Cisco CEO says promotion interviews are “stupid” and reveals better method

With the cost of living on the rise and many companies planning to grant unexciting raises this year, workers are rushing to understand what, in fact, guarantees a promotion in 2026. According to Cisco CEO, Chuck Robbins, the answer can involve colleagues and gain their approval beforehand.

In his view, this is much more important than performance in an interview.

Also read: Companies transform talent attraction and development into strategic assets

“Every day you’re working is your interview for your next position,” Robbins said on TBPN.

In fact, when it comes to internal promotions, Robbins isn’t convinced that interviews add much value.

“I think when we have two or three internal candidates for a promotion, the whole interview process is stupid to me,” Robbins added. “We’ve been watching these people work for a decade. What are we going to learn about them when we sit in a room for 30 minutes and ask questions, if we can watch them work?”

Instead, Robbins wants to know if the people you work with would support you going to the next level.

“If your peer group looked at your promotion announcement and said, ‘That makes perfect sense,’ then you did your job, right?” Robbins said.

“And if you can’t look in the mirror and say, ‘Okay, would these people be happy and believe this is the right decision?’, and if they wouldn’t be, then you’re probably still not exactly where you need to be.”

Fortune reached out to Cisco for additional comment.

Why peer approval is the secret to getting a promotion

Robbins joined Cisco in late 1997 as an account manager and was named CEO in 2015, but he learned along the way that people who get ahead aren’t just strong individual employees — they’re also willing to pull their peers up with them.

“You also have to have people who care about making sure their peers are successful,” Robbins said. “The person who is just focused on getting to the top as an individual — that’s not going to happen.”

This team-first mentality is something that other Cisco leaders also reinforce.

Jeetu Patel, the company’s chief product officer, told Fortune last year that one of the biggest mistakes ambitious professionals make is believing they can succeed alone.

“Too often, we let pride and ego get in the way,” Patel said. “We think, ‘I’m going to try to be a self-made person’. There’s no such thing as a self-made person; we live in an interconnected society where humans depend on humans. And if you can stand on the shoulders of giants, it just takes you further.”

But because access to opportunities is often not distributed equally, Patel added, relying on others isn’t something to feel guilty about: “If you have access to resources and don’t use them, then it’s your fault.”

Pano Christou, CEO of British coffee giant Pret A Manger, similarly revealed that the secret to rising from the store floor to senior leadership was not “running over” his peers or “stabbing them in the back”. Instead, he focused on being the best at his responsibilities, and so his colleagues often celebrated his success.

“I’m not going to set people up as I climb the ladder,” he told Fortune in 2024. “And I think that, over time, has really brought rewards.”

From Walmart to Nvidia, Top Leaders Say There’s Power in Doing the Jobs No One Wants

The call to be a trustworthy colleague — and take on unglamorous tasks — has long been a classic of executive advice for Gen Z employees.

Former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who started off unloading trucks at a distribution center, once said that climbing the career ladder starts with mastering the role you already have.

“Don’t take your current job for granted,” said the 59-year-old chief executive. “The next position won’t come if you don’t do well in the one you already have.”

Just as important is how you treat the people around you: “Be a great teammate — that’s how you learn to lead, how you learn to influence, by the way you interact with your peers,” he said. “Treat them well, help them, help them do a better job.”

Even at the head of Nvidia, the most valuable company in the world, CEO Jensen Huang argued that no task should be considered too small for him.

“You can’t show me a job that’s beneath me,” said Huang at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, referring to his first job as a dishwasher at the fast food chain Denny’s.

“I’ve cleaned a lot of bathrooms. I’ve cleaned more bathrooms than all of you combined, and some of them you just can’t ‘unsee’.”