Holiday notes

Thanks. This is the 1997 caboose: the last editorial page of the last issue of the year.

Everyone at Telephony thanks you for your time and attention to our work. We recognize that all telecom professionals have tremendous demands upon their time. You are not going to pick up, much less actually read, a telecom publication just because you receive it.

We worked hard in 1997 to provide an informative, interesting and important publication-a solid source of useful information for telecom professionals. Third-party readership scores demonstrate that Telephony's readership reached new highs this year. Research also shows that there is a tremendous ongoing thirst for valuable information in the industry. As the industry grows more complex and competitive, that thirst will continue to intensify.

Our commitment is to work harder and publish a better news magazine-more informative, more interesting, more important-in 1998. Toward that end, we will be making changes in Telephony next year. Publisher Mark Hickey will discuss some of those changes in this space in the Jan. 5 issue.

But that can wait for the next issue.

Today, on behalf of all of us at Telephony and Intertec, I want to thank you for your time and your interest. We know that without you there is no us. We appreciate you letting us be a part of your work.

***

Oh well. During the year, the triumphs and tribulations of industry luminaries are regularly reviewed in this space. Acts of folly are seized upon with particular glee and held up for readers' delight and edification. Usually, this is done in a fairly lighthearted way. But even the mildest humor stings the subject.

Now to acknowledge what you already know: Acts of folly are a staple of mine.

I am the biggest idiot I know, and I can prove it because I read my own clips at the end of each year. It's not a pleasant chore. In fact, I have two decades of concentrated stupidity, preserved in black and white, to remind me of the true state of affairs.

This year's record is replete with dubious interpretations, bizarre observations, cloudy concepts and opaque language. Two instances are highlighted for your amusement.

When AT&T hired John Walter as CEO, reporting to Chairman Robert Allen, nearly everyone-analysts, pundits, reporters and, very soon, even Allen himself-jumped on Walter's case. Not me, though. I wrote, repeatedly, that Walter would be fine. Here's a sample from last February:

"Don't get this guy [Walter] wrong: He's smart, tough, a fighter, and determined to reshape AT&T.

"Perhaps best of all, he doesn't think reshaping AT&T is by definition a criticism of Allen, as opposed to a reaction to Allen.

"I've always pegged Walter as a likely winner. I still do.

"You want to understand AT&T? Focus on Walter, not Allen.

"Focus on the redesign, not the old model. Focus on the present and the future, not the past."

I hit the bulls-eye again in August, when the subject was the new dawn of the U.S. labor movement:

"Last week, the Teamsters settled a short, intense strike with UPS...the biggest union victory in years....

"The UPS victory, and the public's reaction to the strike, will lead to renewed assertiveness by unions across the board.

"Companies with important unions-including many telecommunications companies-were watching the UPS strike closely....

"Are U.S. companies in for a period of labor conflict? Should management respond to this...by developing confrontational or conciliatory labor policies?" And on and on.

For the record, Walter didn't last until Labor Day. The Teamsters immediately descended into their customary trough of corruption, putting labor's new dawn on hold.

If it takes brains to be stupid, I'm a smart guy. Otherwise, I fear the evidence speaks for itself.

***

Help is on the way. This space also will change next year. There will be new writers. There will be more about new companies and little-known entrepreneurs as well as established companies and prominent executives. It will be fast-paced, less than solemn and, hopefully, as much fun to read as it is to write.

Thanks again for your time and interest. Happy holidays to all. Catch you around the corner.