This Memorial Day, As The Sun Sets On Sprint, Here Are My Favorite Memories

I worked at Sprint from 1997 to 2004, years which I remember fondly as giving me my first experience in the telecommunications industry, as well as lifelong training in Fortune 100 best practices. I also remember those years as the peak of the company's history – what, me biased? – when it simultaneously operated local, long distance and wireless businesses. As the Sprint brand transitions into T-Mobile this summer, I'm looking back on my time there, and wishing the new company all the best. In no particular order ...

• When I arrived at the company, it had just successfully bid on nationwide PCS spectrum licenses, so was not quite in the wireless game. I remember being informed about the cultural difference between the 100-year-old Local Telephone Division (LTD) and the upstart Long Distance Division (LDD): the former wore short-sleeve shirts while the latter wore slick blue suits.
• Speaking of those Fortune 100 best practices – the first tool that Sprint gave me, which I use to this day, was the PAL. PAL stood for "Purpose, Agenda, Limits" and was required for every meeting to make it as productive as possible. (Since then I've adapted it to PPAL, adding "People.")
• When I interviewed, I met Marty Lustig, Assistant Vice President of Quality. He gave me his card, on which the word Quality was literally misspelled. I wondered if it was a test, and I was supposed to point it out to him. (I didn't. The gentleman was busy collecting a plate of hors d'oeuvres for my pregnant wife who had accompanied me on my interview trip.)
• After I began, I attended a speech by Marty. He said something that became foundational in my career: "Customers simply want vendors to meet their expectations." As a newly minted MBA, where we had been schooled in "delighting the customer," I was thrown for a loop. But 23 years later, I have found time and again that he was right. It's hard to simply meet customer expectations, so don't ever think you can take your eye off of that.
• A few years later, I attended another speech by Bill Esrey, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He discussed the bold move the company had undertaken to bid for PCS licenses across the entire country, even though it owned another (analog) wireless company. Other carriers were only bidding on spectrum to fill in existing networks. This strategy enabled Sprint to build one comprehensive network nationwide, and deliver a consistent customer experience. Even though the cost of that bidding was eye watering at the time, it paled in comparison to the cost of 10 MHz of incremental spectrum in New York City just a few years later. Sprint went on to become the net adds industry leader for several quarters in a row.
• When I started at Sprint, the campus in Overland Park was a vision. The company was spread out over 54 buildings throughout Kansas City, Missouri and its suburbs. I was proud to work at 8140 and 9221 Ward Parkway. Even though the buildings were on different streets, we were always able to use the four digit address number as shorthand.
• In 1999, WorldCom sent shockwaves through the industry by announcing its intent to acquire Sprint. A year later, the transaction was called off in the face of regulatory opposition in the U.S. During that year however, Sprint put off grand strategic plans, exited its partnership with Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom in Global One, and saw numerous senior executives leave. It was an instructive look at the toll on a company while it is waiting to be acquired. And of course two years later, WorldCom was accused of accounting fraud, with Sprint CEO Esrey remarking how they had distorted pricing throughout the industry.
• In 2002, I reported to Dan O'Connor. During a performance evaluation, he told me that I should be careful not to develop a reputation as being someone who was hard to work with. Those words have stuck with me ever since. Some of my other favorite boss quotes: Craig Spiegelberg – "Ask for forgiveness, not permission." Liane Pelletier – "The person who first puts pen to paper controls the negotiation." Steve Signoff – "It's a typical bureaucracy ... they don't tell you the rules, they just make you guess and tell you if you guessed wrong."
• In February 2003, an unlikely rumor began circulating around the company: CEO Esrey and COO Ron LeMay were both being terminated. This seemed ridiculous – the two were universally beloved inside the company and respected outside. Tragically, the rumor turned out to be true, and for the most arcane of reasons. As was traditional at large companies, the official accounting firm offered executives services such as tax advice. Esrey and LeMay received and acted on advice on setting up tax shelters for stock options. Subsequently, the IRS studied this specific type of tax shelter and determined that it might be illegal. The board of directors was faced with the unfortunate situation where the top two officers of the company might sue its accounting firm, and the decision was rendered. I was shocked, but moreso took a long, hard look at what it meant to climb the corporate ladder – if the mightiest could fall in such fashion, was it really worth making career the focus of one's life?
• In August 2004, I was weighing two job offers outside Sprint: one as Director of Business Marketing at Nextel, and one as Vice President of Marketing at a tiny, 100-person company which manufactured industrial wireless equipment and had no brand to speak of. I ultimately chose the latter, seeking a change from the large company environment. When I informed the hiring executive at Nextel and gave my reason, she was taken aback, saying that Nextel was nothing like Sprint. It was a matter of degrees – regardless of how many tens of thousands of employees you have, you're a far cry from a 100-person company. Sprint and Nextel announced a merger just a few months later.

So, those are my memories. I'll miss ya, Sprint. If you worked at Sprint at one time or another, what memories do you have?

Amit