The new CEO will have a tough job to be less bossy when he or she will be looking over their shoulder for the rotating knives. Cisco have similar employment heirarchy to that of Enron, i.e. create a sinking ship mentality with the top 2 percent promoted and the bottom 5% "managed out". Crawl, elbow or scratch your way up the ladder or die trying. Not surprisingly, Cisco has the poorest quality middle managers I have ever seen in a company of its size. To be clear, that does not go for Uncle John (as the employees affectionately call him). I pity the next CEO. When John takes his "can't touch this" pass with him, it will be like watching drowning men trying to get themselves onto the Titanic's lifeboats, while helping their friends and kicking the fingers of anyone else. I for one will have the popcorn and deckchair ready - let the show begin.