Fletcher Previn seemed destined for a career in the entertainment industry.
He has the pedigree—his mother is actress Mia Farrow, and his father is the late composer André Previn. But life had a different path for the younger Previn, who was drawn to tech from an early age.
Today, Previn is CIO at Cisco. He has been recognized as one of the best CIOs in the business by Technology Magazine and Wire19, and has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.
“I’m an IT practitioner by training,” Previn told IT Brew. “I’ve stayed the course of being in the IT department my whole career.”
Origin story. Previn was attracted to computers and tech as a boy, he told IT Brew.
“Early on, my parents bought the family a Commodore 64 when that came out, and I really loved exploring everything that the Commodore 64 could do and learning how to do basic programming,” Previn said. “Later on, I kind of built my own clone PC.”
Still, Previn gave showbiz a shot. He worked on movie sets and as an intern on late-night shows with David Letterman and Conan O’Brien in college. But tech was his calling; during work as a production assistant on the 1998 film Primary Colors, Previn realized he was far more interested in the phone system on-set than the movie.
He shifted course and started applying for jobs in the Bay Area. After a few years, the firm he was working for was acquired by Walmart and the new parent company wanted to make him their Windows administrator. He was hesitant because he didn’t know much about Walmart, but a pep talk with a friend from back home convinced him to apply. He got the job and rose through the ranks.
“I came into Walmart.com as a systems administrator, and then became a systems engineer, and then an engineering manager, “ Previn said. “It was a great experience; Walmart is a technology company masquerading as a retailer.”
Top insights for IT pros
From cybersecurity and big data to cloud computing, IT Brew covers the latest trends shaping business tech in our 4x weekly newsletter, virtual events with industry experts, and digital guides.
From Walmart, Previn headed to IBM. He wanted to work for the government, but the company offered him an attractive executive position. In April 2021, he left the company after rising to the position of CIO to head to Cisco.
“My whole strategy for being CIO was to serve the employees well, and focus on the experience and lead with the experience and everything that we do,” Previn told IT Brew. “And I think that is what made its way onto Cisco’s radar.”
Day to day. A normal day as Cisco CIO involves a lot of management. Previn starts off with a 30-minute check-in with his team to see what’s on the agenda for the day and to react as needed to challenges that arise. The meeting is there for the staff and to help maintain alignment of goals and objectives.
“[Rather than] waiting a week or two between staff meetings, a lot happens every day in a big organization like Cisco and it’s very helpful to have everyday discussions about what’s going on,” Previn said.
The CIO schedule is packed. Previn told IT Brew that he deals with cybersecurity concerns, staffing, project status meetings, and any number of concerns on a day-to-day basis. He aspires to include an hour or two of unscheduled time a day as well, to manage calls and emails.
“It’s a skill that I’ve had to work on over the years—to be able to compartmentalize and change gears from one meeting to the next, and from one minute to the next, and not carry forward any baggage from any previous meeting,” Previn said.—EH