Cisco CEO says it's "stupid" to interview internal candidates

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said he finds it "stupid" to interview internal candidates for a promotion, arguing that a 30-minute interview reveals little compared with watching people work. "What are we going to learn about them when we sit down in a room for 30 minutes and ask them questions when we can watch them work?" he asked, and added that "every day you're working is an interview for your next job." Robbins, who started at Cisco in 1997 as an account manager, said it's not enough to simply climb higher on the corporate ladder.

"You also have to have people who care about making sure their peers are successful as well," he said. "The person who is solely focused on getting to the top as an individual, it's probably not going to happen for them." He offered a practical test for promotion readiness: "If your peer group would look at your promotion announcement and go, 'that makes perfect sense,' then you've done your job, right?" Robbins said.

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