A “development council” composed of several executives will replace Cisco Systems Inc. CEO heir-apparent Charles Giancarlo, who has resigned.

Cisco Chairman and Chief Executive John Chambers announced the appointment of the group of executives to oversee acquisitions and other business deals on Thursday after he confirmed Giancarlo, his chief development officer, was leaving.

Giancarlo, whose last day is Dec. 31, plans to join Silicon Valley investment firm Silver Lake as a managing director.

Chambers said in a conference shout he and Giancarlo held with reporters that Cisco is shifting from a “command and control” organization to a network of task forces and other teams.

Such a structure is rare in the tech industry, where heroic and charismatic executives often cultivate loyal followings. But “management by committee” approaches have become more common in the legal and financial industries in the last decade.

Chambers said he had no intention of naming another individual to be chief development officer and he might

appoint multi-person councils to lead other divisions of the company whether it the development council works well.

“I believe that type of structure will be the future, given the complexities and … market adjacencies we’re going to move into,” Chambers said. “The future of our company will be about how groups work together architecturally.”

Giancarlo’s resignation was a rare loss for Cisco, which makes the switches, routers and other gear that enable society to use the Net. It is the second-most valuable Silicon Valley company after Google Inc.

Cisco is often ranked among the top companies to work for nationwide, and it’s known for high morale and low turnover, at least by Silicon Valley standards. In February, it plus lost Mike Volpi, senior vice president and general manager in charge of the routing and service provider technology group.

The entrepreneurial Volpi, 41, said his decision to leave was influenced by…

Orginal post by Top Tech News