Fortune: by Ruth Umoh and Natalie McCormick / Sep 16, 2024 / 6:46 AM
AT&T's CEO says 2 uncontrollable forces helped land him the corner office. But here's what he could control
To ascend to the CEO position, one must possess vision, and industry experience, and be a decisive, strategic thinker. However, as AT&T’s John Stankey reflects on his journey to the corner office in an interview with Fortune, he emphasizes the role of luck and fortuitous timing.
Yet, as the longstanding axiom goes, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
Stankey took over as AT&T’s chief executive in July 2020 after nearly 40 years at the Dallas-based telecommunications company. The corner office baton pass occurred in the thick of the pandemic—at a time when society craved human connectivity and needed network connectivity—and two years after the company’s $100 billion takeover of Time Warner, which the New York Times dubbed the “worst merger deal” ever.
Since his move from COO, a role he held for 10 months, to CEO, Stankey has prioritized AT&T’s 5G technology and fiber expansion to new service areas and offloaded its Warner Media assets to Discovery in 2022.
Now, just over four years in the role, Stankey shares musings on his rise at one of America’s largest telecom companies. Top of mind: Hard work is the foundation for career growth. And when that foundation is strong, luck serves as an unexpected catalyst.
The below interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
On making it to the C-suite. If you have decided that [becoming a CEO] is indeed a commitment and calling you are prepared to undertake, you should fully understand that advancement at senior levels has a component of luck and timing, neither of which you can control. Do your job, and do it well, but don’t let the variables that are related to luck and timing dominate or impact your state of mind.
On taking big swings. Nobody bats a thousand, and a team doesn’t win a World Series if everyone hits for average. Try to be thoughtful and correct on as many of the fundamental decisions as you can (hit for average), but don’t let it paralyze you in picking your pitches to swing for the fences (hitting for power). Relative to your organization’s size, you need to make a few bigger swings if you ever expect to have a meaningful impact.
On leading through uncertainty. In dynamic and unpredictable environments, I put a premium on keeping the direction, objective, and execution as simple as possible. Couple that with the reality that a strong leader today needs to have a Mary Poppins’ bag at the ready. You need to develop and maintain a deep bag of tools and tricks, some that you may not have ever used before, to call upon as needed.
Lastly, we are still in the discovery process of what the “new normal” is in a post-pandemic work environment. CEOs will need to continue to lead and guide their organizations to an effective model that optimizes firm function and employee engagement.
Natalie McCormick
natalie.mccormick@fortune.com
Today’s newsletter was edited by Ruth Umoh