employees are with their customer base, whether government or commercial.
“Cisco does a great job of keeping up with their customers and each other by fully leveraging cutting-edge technology.” Te technology far surpasses what the average government employee has, Henderson said. With a laptop and a few clicks, a Cisco employee can conduct a WebEx meeting with multiple people around the world at a moment’s notice.
“With a very mobile workforce, and having those capabilities at their disposal at an office, at home or even at Starbucks, they can jump in and engage the customer. It’s different than having a personal phone, a government BlackBerry and computer,” Henderson said. “You don’t have to fight over that one VTC room.”
Nor are Cisco employees bound to a tra- ditional brick-and-mortar office and a 9-to-5 job, Henderson said. “Tey have a lot of flexibility to manage their own time to accomplish the mission.”
A YEAR ON—NOT A YEAR OFF Value-added is a term the Army is used to, but for Henderson, it was an essen- tial characteristic at Cisco. “Te culture is designed for self-starters, [people who are] very good at managing their own time and jumping in where they think they can add value to the team, the task at hand and the mission.”
Lien agreed, saying that the TWI pro- gram itself adds value by developing leaders in addition to building bridges between the Army and industry. “From my perspective, companies do a great job at developing managers,” Lien said.
“Tey don’t focus on the leadership aspect as much. So I think [TWI officers] bring an enormous amount of leadership to the table.”
SYSTEMS GO
Henderson found that his year as a TWI fellow at Cisco Systems gave him the immersive, eye- opening experience he was looking for in industry. (Photo courtesy of Cisco Systems Inc.)
For Henderson, the TWI assignment underscored that hard work, patience, flexibility, strong people skills and a lot of personal initiative are keys to suc- ceeding. Lien noted that Henderson
“demonstrated constant professionalism, flexibility, adaptability and willingness to learn. He fully integrated himself into the Cisco team and did not wait to be told what to do. He simply jumped in and did it. Tat is what is expected here at Cisco, and he learned it quickly.”
Henderson’s follow-on assignment is in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, after which he is slated to take command of the Warfighter Infor- mation Network – Tactical Increment 1.
“I think that the TWI program will assist me in my career in a variety of ways. I have a better understanding about the corporate world and what motivates its employees. I have seen new concepts in cutting-edge technology as well as
business strategy. I have learned to work through issues and solve problems in a highly fluid, distributed and mobile envi- ronment and, most of all, I have walked a mile in the shoes of our industry partners while building many long-term relation- ships in the process.”
What does this mean for those consider- ing TWI? Henderson’s message is clear:
“If you have a lot of personal initiative, are a self-starter, truly understand that to think outside the box means to get outside of it first, and believe that to ‘add value’ means to do more than just show up … then run, don’t walk to your clos- est branch manager or TWI program representative and see if your personal timeline and file support it.
“Tis once-in-a-career assignment just
prior to taking command was
a no-brainer, and it proved to be a remarkable experience.”
—MS. TARA CLEMENTS
ASC.ARMY.MIL
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