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CIOs have to be able to lay out a clear path in concert with the business leader - I used to make the business guy responsible for the apps and force them to answer the question of why they feel they need non-standard apps when they know that's how the costs skyrocket.

Each customer has unique deployment needs, and as a result, CIOs value the flexibility that our hybrid cloud offerings provide.

The future of any corporation is as good as the value system of the leaders and followers in the organization.

Strategic partnership is based on a shared set of values.

Citigroup has a lot of money, it spends a lot of money, and it uses that money to grow and consolidate power. And it pays off.

Every company has to identify what I call its strategic resources, and make sure that it grabs as much of its strategic resources as possible.

There's a conventional wisdom that says that strategic thinking is much more important than relationship building, which doesn't seem to be nearly as highly valued as it should be, based on what some of the leaders that I've spoken with have said to me.

A vote of confidence from Cisco Systems can be very important to fledging technology companies, especially if they have initial public offerings on the horizon.

When you look at a company that's already succeeded or is at the very top of its game, it isn't necessarily when it's executing well. It tends to be peacetime - you've defeated the competition, you have the highest margins, the highest multiple.

CEOs must embrace the role of serving as the public face of the company to their customer community and the marketplace at large.