John Chambers Bets On India, Israel And West Virginia But Not China

“The last time I looked, (support for Indian Prime Minister Modi) was 76%. We don’t have a US politician that’s above 50.”

Along with transforming Cisco into a tech powerhouse during his 20 years as CEO—growing annual sales from $1.2 billion to $47 billion in 2015—John Chambers helped governments build the infrastructure to transform their economies. One of his first acts as CEO was to open an office in Beijing and he launched several initiatives to promote technology exchange between the U.S. and China. In 2008, he also worked with the then Israeli President Shimon Peres on a digital cities initiative to help nurture a Palestinian tech sector.

Chambers continues to consult with government leaders, most notably French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to help nurture startup economies. Through his venture capital firm, JC2 Ventures, he’s also invested in 20 startups, nine of which have achieved and maintained billion-dollar unicorn status.

Few people understand the business landscape like Chambers, who completed 180 acquisitions during his time at the helm and led Cisco back from the devastation of the dot-com crash. I say that as both a journalist and a collaborator, having helped Chambers write a book in 2018: Connecting the Dots: Lessons for Leadership in a Startup World.

I spoke with Chambers on the eve of his visit to India this week. (He chairs the U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum.) Along with citing statistics to back up his very bullish view of the investment climate in India, which you can hear by clicking on the video above, Chambers addressed concerns about the policies of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Prime Minister Modi enjoys the largest positive representation of any leader in the world in terms of support of his people … the last time I looked it was 76%. We don’t have a US politician that’s above 50.”

‘A Tough Section Of The World’

Chambers argues out that Modi has accelerated GDP growth and removed barriers to doing business in his country while leading “in a tough section of the world.” Along with potential threats from neighbors like Pakistan, China and Iran, America’s Cold War-era restrictions on arms sales to India meant the country bought most of its military equipment from Russia in the latter half of the 20th Century. That has left it with a Soviet-built defense infrastructure that requires continued trade relations with Russia.

And what of China, an economy that is five times the size of India? While Chambers says he was “one of the original bulls on China,” he argues that the current leadership has created a playing field “that is almost impossible to operate on.”

“I lost trust and so I quit investing in China,” he says. “I strongly encourage my startups not to do business in China.”

Meanwhile, Chambers describes Israel, which he also knows well, as “an amazing resilient country. Anybody who thinks they won’t come out of this in strong shape just doesn’t understand Israel.”

Resilience of Israel

“The people who run startups there will often say, ‘John we’re going to fly missions during the day and work on code at night’ …It’s the reason they call it a startup nation: They’ll get knocked down and they’ll get right back up.”

“I continue to invest in Israel and absolutely would continue to invest across the Arab world.”

For more on that, as well as Chamber’s views on why West Virginia is becoming a startup state and the dysfunction in Congress is impeding U.S. innovation, click on the interview above.