Even though his slide showed Cisco's FY14 net income plunged by a staggering -$2.13 billion (i.e. -21.33%) from FY13, Cisco CEO John Chambers appeared to be pleased with the delivery of his PowerPoint presentation.
Revealingly, earlier this month Forbes Magazine published:
After interviewing Cisco's Vice President of Customer Experience Services, Ron Ricci, Forbes reported:
"Cisco has learned that the best executive communicators use PowerPoint more effectively than others..."
"Chambers believes all of Cisco's executives should master public speaking and presentation skills."
"Chambers is 'obsessed' with the idea that the effective communication of a brand story facilitates the execution of a company's road map."
"When a Cisco executive delivers an internal presentation at company events and meetings or delivers a customer facing presentation, that executive is rated on his or her communication skills as soon as the presentation is over."
"If you're a vice president or senior vice president at Cisco, nearly every presentation you deliver will receive a score. A score of 4 or higher is considered a good presentation. A score of 4.5 or above is considered high. All executives are rated, including CEO John Chambers."
"Cisco CEO John Chambers routinely scores 4.5 or better. It's not his golf handicap, but something far more important to the success of the technology networking company—his presentation score."
"Senior executives review the scores to evaluate a person's leadership potential."
Perhaps I'm nitpicking here, but I believe Cisco's customers, shareholders and employees would be better served by top executives who execute better than they PowerPoint.
