Leadership is a buzz word many come to revere or reject. Some who aspire to be leaders can wordsmith their way into leadership, but still may not have what it takes to be one. Others may not know even one leadership-like phrase and be natural leaders.

As I did my research to introduce this last special section of OSP® magazine’s 2009 Thought Leaders Forum, I culled down the information I learned to a list of six qualities that I use to determine if someone is or is not a leader.

Perhaps, we all should take a moment and ask ourselves a question. If we wish to be leaders, would those we lead say we possess these following character traits:

• The capacity to create or catch vision. A leader’s eyes light up when he/she talks about the future.
• A constructive spirit of discontent, but not one of being critical. A leader constantly asks: “Is there a better way to do this?”
• Practical ideas. Creativity will help the business only if it can and will work.
• A willingness to take responsibility. The buck stops with a leader; he or she doesn’t always have to be right.
• Peer respect. People may not like a leader but they respect that person.
• A quality that makes people listen. Many say this cannot be taught.

If you are a leader, do you possess these character traits? Or more importantly, do your peers and team members think you do?

OSP magazine can share only a few of our industry’s strong leaders. Naturally, many more exist across our segment of the telecom biz. Some have passed the torch and retired. Others are still in the making. But, believe me, if you run down that list of qualities when you meet someone you will know right away if they make the leadership cut.

Congratulations to OSP magazine’s 2009 Thought Leaders.

Sharon

 
THE QUESTIONS - BACKGROUND
You can see the problem building every quarter, when the phone companies report they serve ever fewer landlines. They are mainly losing customers to cable companies, which offer competing broadband and voice services that make copper phone lines unnecessary. More people are also deciding to abandon landlines for cell phones.

AT&T lost 12% of its landlines over the last year. Verizon, which is converting some customers to fiber, lost 10%. The story is similar at smaller phone companies like Qwest,
Embarq, Fairpoint, and Frontier, but these companies don’t have the wireless business to help bail them out.

As all these companies lose wireline revenue, the costs of maintaining the wires strung on poles and dug through trenches is not falling nearly as quickly. It now costs an average of $52 a year to maintain a copper phone line, up from $43 in 2003, largely because of the declining number of lines, according to Larry Vanston, president of research firm Technology Futures, as quoted on GigaOm. (http://gigaom.com/)

Question #1: There are more reports circulating that the telcos are skimping on maintenance of their copper wires. What is your position on maintenance, upgrades, and investments for the future of the legacy network?

Question #2: As telecom-networking equipment takes on more roles, often across technological lines never formerly crossed, employees will often be forced to reinvent themselves. What is your advice to them?

Question #3: Many providers are touting their environmental sustainability efforts. What is your network and technology organization doing in that area?

Question #4: Are there any life-saving products or new processes providers today should adopt to improve their network efficiencies and improve their margins? If so, what are they? If not, what is your wish list?

Ernie Carey
Senior Vice President-Construction and Engineering, AT&T

Question #1: There are more reports circulating that the telcos are skimping on maintenance of their copper wires. What is your position on maintenance, upgrades, and investments for the future of the legacy network?

The rumors of the death of AT&T’s copper network are greatly exaggerated! We have said repeatedly since 2005 that as we build Project Lightspeed we will be “conditioning” the F2 portion of our Network so that it will be capable of supporting our U-verse product set. The act of “conditioning” results in the elimination of any ready access plant, the correction of bonding and grounding issues, and the committing of a “primary” pair to every living unit in the distribution area (DA). This investment in the Outside Plant Network isn’t trivial from a labor or cash perspective but does drive out cost in a portion of the network that accounts approximately 60% of our annual operational cost. So, we’ve never stopped investing in our copper network as it is a critical component in delivering on our award-winning U-verse offering. Our customers love the product, and we love giving them a way better entertainment experience.

Question #2: As telecom-networking equipment takes on more roles, often across technological lines never formerly crossed, employees will often be forced to reinvent themselves. What is your advice to them?

You can’t ever stop training and refreshing yourself, as the world we live in moves at light speed, literally. The tectonic plates of our industry are steadily moving and converging in a way that puts a premium on knowing how to plan, build, and run a large routed packet network as well as mobile networks. My advice would be to anyone who is interested in this industry to immerse themselves in these two technical domains as that is where we are headed and we’re moving at a very rapid pace. If you subscribe to Wayne Gretsky’s advice, then I believe that’s where the puck is going to be and it’s up to each of us individually to skate to that future.

Question #3: Many providers are touting their environmental sustainability efforts. What is your network and technology organization doing in that area?

AT&T has a long and storied history of environmental stewardship and that has not and will not change in the future. Specifically, in the Network organization, we are deploying new technologies that allow us to meet our business requirements, while also minimizing our environmental impact. The use of hydrogen fuel cells as a source of back-up power, in lieu of fixed or portable generators that run on gasoline, propane, or diesel, is a great example.

We are also undertaking efforts to improve our network energy use. For example, when more than 7,000 channel letter signs needed to be replaced as part of our rebranding effort, we made the switch energy-efficient, long-life GE Tetra® LED lighting system. Because GE LEDS are up to 80% more energy efficient than commonly used neon, this switch is expected to help AT&T save more than 5.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year and eliminate 3,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Finally, we also made a commitment in the spring to invest $565 million to deploy more than 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles in our fleet over the next 10 years. This will save us nearly 50 million gallons of gasoline and reduce the country’s reliance on imported oil by one million barrels.

Ernie Carey, Senior Vice President-Construction and Engineering, is responsible for planning, design, construction and capital maintenance of the wireline and wireless network infrastructure across AT&T’s national footprint, including Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. He is also responsible for the Lightspeed build, which prepares AT&T facilities to be able to support the entire U-verse product set; i.e. voice, video, and data. He was appointed to his current position in March 2008. Since July 2007, Carey served as Senior Vice President - Network Services for AT&T Southwest. Previously he served as Vice President, Advanced Network Technologies, where he was responsible for the network planning and engineering for AT&T’s premier video offering, AT&T U-verseSM TV. Carey began his career with Southwestern Bell in 1975, in Houston, after graduating from college and holds both BBA and MBA degrees. Ernie can be reached at ernest.carey@att.com.

Minesh Patel
VP, OSP Business Unit, Charles Industries

Question #1: There are more reports circulating that the telcos are skimping on maintenance of their copper wires. What is your position on maintenance, upgrades, and investments for the future of the legacy network?

As providers have lost copper revenue, the impact has carried through to the OEM community. It challenges suppliers like Charles Industries who started and built their business on copper products and solutions. Such suppliers must redirect their company’s innovation and product development toward the areas of current telco spending. Secondly, they must balance the resources needed to meet the obligations of that shift in direction while ensuring legacy product continuity. With many other suppliers discontinuing their competing copper products, it is important for a supplier like Charles that values long-term partnerships to help the marketplace have a transition plan. Although being the only supplier of legacy copper products may sound like an enviable position, managing end-of-life issues consumes valuable resources, and as those legacy product revenues fall off the cliff, the products are still required to help telcos avoid wholesale, expensive equipment upgrades. At Charles, we have successfully managed the balance between the resources to reshape our business and our commitment to ensure telcos have availability of legacy products necessary to support their legacy network.

Question #2: As telecom-networking equipment takes on more roles, often across technological lines never formerly crossed, employees will often be forced to reinvent themselves. What is your advice to them?

The telecom industry has never been more dynamic than today. Converging networks, technology shifts, and global competition leaves companies with no choice but to adapt and reinvent themselves to remain relevant in the changing landscape. Employees, as individuals, constitute the company and create the energy that puts it in motion. Therefore, employees need to adapt their skills and capabilities in order for their companies to have a relevant future. To borrow from Plato’s famous quote “Necessity, who is the mother of invention,” I contend that reinvention is the mother of survival in the 21st Century telecom industry.

Question #4: Are there any life-saving products or new processes providers today should adopt to improve their network efficiencies and improve their margins? If so, what are they? If not, what is your wish list?

In our current economic situation, we are all fighting for survival. As an OEM, we are keenly aware that every product approval and purchasing decision is triple-analyzed as to its impact on the provider’s bottom line. Now more than ever, we’re getting our hands dirty alongside our partners. We’re digging into their individualized OSP challenges and working together with their teams to develop customized enclosure solutions that minimize labor, installation, and life-cycle costs. We pride ourselves on helping our customers better serve their customers by creating the most efficient and economical solutions tailored to their unique situation. We know that any savings we can deliver through our products - not just first costs but more importantly lowest lifecycle costs - will help solidify the bottom line. The OEM/Service Provider relationship is symbiotic, and survival for one is survival for all.

Minesh Patel, joined Charles Industries in September 2006 as Vice President of the Broadband, Access and Transmission business unit. Upon consolidation of all Telecom business units in January 2008, he was appointed to Vice President of Charles’ OSP Business. Patel possesses nearly 20 years of industry experience ranging from service provider to product development. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Minesh can be reached at mpatel@charlesindustries.com and mktserv@charlesindustries.com.

Dr. Bernhard Deutsch
Director of Marketing and Market Development, Corning Cable Systems

Question #1: There are more reports circulating that the telcos are skimping on maintenance of their copper wires. What is your position on maintenance, upgrades, and investments for the future of the legacy network?

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that, in my humble opinion, the best way to reduce the cost and complexity of maintaining the legacy network is a migration to an all-fiber access network. While it requires an upfront investment, it has been shown that these networks can provide a significant reduction in operational costs, not to mention the greater capabilities and the potential to generate growing revenue and customer loyalty through improved services. The reduction in revenue from landline losses may be offset without owning or partnering with a wireless network. Continuous maintenance and upgrades of the network will likely be expensive in the long term and bears the risk of still being behind the competition. That said, it is imperative to maintain the network to meet regulatory requirements as well as provide a service level that is on par with the brand you represent.

Question #2: As telecom-networking equipment takes on more roles, often across technological lines never formerly crossed, employees will often be forced to reinvent themselves. What is your advice to them?

This may be a platitude, and I don’t even know who said it first, but it becomes truer every day: “The only constant we have is change.” I’m not suggesting one should implement change just for the sake of it. However, if a new technology offers a business benefit, then it can provide employees with an advantage and opportunity if they embrace it or become a champion of it. This is a chance for them to demonstrate leadership and prepare them or their organization for the future. But, they have to understand the underlying facts, trends, and implications. The best advice I can give is to continue to educate oneself about industry and technology trends, whether it is through magazines, such as the one you are reading right now, online education, training classes, or by working across the technological borders within your company or with leading technology companies; there is much to be gained by learning from your peers.

Question #3: Many providers are touting their environmental sustainability efforts. What is your network and technology organization doing in that area?

We applaud the service providers’ efforts in this area, like the call to reduce the energy consumption of certain optical networking elements. At Corning Cable Systems, we proudly recognize our responsibility to protect the environment as well. Product design innovations allowed our new compact ROC™ Drop Cables to be smaller and lighter, reducing the transportation costs by up to 50 percent, and having a significant impact on fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission.

However, our commitment to the environment goes beyond products, and we employ a variety of packaging and manufacturing process initiatives. Through a cable reel return program alone, Corning Cable Systems has prevented 1.4 million pounds of material annually from going into landfills. Lastly, we are very proud that our fiber optic cable plant in Hickory was recently named an Environmental Steward by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources - only 9 plants have been awarded in the state.

Dr. Bernhard Deutsch is the director of marketing and market development for Corning Cable Systems. With more than 15 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, he has served on the Sector Board for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), as Chairman of the Technology Committee of the FTTH Council and on the advisory boards of Paxio Inc. and several telecommunications publications. Before joining Corning, Bernhard held several management positions at Siemens AG with responsibilities for application and system engineering, business development and strategic planning. He holds more than 10 patents and is the author or co-author of 4 books and more than 30 international publications. He has a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, both from the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany. Bernhard can be reached at email bernhard.deutsch@corning.com.

George Spengler
VP OSP Network & Power Engineering, PAETEC

Question #1: There are more reports circulating that the telcos are skimping on maintenance of their copper wires. What is your position on maintenance, upgrades, and investments for the future of the legacy network?

Copper physically has a tremendous potential, but only a small fraction of its capacity is historically used. DSL and other technologies have brought a new life into the communications workhorse over the last century. However, continuing to invest in the copper plant is a difficult prospect as the shift from landlines to wireless will continue. Since the copper network is in virtually every premises, it is an asset that can be leveraged with relatively little capital outlay making it prudent to invest in maintenance and upgrades. The copper plant should be considered as a component of future networks, as with the FTTN application, both fiber and copper have a place in the network.

As new applications are introduced, like HDTV-on-Demand, and take off, the need for bandwidth inevitably will grow, thus keeping landlines relative in the network. To support this growth without a costly fiber overbuild, copper will remain a significant part of the network. Continued investment and upgrades to the plant needs to be selective but copper will continue to play a role in future network designs.

Question #2: As telecom-networking equipment takes on more roles, often across technological lines never formerly crossed, employees will often be forced to reinvent themselves. What is your advice to them?

Technology will continue to evolve and we need to evolve with it. In today’s marketplace, maintaining skills that keep you relevant in current and future technology is not only useful, it’s critical. I advise employees to take advantage of any training opportunities your employer offers. Avoid becoming stagnant in your current role and seek out positions that may be outside your job function to help diversify your abilities. Attend trade shows that will help keep you aware of new technology and the different directions the industry is headed. As new technology is deployed pursue opportunities to expose yourself to them. Develop a full understanding of the business, not just the segment you are operating in. This will help you understand where the industry is headed and challenges that are being worked; it will allow you to adjust accordingly and become an agent of change.

Question #3: Many providers are touting their environmental sustainability efforts. What is your network and technology organization doing in that area?

Although we have numerous green initiatives, PAETEC’s largest and most complicated opportunity to become greener is at our data centers and central offices. Energy costs are one of our largest expenses and our biggest impact on the environment, and we are continually identifying ways to reduce our energy consumption. One significant effort is the deployment of soft switches that use 78% less power than a comparable Class 5. As an ongoing effort we routinely review and monitor our cooling systems to ensure they are operating at peak efficiency. We are evaluating the lighting to identify savings from potential retrofits. And we are always working to identify alternative energy sources that will reduce our carbon footprint while maintaining the integrity of our network and high level of service to our customers.

George Spengler is Vice President, Outside Plant Network and Power Engineering for PAETEC. He is responsible for the operation, engineering, construction, maintenance, and repair of PAETEC’s extensive fiber network, as well as the design, repair, and expansion of power and environmental systems. After joining the company in 1998, he has held various management positions with increasing responsibility within engineering, operations, planning, real estate, facilities, and outside plant. George can be reached at george.spengler@paetec.com.

Trent Clausen
Director of OSP Engineering, Qwest Communications

Question #1: There are more reports circulating that the telcos are skimping on maintenance of their copper wires. What is your position on maintenance, upgrades, and investments for the future of the legacy network?

Existing copper in The Last Mile continues to provide a worthy return on investment in most circumstances. Companies with an embedded base of customers on copper must continue to monitor the health of their plant and the costs associated with maintenance or like-for-like replacement. Ignoring maintenance will accelerate customer’s migration to competitors and increase reluctance to return, regardless of future investment. Companies must continue to evaluate and align their product portfolio and plant configuration to maximize their investment, and make hard, but deliberate, decisions on when to migrate to a new network model. Strategic decisions on product portfolio and markets must be tempered with tactical intelligence on local competitors and their offerings, and existing plant conditions and capabilities.

Question #2: As telecom-networking equipment takes on more roles, often across technological lines never formerly crossed, employees will often be forced to reinvent themselves. What is your advice to them?

Be an expert in what you work in today, and seek training and experience in the things that are on the horizon. Never be lulled into a state of complacency, thinking that a product or technology is the be-all and end-all for our industry. The rate of change continues to accelerate, and the length of time that product or technology-specific knowledge is relevant is ever decreasing. Be a student and life-long learner, and, above all, a professional in your industry.

Question #3: Many providers are touting their environmental sustainability efforts. What is your network and technology organization doing in that area?

As an active member and contributor to the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), Qwest is working alongside other industry leaders to identify and promote energy efficient technologies and equipment. Qwest is also a member of the newly created ATIS Exploratory Green Group (EGG).

Qwest recently partnered with CURRENT Group, LLC on a new framework that allows electric utilities to integrate intelligent grid sensing with Qwest’s existing low latency, secure, high capacity DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) network to implement a Smart Grid.

Qwest has developed a training program for its employees to identify opportunities to reduce energy consumption in Qwest’s data centers.

The Uptime Institute selected Qwest as one of its Global Green 100 companies in 2009. The list highlights the significant energy efficiency achievements of global corporations operating major data centers. It includes exemplary FORTUNE 500 and InformationWeek 500 organizations with a demonstrated board-level policy and governance commitment to increasing energy efficiency and reducing the carbon footprint of their enterprise IT and data center operations.

Trent Clausen is director of Engineering and Construction Operations in Qwest’s Midwest region. His engineering responsibilities cover five states within Qwest’s local-service territory and his construction role oversees the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Prior to this, Trent was network director for Qwest’s operations at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Since joining Qwest in 1998, the Minnesota native has held management positions in various departments throughout the company, including repair, dispatch, and assignment centers, field operations, planning/budgeting, and engineering. Trent can be reached at trent.clausen@qwest.com.

What’s your take on this subject?  Leave a comment and get the conversation going.