calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| reply to David
Not everybody wishes Big Ed luck, but we understand ....
I'd say that Big Ed made a very smart move, unlike Bob Allen at ATT in the '90's.
Both found much success and acclaim for successfully navigating their companies through turbulent times.
Allen, however, stuck around too long through a new period of increased competition, diversity of service & product offerings, and consolidation of companies, leaving a stumbling (old) AT&T under a cloud in '97.
Whitacre, taking over SBC post-divestiture, navigated multiple difficult battlefields and has made the very wise decision to step aside at a high point.
One of the significant differences, if not the key difference, has been Whitacre's ability to develop and keep a strong bench of very qualified and loyal execs ready to take over. Stephenson is one of these. Allen didn't have the strong bench, and when the board started to press on finding a successor, he went outside the company (and, realistically, outside the industry) to bring in John Walter, a publishing company exec whose closest connection to telecom was printing yellow pages. (Cynics attribute this to Allen's fear that a strong successor-in-place would hasten his departure, but it didn't matter--Walters got pushed out after nine months as heir-apparent and Allen soon got chucked as well.)
Stephenson faces the difficult double fronts of increased competition and transition to a wireless world. Only time will tell if he can continue the transition of SBC/ATT from lumbering monopolist to nimble competitor.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
