouWork contest
• Women of Cisco Inclusive Community
• Women in Science and Engineering Inclusive Community
• Learning and Development
• Careers at Cisco

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