Could this be the start of something good?
Let me say good job to John Stankey, CEO of AT&T. Common sense may be making a comeback. That’s if other CEOs join in. Time will tell. In recent decades, everything seemed to go off-track and become, well, strange. Both from the direction of companies with acquisitions to their relationship with workers. Companies and executives lost control.
Now, new technologies like AI have started to change the world again. It is replacing workers and giving companies a powerful hammer to recapture the imagination of customers, investors, and workers.
AT&T went off track a decade ago by acquiring DirecTV, WarnerMedia, CNN, and Warner Bros. Studios. In fact, so did Verizon with AOL and Yahoo. Both were a mistake.
These companies, along with many competitors, have been a consulting client of mine for decades. Meeting with them all, listening to and following them, gives me a unique perspective. Insight into ongoing industry changes, growth and chaos.
The bad news is that during the past decade, the wireless and telecom industry got way off track. The good news is, today I believe they are finally getting back on track.
This CEO message to workers is another important chapter in this ongoing story.
CEO John Stankey is focused on putting AT&T back on growth track
Stankey is putting AT&T back on the right growth track in recent years. This was just in time because new technologies like AI and automation are creating a major revolution for AT&T, its competitors, and every company in every industry.
Investors like how companies are regaining control. Company executives also like it because it puts them back in the driver’s seat. The only ones who may not be happy are some of the workers.
There is a solution from my perspective. During the past few decades, as worker power increased, companies started turning to technology to solve the problem. Now with AI taking things even further, the idea, even threat of workforce reduction is settling in.
Which workers will companies keep as AI reduces workforce?
Is the workforce is getting the message? If a company will be cutting jobs, workers should want to be one of the few who keep their job. So, which workers will the company keep and which will they let go? That’s one very important question for every worker today. The way I see it, there is a simple question. Can we find a workable middle ground to keep the company and the workers happy and satisfied?
Can we find a workable middle ground between workers and the company?
Stankey sent a memo to all their managers and executives. It basically said that is is time to get back to business as usual. It said the executives are in charge. It said if workers do not like it, they can find a new job.
Workers who want to keep their jobs should pay attention to this note from the boss. In my opinion, this Stankey memo is a breath of fresh air that every company should follow. If so, we really could be getting back to a more normal world of growth and success?
Will workers go along with this? Or will company executives need to meet them in the middle?
Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and others must take same path
AT&T is not the only company doing this. Amazon, Apple, Meta and countless others, large and small are all heading in the same direction. Some more urgently than others, but the good news is we are getting back to a more normal state.
I fully expect to see the CEOs of other leading companies, large and small, following these footsteps and getting their workers back to the office and back to normal. If they don’t want to be first, they can be a fast-follower. Either way, it will help heal the damage.
Solution may be to meet workers in the middle
The pendulum started at one extreme reality. Next, it swung to the other extreme. I believe the best solution will be to find a middle ground that both sides can live with. That means senior-level executives need to find a way to meet workers in the middle. That may be the only way to satisfy both sides.
The next challenge is new technology like AI and automation. Either workers adapt, or they will lose. Any way you slice it, job loss will result. This first starts at the lower level, then works its way up the food chain all the way to executive management.
The argument is even being made that eventually, companies could even be run by Artificial Intelligence. While I do not know what the future holds, it will be disruptive going forward.
Workers need to come back to the office
In recent years, John Stankey has been working hard to turn the company around after a rough decade of new and wrong directions, and pandemics like Covid-19.
Today, while many workers from many companies have all gotten back to normal, many others are simply not going back to work. That’s why we are seeing Stankey and other CEOs start to flex their leadership muscles.
This is a good start. We must continue down this path and get back to normal. That being said, workers have experienced a new way, which they like. That’s why I believe it is up to the CEO to come up with a compromise. The company and its workers must meet someplace in the middle.
We will see how the changing workplace continues to evolve in the future. This is always, a work in progress.
