John Legere for president?
So what do you do after turning around a company that is now worth $168 billion? What would you want to accomplish after turning the fourth best U.S. wireless carrier (out of four companies) into the fastest growing and most innovative of the major providers. And suppose you accomplished this Herculean feat by flouting all of the usual Harvard B-School conventions. Instead of sporting a short haircut, you grew out your hair to rock star lengths. And in place of an expensive suit, you came to work wearing a magenta colored t-shirt with your company's logo front and center while donning sneakers.
Will we see President John Legere calling the USA the "Un-country?"
By now you probably know that we are talking about former T-Mobile president and CEO John Legere who left T-Mobile when its merger with Sprint closed on April 1st of last year. He originally joined in September 2012. Some analysts had expected that Legere's name would have surfaced in conjunction by now with an executive opening at some company that needs help. After all, it isn't every day that a CEO of his caliber becomes a free agent. In 2019, Legere was named the top wireless executive in the U.S. for the fifth consecutive year and received a 99% approval rating from T-Mobile employees.
John Legere says that he might run for office
So if you're John Legere, what will you do next? Tweets that he disseminated on Thursday, the day after the insurrection in the Capitol, may give us an idea. In one tweet, Legere says that he was "fuming" as the events in Washington D.C. unfolded and like many, he called for the resignation of President Donald Trump. In the second tweet, Legere bared some political ambitions by writing, "For the first time in my life I am actually considering the possibility of running for office. It’s clear somebody needs to help real Americans find change. I’m not sure I’m capable, but I can’t stand by simply watching this craziness." And while you might wonder if the U.S. has had its fill of businessmen who love to use Twitter sitting in the White House, Mr. Legere is not anything like the current occupant of that iconic building on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue although both do like to insult the competition by coming up with some catchy nicknames (Dumb and Dumber for AT&T and Verizon, for example). The former T-Mobile CEO proved that he has compassion for people by eliminating customer pain points. And we can imagine candidate Legere calling America under his rule the "Un-country."
Other tech executives have run for the top office in the land. In 2016, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina took a shot but ended up getting insulted by then-candidate Trump for her efforts. And speaking about Trump, he and Legere got into a Twitter fight in April 2015. Legere was staying at a Trump hotel in New York when a drummer playing outside the window to his room made too much noise. Legere alerted the front desk and the drummer was sent packing. Legere sent out a tweet praising the staff at Trump's hotel for their quick action. For some reason, this response from John set off the future president who sent a tweet of his own. "T-Mobile service is terrible! Why can't you do something to improve it for your customers. I don't want it in my buildings." Legere responded by tweeting, "I will serve all customers in the USA openly but I will obviously leave your hotel right away based on this. #checkingout.
Former T-Mobile CEO John Legere responds to an insult about his hair tweeted by Donald Trump
Will John Legere end up becoming CEO of the U.S. and help turn it around as he did with T-Mobile? We should point out that offering voters a BOGO deal on an iPhone or giving away free Netflix to voters could help put Legere over the top in an election.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: