Tae Yoo, a 19-year Cisco veteran, supervises the company’s socialresponsibility efforts and sits on the China strategy board and the emerging-countries council. “I had always been a believer in collaboration,”she says, but after the earthquake, “I saw it really happen. Our local team immediately mobilized, checking in with employees, customers, and [nongovernmental organization] NGO partners. The council got people on the phone, on [video conference], to give us a complete assessment of what was happening locally. We connected West China Hospital to a specialized trauma center in Maryland via the network.” High-level medical centers from the other side of the world were able to weigh in on diagnostics remotely. Cisco employees were on the ground helping rural areas recover and rebuild homes and schools. Within 14 days, Yoo continues, “I walked over to the China board with a complete plan and $45 million to fund it.” That number ultimately grew to more than $100 million. “Our business is growing 30 percent year over year there,” Chambers says, adding that Cisco has committed to investing $16 billion in public-private partnershipsin China. “No one has the reach and trust that we do. No onecould offer the help that we could.”