I was just recently thinking about why our leadership doesn't have technical competence, and now I see that it was mentioned by someone in one of the posts.
Would the situation at ATT be any better if those at the top really had technical competence?
16 replies (most recent on top)
In addition to leadership skills, you also need to have strong communication skills and sound technical experience. One doesn't have to be a technical expert but needs to have experience and technical acumen. That was basically the same answer given by multiple tech leaders (Tim Cook, Bob Iger, Elon Musk) when asked......
In the Annual Report at the end of "Area of Focus" it states: "Our acquisitions over the past few years and our continued investment in a premier network experience make our customers’ lives more convenient and productive and foster competition and further innovation in the communications and entertainment industry."
At this time, someone with both business and tech knowledge is needed. How else can they lead a company that uses technology to succeed.
who cares this country has enough fricken leaders we need people who do work and actually enjoy doing their job. washington is full of leaders and look the clown show they are putting on. att is no better.
It really isn't about technical competency, it is about having a spine and willing go against stupid policies and business directions. The company culture is to reward and promote mo--ns who do not dare to question Stankey and his cronies. Competent people with ethnics and moral compass are shown the door and pigeonhole to lower ranks.
There was a time when leader was like a foreman. At that time, no technical skill was necessary. Just some muscle-flex (aka, leadership jargon like mission, vision, strategy) would have sufficed.
But today is knowledge-economy. Vision and missions are the last thing one need to run the company. Ed Whitacre was appointed to lead GM and he couldn’t succeed there. You just bring one leader from one place to a different place to run, without substantial technical knowledge: this no longer works.
It doesn’t mean that one has to know everything of anything. But it means one has to have technical mindset to ask the right questions, rather than anticipating the echo of the right answer from the subordinates.
I think we are proving that now....Stankey knows all about anything. His knowledge is a direct correlation to the outstanding stock performance.
Gee, remember what happened at Apple when Jobs left ? He was technical & had a vision.
Please, no more incompetent MBA's like the Ratty! Look where he got us!
Disagree with most of the posts. Intel was floundering until they fired their CEO and brought back one of their ex-CEOs, who has a background in engineering. And now they’re on the verge of unseating AMD.
All these answers a BS. Probably same maniacs leaders created them.
Interesting statements. If you are a leader of technology company you should be technical. Otherwise you get what we at T got. Years of mismanagement and criminal activity. Leadership skills are skills you are born with, technical you learn. You need both in technology era.
No, technical expertise is not needed to be a good leader. Unfortunately for us, possessing strong leadership qualities IS crucial to great leadership. And they ain't got that either.
Well, Larry, Sergei, Jeff, Mark, and Bill were all technically competent.
All they did is found and run some crummy multi trillion dollar FAANGS. Goes to show how useless they are.
Good thing we have Randall the accountant and John the MBA to show the world what true business acumen is
Easy answer is no. If that were the case, most companies wouldn’t have the CEO’s they have. Leaders need vision and the ability to put people in place that can execute that vision. If it’s the wrong vision then the ship sinks.
If the leader was technical, he should be a worker and not a leader.
Need someone at the top with business sense and NOT an attitude that he knows everything about anything.