John Chambers . Photo by JC2 Ventures .
Learning the Technology of the Future
By Anna Moore
It ’ s true that technology is constantly changing , and John Chambers , founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures , says technology and innovation wait on no one .
“ There is no entitlement anymore ,” the former chairman and CEO of Cisco says . “ Before , if you weren ’ t in Silicon Valley or with Stanford or up at MIT in Boston , you couldn ’ t compete , but today you can do that wherever the education system has the courage to change and disrupt itself .”
It ’ s that disruption to the norm that fans the flame of innovation and sets the pathway to the future . Before the early 1980s , computer networks did not have a way of communicating with one another . With the creation of both Transfer Control Protocol and Internetwork Protocol , the momentum for the internet took flight . Over time as more people learned the technology , it became a normal part of their lives and changed the way they worked . From the use of email and online calendars to e-commerce , cloud storage , fintech and now artificial intelligence ( AI ), work productivity has never been higher as we are now able to communicate more effectively and broadly , be more organized , respond to problems faster and complete orders at lightning speeds . The change didn ’ t occur at once , rather it happened overtime .
Instead of fearing more change , Chambers says we need to be willing to take risks now in order to set ourselves up for success in the future .
“ When the internet came , you didn ’ t suddenly do everything by the internet . You have to pick which areas will be the early movers and the early success areas that will work well , and then you do the more complex things three , four or five years down the road ,” he says .
Chambers , who is the namesake behind West Virginia University ’ s ( WVU ) John Chambers College of Business and Economics , says that success starts with training tomorrow ’ s workforce through
education . A degree , however , is no longer what educators should train their students for , but rather a job with economic gain .
“ In 2022 , 94 % of Chambers college undergraduates were employed six months post-graduation , compared to 70 % in 2018 ,” he says . “ Many people get jobs after they graduate , so we ’ re training young people not to just get a degree , that way you don ’ t have to decide if a degree is worth the economic return and the pain that it causes for you as a student , for your family or for the taxpayer , but if I can get the economic return , it ’ s a good investment for me , my family and my state . That transition is occurring . So , we all must own this and at the big picture level . I ’ ve never seen a state united behind the vision like we are in West Virginia .”
Courses in AI , entrepreneurship , big data , supply chain and others are just examples of some of the courses being offered at WVU or Marshall University that help drive this point .
With AI in particular , Chambers says the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages , but the time to learn the technology is now .
“ Realize it ’ s here to stay and realize that unlike prior technologies where you had to be able to program to be really effective in high-tech companies to achieve certain jobs , now you just need to know how to use the technology ,” he says . “ How do you use the Chat GPT type of capability to say , ‘ Tell me what ’ s working in my network ? What ’ s not ? How secure am I versus my counterparts ? There was a hack in Microsoft code the other day , so what does that mean to me ?’ Those are basic questions that we use technology to help us answer , so it ’ s evolving quickly on the approach and that ’ s why it ’ s so important to teach each of us , especially our young people , coming to the job market .”
As this transition to faster internet , high performance computing and high-tech capabilities continues , Chambers is encouraged by the direction West Virginia is headed .
“ I think we have become a state that knows how to dream again ,” Chambers says proudly . “ I think we ’ ve become a state that knows how to translate dreams into companies , jobs and education . I think we ’ re a state that is willing to take risks and knows that if we don ’ t change , we are going to get disrupted in a terrible way . I think we ’ re a state that just like any sports team , we ’ re not going to win every game , but boy , if you don ’ t play , you don ’ t win .”
West Virginia is here to play .
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