Pros

Cisco Systems is the industry leader. You will have access to a vast amount of knowledge accumulated over a long period of time. Employees at Cisco get the benefit of a strong infrastructure, such as IT support, HR, benefits etc.

Cons

Cisco is a very political environment. Your success will depend mostly on how well you get along with your manager. Emphasis on bonus puts a lot of power in the hands of the mangers, which often ends up being abused.

There is a lot of bureaucracy. Groups are always fighting turf wars. Therefore information does not flow well across group boundaries.

The processes at Cisco are over engineered. Even doing the smallest amount of work has a great deal of overhead.

Advice to Senior Management

Reduce the amount of cronyism prevalent in Cisco. Have checks and balances in how managers exercise their power. Reduce the overhead caused by excessive processes, and make the work environment more efficient. Improve the flow of information across team boundaries.