21 Quotes by Sandra Lerner

Social media is an information channel; it's like radio or TV... In Cisco, we made a lot of money on public protocol. I think the social media model replicates that protocol.

If you look at any of the big companies, whether it is IBM or L'Oreal, they have a corporate religion and corporate self-image that makes it very difficult for them to execute in different areas.

Cisco never had a red quarter. Never. Took us three years to get funding, and in those three years, we were never in the red, and that was because we had two products to sell. They were not sexy or cool, but we had enough of a market that we could generate enough of a cash stream to grow the company.

When I was in graduate school in consumer science and math, all of the big companies had labs, all doing blue sky research,

But I live very simply. I farm - there is something visceral about being attached to the land. I am a recording engineer. I do my own laundry most days and I get on with the business of living.

The farm was a great place to grow up, but I preferred the Hollywood Hills. My aunt looked like Lucille Ball and everything she touched was beautiful and elegant. But I was intelligent enough to understand I would never be like her.

The venture community is largely male.

Historically, if you look at people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, people with disposable incomes have always been agricultural innovators.

At Cisco, I made every decision based on what was good for the company, and that pretty much ruined my marriage and my health.