Denny Strigl asks ‘Can you hear me now?’

By Kevin Green, December 7, 2011

 

By Jessica Strickler

On Nov. 14, Denny Strigl, former President and CEO of Verizon Wireless, visited the HPU campus to talk with a group of students about his experiences in the industry of telecommunications, as well as his business management philosophies. In addition, he also enlightened students to his thoughts on college and getting a job.

Following his recent retirement, Strigl has written a book based on his 42 years of experience in the industry of telecommunications. With the title playing off the infamous Verizon catch phrase “Can you hear me now?” Strigl’s book is entitled, “Managers, can you hear me now?”

“As you can imagine, you see a lot of what works in business, but you also see a lot of what doesn’t work,” said Strigl. “I thought I would write a book that talks about both.”

According to Strigl, there are three main reasons why managers struggle with leading a group of employees, though he does talk about additional reasons in his book. First, managers want to be liked by the people who work for them, when in reality, they would make better friends of their employees if the company can produce successful results. As Strigl said, “somebody has got to be in charge.”

Second, managers focus on the wrong things. They should be focusing on four things: growing revenue, getting new customers, keeping the existing customers and cutting costs in some way.

Toward the beginning of his career, Strigl worked for Ameritech Mobile, which was the company in the United States that introduced the first commercial cell phone. Strigl shared the following story from his time at Ameritech Mobile in relation to the responsibilities of a manager:

“It was in Chicago and it was 1984. When we introduced that cell phone, the chairman of the company came to me and said, ‘Denny, I would like you to run Ameritech Mobile.’ He said ‘this is a very important job, I am going to put some stripes on your coat and I want you to always remember that those stripes can come off as easily as they went on.’”

This anecdote ties into the third error that managers are liable to make; they get caught up in their own self-importance. Managers often have additional perks to the jobs, such as staying in a hotel, or riding in a chauffeured car, or traveling across the country by airplane, and they lose sight of the goal. The focus should never be about the manager, but about the well being of the company, and those who work for it. The end goal is to produce results for the company.

Students can even apply these pieces of advice to their college careers. As students participate in various events and organizations on campus, they should keep the advice of Strigl in mind. Just because they may lack the title “manager” does not mean the concepts cannot be applied.

With extensive experience working for a large company like Verizon, and communicating with some of the brightest people in the technology industry, Strigl has plenty of advice for how to find the best of the best, when it comes to hiring.

“I look at a potential employee for just a couple of things. Number one is that they need to be inquisitive. So, when people would interview for a job, if they didn’t ask a question, they were done. And the people who learn most in life, and it’s obvious– they ask questions, they pay attention, they want to know, there is a thirst for knowledge—that is the best employee that you can hire. The second important point for me is that you must be honest. In an interview, the interviewer can determine honesty. And unless you are totally honest, I wouldn’t hire you.”

Strigl shared a story about his adopted daughter, an HPU graduate, saying that the hardest part for her was to get hired. It is not hard to stay hired, but it is hard to get your foot in the door.

“I’d be inquisitive and be honest. And those are the two most important things. Have a college degree. While you are here, learn something.”

He then went on to share his thoughts about the university, since his first visit in 2005 and his last, which was almost two years ago.

“What I remember from 5 years ago is just a shell of what this university has become. And the advantage that you have here is the culture of this institution, and I hope you know that, it is so vibrant here, you have the best of everything and you should take advantage of it.”