By Preston Fore
Publication Date: 2026-02-10 16:24:00
With the cost of living climbing and many companies planning to hand out uninspiring “peanut butter raises” this year, workers are scrambling to figure out what actually earns a promotion in 2026. And according to Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, the answer may be buttering up to your colleagues and getting their approval first.
In his eyes, that’s far more important than how you might perform in an interview.
“Every day you’re working is your interview for your next job,” Robbins said last week on TBPN.
In fact, when it comes to internal promotions, Robbins isn’t convinced interviews add much value at all.
“I think when we have two or three internal candidates for a promotion, the whole interview process is stupid to me,” Robbins added. “We’ve been watching these people work for a decade. What are we going to learn about them when we sit down in a room for 30 minutes and ask them questions when we can watch them work?”
Instead, Robbins wants to…
