Cisco CEO John Chambers To New CFO: 'Do A Great Job. Have Fun. And Don't Mess Up'

After 10 years at Cisco, and seven as CFO, Frank Calderoni is stepping down.

And CEO John Chambers had something to say to his replacement.

Calderoni has been with Cisco through its epic rise to become of the biggest enterprise tech companies in the nation. He oversaw Cisco's very first dividend.

He's also been leading it through the last three years of layoffs and reorganization.

Often when a CFO leaves, it indicates bad news for the company. But in this case, he's leaving Cisco on a good quarter. The company posted a beat on revenues and profits.

Cisco CEO John Chambers jovially thanked Calderoni for his work on the company's quarterly conference call, "In seven years, I've lost a lot of hair and yours is gray, Frank," Chambers said.

And then he turned to the woman who would be taking Calderoni's place, Kelly Kramer. She's been with Cisco for three years, after 20 years with General Electric.

He said he was about to give her the three best bits advice that he got when he became CEO.
"Do a great job. Have fun. And Don't mess up," he said to her.

And with that, she was introduced to the Wall Street analyst community.