Kate O’Keeffe

If you are older than about 30 years old, you will probably remember the VCR—or video cassette recorder. When they first came out these devices were big, bulky and difficult to use. In order to program your VCR you had to consult the manual (400 pages long and written in poor English), press a multi…

Growing up, one of the things that fascinated me about the old Star Trek shows was the crew’s ability to find out virtually anything from the ship’s computer, simply by asking: “Computer, what’s the political situation on Rigel V?” The computer would respond instantly with an appropriate summary and…

When the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal put together their 2018 “Upstart 50” list, they tapped a broad range of Bay Area “entrepreneurs and visionaries who fuel the region’s business innovation.” From disruptive venture capitalists to innovators in food, healthc…

I couldn’t be a successful Cisco leader if I didn’t focus on delivering the best possible business outcomes to our customers. At Cisco, we are committed to delivering customer and shareholder value through world-class products, services and support. But the other side of this commitment is that the…

Office workers of the mid-20th century would not recognize how we work today. They banged out documents in triplicate using manual typewriters and carbon paper. They had to wait for a live operator to connect their phone calls manually. Their hours were fixed and non-negotiable. How could they have…

For decades, we have imagined the future through the eyes of comic book heroes — from boy-next-door Peter Parker’s Spiderman to Amazon princess Wonder Woman. So, as we approach our next Cisco Hyperinnovation Living Lab, focused on the future of work, I thought we might explore that part of our futur…

What a great year to be at Cisco Live! There was so much going on—from visionary keynotes to the World of Solutions exhibits, to the many sessions that let attendees go deep into the areas that interested them. What I heard and saw challenged my thinking in some areas, and confirmed what I’ve been l…