To blame the name of this thread is inappropriate. AT&T is owned by shareholders while also being of such size they must balance shareholder value and social responsibility while continuing to manage the risk and responsibility to invest in legacy and/or future technologies with no guarantee of revenues (e.g. unregulated services). When you choose to work for AT&T, you choose to walk into a machine that must balance 100+ years of history and responsibility (e.g. pensions and healthcare) with the future strategy and decision tree to grow value for those holders.
The miss here is innovation and disruption. The business has found a way to iterate, but innovation and disruption is gone from the org. I don't believe its their fault, but the financials do not support it. Classic vertical integration through merger is most likely the only option....but new leadership will come soon....
The opportunity folks are missing is the option to walk away with significant experience in an area that will need to be served for many years to come. Your knowledge and experience is unique and needed in the market and you all know it.
So when it's time, thank the company for a great run and go find your value in the marketplace whether with another business or on your own. I have yet to meet an employee that has left, who knew their craft, that did not blossom and find a better place.
As for me, my position was eliminated this month regardless of many years of meeting commitments, top 1% trips, delivering value, building great friends / relationships (internal and external) and good pay / benefits along with a little n-egg. I don't blame the business, I blame the politics I was not interested in playing when it comes to leadership jumping from lily pad to lily pad to save their own skin and their friends' skins.
They have to....for the millennials are coming. The millennials will make faster decisions, better decisions for the business and shareholders, have no care for your '30 years' or 'your grandkids' and if they stay more than 5 years in a single org they will be considered a failure by their peers.
The current leadership is the least of your worries.