Verizon Untethered by Ivan Seidenberg

Author:Ivan Seidenberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Telecommunications industry, strategy and execution, management, succession planning, leadership, digital media, technology, board of directors, Verizon Wireless, operational excellence, high performance culture, can you hear me now?, GTE Corp., Bell Atlantic, Fios, 5G, wireless networks, social media, Tim Armstrong, AOL, Yahoo, Vodafone, Lowell McAdam, Raymond Smith, Charles Lee, Denny Strigl, Larry Babbio
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Published: 2018-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

CUSTOMER FOCUS

One of the bedrock rules of wireless management was that leaders needed to be in the stores and call centers to constantly monitor and improve upon the customer experience. McAdam estimated that he was in the field 70 percent of the time as COO. Strigl spent almost as much time visiting facilities as well. The two of them would even give Seidenberg a list of stores to visit unannounced when he was attending an event or a meeting in cities across the country. It wasn’t long before store managers and their regional bosses understood that their performance was being constantly monitored and that they needed to constantly improve their game. Or they were gone.

One Friday, Strigl decided to visit stores in and around Natick, Massachusetts. He was annoyed that he couldn’t see the sign for the Natick store and then was further annoyed when he pulled up and there were banners in Portuguese in front of the store. There was a sizable Spanish-speaking population in the area but few if any Portuguese speakers. The store manager couldn’t explain why he had the signs up. He told Strigl that they’d been sent by corporate. Strigl called corporate marketing and was told that the manager was not supposed to use them if he didn’t need them.

His anger mounting at the non-responses, Strigl called the regional president. He happened to be working out of Maine that Friday afternoon, a two-hour drive away. Strigl told him to come to the store and that he would be waiting for him. Meanwhile, Strigl toured the rest of the store and spotted dirty windows and a dirty restroom.

When the regional president arrived, Strigl made it clear that this ultimately wasn’t the store manager’s problem. He hadn’t been properly trained or supervised. Strigl asked the president, when was the last time he had visited the store? Four or five months ago, the president said. Not a good answer, they both knew. The message spread quickly through the Verizon Wireless store network in the Northeast, and then across the country, that Strigl held regional presidents responsible for every store. Period.

CLEAN WINDOWS, BRIGHT LIGHTS

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