Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers (CSCO) navigated the company through the challenges of the dot-com bubble and the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Now, he's helping startups navigate their paths forward as founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures, which has backed companies such as Rubrik (RBRK) and Bloom Energy (BE).

In the latest episode of Opening Bid, Chambers tells Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi about the three "currencies" a leader must have, the rise of tech in the mid-1990s, and how he navigated the burst of the dot-com bubble, which he describes as "the hardest things I've ever done in my business life."

When it comes to the rise of artificial intelligence, he says there are parallels that are "almost identical" to the tech bubble. "Too much money going into the market, funding a number of companies, there's clearly going to be a bubble. Some are going to fall out. There's going to be some spectacular train wrecks. But there are going to be huge successes coming out of it," Chambers says. He also advises investors on how to navigate what he dubs will be the "AI decade."

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This post was written by Stephanie Mikulich.