Tough Calls: AT&T and the Hard Lessons Learned from the Telecom Wars

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Summary: The inside story from a true insider
Review: "Tough Calls: AT&T and the Hard Lessons Learned from the Telecom Wars" is a no-holds-barred look behind the scenes at AT&T's executive offices as the company weathered the turbulent telecom marketplace over the last 20+ years. Martin's compelling writing covers the rise and fall of the company's top executives; the discussions and events that shaped the company's strategy; the things that worked and those that failed miserably. With remarkable candor, Martin assesses the company's strengths and, all too often, weaknesses, and applies that candor to his own performance as head of AT&T Public Relations. It's must reading for current and would-be PR practitioners, but also for anyone who wants a peak beneath the kimono of an American corporate icon.


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Summary: How to do PR during a series of disasters.
Review: A sub-title for this book could be - 'How to grind an old and proud company down to nothing.' I was a supplier to AT&T during much of the time covered by this book. (To be sure, AT&T was a major customer of mine, I was a minor, very minor supplier by their standards.) I watched the operations of AT&T from the outside while one bad decision after another was made.

Most of this book deals with the final collapse of the company from the tail end of the Bob Allen years through the rotating door presidency that followed. The rotating door was bad, but my own belief is that the trouble started much earlier with the agreements Allen made to get into the computer business at any cost. He basically gave away the corporate jewels, the monopoly they had to get into computers (through the purchase of NCR) and then AT&T blew the computer business. I remember a senior manager moving into the computer business whose major previous claim to fame was setting up the first 911 call center. Boy, was he skilled at inter company politics, cost the company millions but he survived to go on to greater heights. And all this was happening while the communications technology was exploding.

After that, the Tough Calls, as Mr. Martin calls them became necessary if for no other reason than to survive. If there is a single incident to use as an example of over paid incompetent executive leadership, it is AT&T.

This book is written from the standpoint of the public relations department. I can't fault their actions. They had an impossible task. In fact, this book could serve as a primer on how to handle PR during a long sequence of disasters. It makes for great reading.

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Summary: Fascinating and absorbing
Review: Dick Martin gives us a fascinating and absorbing account of AT&T's long decline into terminal illness. As a man with a front-row seat, Martin knows firsthand that people, not corporations, make decisions. He provides intimate, honest and intriguing sketches of the decision-makers that are honest and often tough, but never lapse into tabloid journalism or personal vindictiveness. He also manages to provide meaningful lessons about public relations and corporate governanace without being preachy or stuffy--just practical. FULL DISCLOSURE: I worked in AT&T Public Relations and was a colleague of Martin's, so I followed these accounts with exceptional interest. But I think any reader who wants to know what really makes a big company tick--and, alas, clunk--will find "Tough Calls" equally fascinating.

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Summary: Great insights on AT&T and the practice of PR
Review: Dick Martin pulls no punches in his review of AT&T and the PR efforts he led while head of the company's communications team. His insights come from his PR leadership during some of AT&T's most tumultuous times. The inner thinkings of CEOs, CFOs and more are on display as the company tackles increasing challenges in the marketplace. Martin appears most insightful when he shines the spotlight equally bright on the company's PR efforts he led -- what went right, what could have gone better, and what went wrong. A good read for those interested in corporate leadership and the communications that often accompany it.

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Summary: Honest Words about Ma Bell's Makeover
Review: I have known Dick Martin for many years, but personally and not professionally. The topic of this book was of immediate interest for two reasons: I know many persons in the telecom industry who no longer have jobs; and I know many persons whose retirement funds and savings have been hurt as a result of their declining telecom shares.

I found this book to be honest, insightful, and of tremendous value to any organization seeking to accept to the whitewater environment of our society today. Dick minced no words about failures, erroneous judgment calls, or the strengths and weaknesses of the various leaders. He also gave perspective that filled in the blanks of the public perception of AT&T's moves and developments over the years. He connected the dots brilliantly to show the powerful impact that the criminal behavior of WorldCom had on AT&T. Due to WorldCom's crimes (publicly acknowledged) AT&T was forced to make decisions believing that the numbers reported by WorldCom were accurate when they were, in fact, fabrications. How sad for everyone.

The style is sparking and clear, which is not surprising since it is written by Dick. Read this book if you are interested in what has happened to the telecom industry or how to have your organization avoid some of the pitfalls that waylaid many of the dreams of AT&T. It is so refreshing to read a "no spin" book where honesty is transparent to all on every page.


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Summary: A Great Case Study!
Review: I read with great interest "Tough Calls" from back to cover; and cover to back, as I was very familiar with AT&T; having spent many years in senior sales positions for "ma bell". In the final analysis; Dick Martin's woeful tale should be a case study of those who believe stock value is created by "spinning" reporters, rather than by listening to customers.

In all 268 pages; no where, not once; does Mr. Martin detail a discussion; or even a meeting with a paying customer of AT&T. Ultimately, it is fitting that AT&T was bought by a competitor -and I am sure that there will be layoffs in the PR department; and SBC's stock price will rise as a result.

The real lesson of the "Telecom Wars" is the same as most wars; that disengaged leaders make poor leaders. Mr. Martin's tales are most appropriate - and unfortunate for AT&T, er SBC; stockholders and customers.

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Summary: Pulling back the curtain...
Review: Martin pulls back the curtain on the telecom industry with an insightful, enjoyable and surprisingly funny read. AT&T's former top spin-meister pulls no punches while recounting the inter-office details and boardroom decisions that regularly landed this telecom giant in the news. A must-read.

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Summary: Insider's Candid Look at AT&T in Crisis
Review: TOUGH CALLS lets the reader peek behind the curtain of corporate "publicspeak" protecting the senior managers of every large corporation. Martin takes us on a fascinating tour of "carpetland" at AT&T during its most tumultuous years, as the one-time colossus meets challenge after challenge, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, but getting more bloodied at each stop along the way. Eventually, the patient just loses too much blood and drastic steps are required to survive. Whatever you may think about whether the timing or financial structuring of AT&T's cable acquisitions was prudent, whether the incessant price-cutting by its competitors was unreasonable or even illegitimate, or whether Mike Armstrong had the right strategy but made the wrong adjustments, TOUGH CALLS puts you in the room with AT&T's top decision-makers as they face the issues that ultimately determine AT&T's fate. Martin gives us a surprisingly candid look inside a major, major American company that we are unlikely to get from anyone else with his access and perspective. This is a must read for every board member and every senior manager at every large publicly-owned corporation (and for all the wannabees for those positions), as well as for every institutional investor putting money at risk in those enterprises.