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"I did." That was CEO Robert Allen's response when the AT&T network collapsed [1] on January 15, 1990 He was asked who made the mistake. I can't imagine any

"I did." That was CEO Robert Allen's response when the AT&T network collapsed [1] on January 15, 1990 He was asked who made the mistake. I can't imagine any CEO now a days making a similar statement. [1] http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~jdalbey/SWE/Papers/att_collapse.html http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~jdalbey/SWE/Papers/att_collaps...

mcherm 10y ago
Fascinating! Do you know of any source that documents the claim that Robert Allen made this statement?
- losteverything 10y ago
  I'll try. It was a dark day. We all watched the news and I recall him saying that. The specific quote I don't remember but it was something like " you can consider that I did." I think he was asked what will happen to the person that caused it and who is that person. Everyone knew right away this had to be human error. Right away. Switches simply had too much redundancy. It was big then and not sure if I can locate a video.
  - pcthrowaway 10y ago
    Not sure if there's a video, but I found an article with the exact quote: > As far as our customers are concerned, I did it. http://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/01/16/ATT-pinpoints-cause-of-long-distance-line-crash/2432632466000/ http://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/01/16/ATT-pinpoints-cause-o...
    - losteverything 10y ago
      Thanks. I got the gist at least. I admired him and his answer at the time. The culture was quite professional and blame really never existed.
praneshp 10y ago
He doesn't seem to have been a great CEO though[0]. Very very sorry for the shitty link, his Wiki page was bare. [0]: http://www.cnbc.com/2009/04/30/Portfolios-Worst-American-CEOs-of-All-Time.html?slide=10 http://www.cnbc.com/2009/04/30/Portfolios-Worst-American-CEO...
notatoad 10y ago
I'd argue that the message of this post-mortem, that is "mistakes were made, but the fault is with the tools and not any one person" is a much better response than the CEO making a symbolic statement claiming the fault. both better for morale, and better for preventing another incident.
pmoriarty 10y ago
What are the real consequences for a CEO saying that? It's not like he's going to get fired or have his stock options revoked. If anything, people are going to praise him for taking ownership like that, as you did. Virtually no matter what he does, I'd bet someone in his position is going to be very comfortable for the rest of his life. I'd be far more impressed if a low-level employee who's whole family depended on his job and who stood a good chance of getting fired admitted a serious mistake.
gist 10y ago
> "I did." To me that is just another example of 'caring theater'. Whereby carefully crafted PR responses [1] appear to take responsibility in a 'buck stops here' kind of way. The truth is it is unreasonable in many cases for the top person to be able to prevent any and all errors. If you try and make everything perfect with no mistakes you would never make any money (and of course it's not even possible). [1] ie 'our customers safety and security is of the utmost importance to us'.

mcherm 10y ago

Fascinating! Do you know of any source that documents the claim that Robert Allen made this statement?

losteverything 10y ago
I'll try. It was a dark day. We all watched the news and I recall him saying that. The specific quote I don't remember but it was something like " you can consider that I did." I think he was asked what will happen to the person that caused it and who is that person. Everyone knew right away this had to be human error. Right away. Switches simply had too much redundancy. It was big then and not sure if I can locate a video.
- pcthrowaway 10y ago
  Not sure if there's a video, but I found an article with the exact quote: > As far as our customers are concerned, I did it. http://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/01/16/ATT-pinpoints-cause-of-long-distance-line-crash/2432632466000/ http://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/01/16/ATT-pinpoints-cause-o...
  - losteverything 10y ago
    Thanks. I got the gist at least. I admired him and his answer at the time. The culture was quite professional and blame really never existed.

praneshp 10y ago

He doesn't seem to have been a great CEO though[0]. Very very sorry for the shitty link, his Wiki page was bare. [0]: http://www.cnbc.com/2009/04/30/Portfolios-Worst-American-CEOs-of-All-Time.html?slide=10 http://www.cnbc.com/2009/04/30/Portfolios-Worst-American-CEO...

notatoad 10y ago

I'd argue that the message of this post-mortem, that is "mistakes were made, but the fault is with the tools and not any one person" is a much better response than the CEO making a symbolic statement claiming the fault. both better for morale, and better for preventing another incident.

pmoriarty 10y ago

What are the real consequences for a CEO saying that? It's not like he's going to get fired or have his stock options revoked. If anything, people are going to praise him for taking ownership like that, as you did. Virtually no matter what he does, I'd bet someone in his position is going to be very comfortable for the rest of his life. I'd be far more impressed if a low-level employee who's whole family depended on his job and who stood a good chance of getting fired admitted a serious mistake.

gist 10y ago

> "I did." To me that is just another example of 'caring theater'. Whereby carefully crafted PR responses [1] appear to take responsibility in a 'buck stops here' kind of way. The truth is it is unreasonable in many cases for the top person to be able to prevent any and all errors. If you try and make everything perfect with no mistakes you would never make any money (and of course it's not even possible). [1] ie 'our customers safety and security is of the utmost importance to us'.