In my years leading at AT&T, I witnessed a curious phenomenon. When a crisis hit our communications networks, our teams, regardless of function and hierarchy, would leap into action to restore the critical and essential services we provided to our customers. Whether a hurricane, a trans-Pacific cable cut, or cyberattack, purpose crystalized. Silos disappeared. People dropped politics, their own agendas, and rallied toward a common mission. The result? Execution and performance soared.
These powerful moments of clarity amid chaos have always stayed with me. I often found myself wondering: Why can’t we bottle this? Why does it take a disaster for our clearest alignment and best execution to surface?
