John Stankey realizes that he has made some mistakes while running AT&T as the carrier's CEO. One area where he admittedly screwed up was the slow speed at which he tried to change the culture of the carrier. Instead of making culture change one of the most important issues to address for the carrier and force certain actions to make it occur, Stankey says that he lumped it together with other areas that he wanted AT&T to focus on.
AT&T CEO Stankey told employees to align themselves with the carrier's change in culture
About his memo Stankey says, "The memo shouldn't be over-rotated on. It's one of a series of steps in trying to put a framework out there and remove excuses for leaders to lead," AT&T had gone through some changes over the previous year including issuing a mandate forcing employees to return to work at company offices five days a week instead of working remotely from home.
AT&T CEO John Stankey. | Image credit-AT&T
In his memo, Stankey wrote that the "professional expectations" of his employees may be "misaligned with the strategic direction of this company." He added, "If you are of the small minority that shared comments similar to, 'I have heard this nonsense before, and I'll ignore things until this goes away…' or 'things were just fine the way they were…' there might be a disconnect between you and your current professional choice."
The carrier's CEO wants employees to embrace AI and is watching to see which workers are doing just that
In other words, Stankey was telling AT&T employees that it was time for them to align themselves with the changes made to AT&T's culture, or leave. "We run a dynamic, customer-facing business, tackling large-scale, challenging initiatives," Stankey's memo said. "If the requirements dictated by this dynamic do not align to your personal desires, you have every right to find a career opportunity that is suitable to your aspirations and needs."
Should AT&T's Board replace Stankey?
Yes. He's done nothing for customers.
100%
No. AT&T has some momentum.
0%
AT&T also wants employees to embrace AI. During his conversation on Tuesday at the Council Summit, Stankey says that the company has distributed tutorials and educational tools to get employees to learn more about AI and adopt it. Stankey might have left a slightly veiled threat when he said that he is keeping track and paying attention to which employees are using these tools. "I want to see who's building their skill set, where they're building, and this is just the next set of skills that people are going to have to have," he said.
AT&T's stock price (not including dividends) under Stankey is disappointing
Stankey now has the longest tenure of the CEOs running the Big-3 wireless carriers in the U.S. T-Mobile's Srini Gopalan has been CEO for the least amount of time having replaced Mike Sievert on November 1st. Verizon's Dan Schulman took over as CEO on October 6th. Meanwhile, Stankey has been CEO at AT&T since July 1, 2020. Not including dividends (AT&T currently has a yield of 4.5%), the stock has barely moved under Stankey.
Since he took over as CEO of the telecom giant, a span encompassing five years and five months, AT&T's stock price has risen 7.2%. However, the stock is up 7.4% this year alone which pales in comparison to the 84.2% gain rung up during that same time span by T-Mobile's shares. Verizon, on the other hand, has seen its stock decline 27.1% since July 1st, 2020.
Would AT&T's Board ever consider moving on from John Stankey? I believe that with Verizon beginning to lose some of its luster and AT&T picking up steam, Stankey is safe for now. Consider this stat. Over the last year, T-Mobile has added 3.56 million postpaid phone net additions. AT&T added 1.62 million, and Verizon added 876,000.
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However, should AT&T want a CEO who has already taken one of the big U.S. wireless providers from dead last to second before it eventually became the largest in the nation, they could give a call to John Legere to see what he is up to. During Legere's tenure at T-Mobile, the latter's shares soared 833% from $9.73 to $90.80.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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