AB joins Chef José Andrés and Brian Tippens for a powerful talk on food, disaster relief, and how technology helps World Central Kitchen deliver hope globally

What do law school, Monster.com, the San Francisco 49ers, Baby Spice on roller skates, and one accidental conversation with Cisco's CFO have in common? They're all part of the incredible stories behind Cisco's Sales Associate Program (CSAP). In this special panel episode, Jeff Edwards sits down with five CSAP alumni whose careers span more than two decades—from early hires in 2000 to entrepreneurs and senior Cisco executives today. Together, they share the funny moments, career-defining lessons, lifelong friendships, and surprising paths that all started with one opportunity. Whether you're just beginning your career or decades into it, this conversation is a powerful reminder that your greatest career asset isn't just what you know—it's who you grow alongside. 🎧 Why listen? ✅ Hear hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from CSAP's early days. ✅ Discover why relationships—not titles—become your greatest career advantage. ✅ Walk away with timeless career advice from leaders who've been there. One program. Five remarkable journeys. Countless lessons. Let's make Shift Happen. 🎙️

In this episode of Tech Unscripted Season 3, leaders Dr. José-Marie Griffiths and Dr. Kristina Johnson discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping higher education across learning, research, and campus operations. They explore infrastructure needs like data modernization, emerging teaching and assessment methods, and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and ethics. The conversation highlights practical steps universities can take—such as building AI-ready data systems, encouraging transparency in AI use, and preparing students with adaptability and agent-based skills—while warning about widening institutional and student divides without equitable access.

This week, Sammy is back with Ian and Kat, which means the episode starts exactly where you’d expect: haircut commentary, a brief discussion about dating, and Kat casually considering a move to San Francisco by lunchtime. Somewhere in the middle of all that, they do eventually get to the actual topic: change management. Together, they unpack what it looks like to lead through change when everyone is trying their best, but no one has all the answers. Sammy talks about how to keep teams steady without pretending you know everything, Ian explains why he somehow remains annoyingly optimistic every time things get shaken up, and Kat asks the very fair question: what if you’re supposed to help people trust the process when you may not? It’s a conversation about uncertainty, leadership, and the delicate art of being calm and credible while internally maybe having just a tiny crisis of your own. If you’ve ever heard the words “organizational change” and immediately texted a coworker, this one’s for you. If you like the show, give us a click: https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/solutions/small-business/index.html

What Great Leaders Do That Most People Never See The best leaders aren't defined by what happens on stage—they're shaped by what happens behind the scenes. In this episode of Shift Happens, Samantha Ha shares lessons from decades spent alongside some of Cisco's most senior leaders. Through stories of trust, influence, and emotional intelligence, she reveals why the strongest leaders create calm under pressure, build authentic partnerships, and never stop seeing the people around them. 🎧 Why listen? ✅ Learn the hidden habits of exceptional leaders. ✅ Discover why trust and relationships outperform titles. ✅ Hear the leadership skills AI will never replace. Leadership isn't always loud. Sometimes, it's invisible. Let's make Shift Happen. #CiscoShiftHappensPodcast

This week starts with plans to see Damon Wayans Jr. (Coach, from New Girl) and somehow turns into a full therapy session about all the little ways technology can sometimes frustrate us a bit (even as two tech evangelists). Ian and Kat riff on the everyday tech frustrations that seem small until they absolutely are not—printers that still don’t work, painful guest Wi-Fi experiences, verification codes that take forever, streaming apps that somehow make watching TV harder, and the very specific betrayal of getting a “your order has shipped” email when all that’s actually happened is a label was created. Along the way, they talk about the weirdly exhausting parts of living online, from constant customer surveys to impossible CAPTCHA tests to the realization that sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is literally Brick your phone for a day. It’s part rant, part group chat, and very much one of those episodes where if you’ve ever muttered “why is this still so bad?” at a piece of technology, you’ll probably feel seen. If you like the show, since we didn't talk a whole lot of tech this week...give us a click: https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/solutions/small-business/index.html#tabs-35d568e0ff-item-4bd7dc8124-tab

In today's episode, Cisco CX engineers and architects reveal how cruise ship networks are built and upgraded: everything from door locks and cameras to navigation and guest entertainment runs over the same segmented, secured infrastructure, and internet connectivity depends on intermittent satellite links so content must be stored locally. We follow a high‑stakes dry dock upgrade on a large cruise ship — with tight timelines, complex staging, and on‑the‑fly design changes to handle issues like NAT, multicast/PTP, MTU and firewall integration — and learn how planning, testing and rapid problem‑solving kept the ship sailing.

In this episode of Tech Unscripted host George Lewis talks with Terry Bankston (Delaware State University), Dr. Vicki Robinson (retired U.S. Department of Education), and T.J. Mercer (founder of Move In Day Mafia) about closing the digital divide at HBCUs and in surrounding communities. They explore pressing challenges—aging infrastructure, unreliable connectivity, disconnected cell plans, and lack of devices—and highlight solutions driven by partnerships: campus laptops and hotspots, living‑learning spaces, hands‑on volunteer support, and wraparound services that build stability. The discussion emphasizes measurable impacts like higher retention and graduation rates, increased student confidence and belonging, and how coordinated university‑community‑industry collaborations can scale digital inclusion and career readiness.

In this episode of the Cisco AI Insights Podcast, hosts Rafael Herrera and Sónia Marques are joined by Cisco ML Engineer Paul Mutawe to explore the fascinating paper, "Measuring AI Ability to Complete Long Software Tasks," which introduces a novel time horizon metric to evaluate how autonomously AI agents can execute complex, multi-hour engineering projects. The discussion looks at the rapid evolution of these agents, highlighting the key finding that the fifty percent success time horizon is doubling every two hundred and seven days, while detailing how unbiased benchmarking environments like the Modular Public harness are used to evaluate frontier models alongside real-world complexities like the sixteen-item messiness factor, which significantly reduces agent success rates, and the critical need for human-in-the-loop oversight to combat context rot. A special thank you to the research team at Model Evaluation and Threat Research, who developed this paper. If you are interested in reading the paper yourself, please visit the link: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.14499

Most companies are still figuring out how to use AI. Greg Sylvester is figuring out how to deliver it to nearly 90,000 employees. As Cisco's VP of Enterprise AI Platform & Infrastructure, Greg is leading the transformation of Circuit from a simple AI assistant into a full-scale enterprise AI platform—while tackling the realities of adoption, governance, cost, and change along the way. In this episode of Shift Happens, Greg shares what it really takes to move AI from hype to habit inside one of the world's largest technology companies. 🎧 Why Listen? ⚡ Learn how Cisco is scaling AI across the enterprise—not just experimenting with it 👥 Discover why people, not technology, are often the biggest factor in AI success 🚀 Hear what's next for agents, AI platforms, and the future of work Whether you're leading an AI strategy, supporting organizational change, or simply trying to make sense of where all of this is headed, this conversation is packed with practical insights from someone building the future in real time. The future of work is where humans drive the intent and AI does the rest. Let's make Shift Happen.

Strap in, folks—we’re recapping all the chaos, genius, and buffet lines from Cisco Live (just a few weeks late)! Kat and Ian are cutting through the noise to tell you what actually mattered (and what should have stayed in Vegas). We’re breaking down the big keynote moments, including why Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol—a guy who knows more about burritos and macchiatos than binary—is driving real-world AI wins. We’re moving past generic AI emails and into the 'Agentic Era' of smarter supply chains and happier customers. Plus, we’re keeping it real about the risks: Ian explains why security is the "it" girl of tech right now, and Kat forces him to explain "Cloud Control" so we can finally understand how to wrangle our messy, cloud-first infrastructure. Whether you’re a seasoned tech wizard or just trying to survive the latest industry pivot, we’ve got plenty of laughs, unfiltered Vegas takes, and maybe a golf analogy. Tune in and get up to speed! Check out all the latest Cisco SMB solutions here: https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/solutions/small-business/index.html