Althouse: What does it look and sound like when a big corporate CEO goes all out trying to be hip and cool?

June 19, 2014

What does it look and sound like when a big corporate CEO goes all out trying to be hip and cool?

It looks like T-Mobile's CEO John Legere. You've got to play the video to know how awful it is. It's so much more than that he's saying AT&T and Verizon are "fuckers" that hate you and are "raping" you. It's his glowing self-love and... I've got to stop thinking about it.

I got that link via Reddit, where it's #1 on the "hot" list, and scanning the comments, I see they love him. They can have him.

14 comments:

Nonapod said...: It's always interesting that these sorts of things (CEOs getting "real" or whatever) along with issues like Net Neutrality, the Comcast-Time Warner merger, and NSA spying are of great concern to techies (esp. younger ones). They generally couldn't care less about much outside those spheres, and may not even be aware of certain news events that are of great concern to conservatives like the IRS destroying harddrives for example.; 6/19/14, 1:47 PM
gerry said...: Good Lord. Have you had T-Mobile as a carrier? You might as well try to use a wired phone while mobile.; 6/19/14, 2:20 PM
traditionalguy said...: Was that supposed to be hip and cool. It sounded to me like he is willing to be rude and crude calling out evil cellular service enemies that his audience doesn't much like either, such as Verison and AT&T, that do operate their Contracts like Mafia Famlies.

He came out like a WWF big show announcer of righteous fake wrestlers against known bad guy wrestlers, and that was all he ever said. He was calling out the other fighters.; 6/19/14, 2:20 PM
rcommal said...: Sounds like an executive to me. ; ); 6/19/14, 2:25 PM
rcommal said...: Amusingly, he spent almost 20 years at AT&T, where he held executive positions before going on to hold executive positions at Dell and Global Crossing.

What a relatable guy!; 6/19/14, 2:30 PM
Bob R said...: "You've got to play the video to know how awful it is."

The hair and the red Chucks are quite enough.; 6/19/14, 3:02 PM
damikesc said...: The dirty secret, speaking as a cell phone employee, is that the "payment agreements" to buy your phone are WAY more expensive to get out of than a contract.

An IPhone starts at $650. Most Early Termination Fees start at $300 or so. Rare for the payment cost to not vastly exceed ETF.; 6/19/14, 3:48 PM
Anonymous said...: The netflix CEO did something like this recently, speaking out against Comcast. Steve Jobs also occasionally did this, but more often turned his complaints into a media campaign.

I don't have a problem with it especially if it reflects what they're saying in private, anyway.

The redditors feel he is expressing their own frustrations at a level at which someone can speak out and have it matter since their individual voices don't - much like people used to feel about a congressman speaking out against an opponent representing their POV, no matter what his personal instincts towards self-promotion or the hypocrisy that might be involved.; 6/19/14, 4:17 PM
Anonymous said...: Watched it. He's way less obnoxious than Donald Trump, IMO, though he's a bit too old for his jacket choice. However, the open mic night delivery helps match him with the outfit to a degree.; 6/19/14, 4:26 PM
traditionalguy said...: The WWF cellular pricing wars are heating up.

Buying an unlocked iphone5s and enrolling in a $45 per month contract for unlimited minutes and unlimited data, all until you cancel it at your will, comes out at about half of what Verizon's locked iphone5s costs you over just the first 2 years.

And then that virtually Verizon owned, locked iphone5s you just double paid for makes you overpay Verizon forever since that phone you just double paid for remains locked into Verizon's higher priced plans forever, and ever, and ever, and ever....; 6/19/14, 4:32 PM
lgv said...: First, the video was edited, so curse words to total words was probably much lower.

I have no problem with the lack of eloquence, but it does seem a bit contrived.

Then again, he was an executive at Global Crossing, which means he is part hipster and part hypster.; 6/19/14, 4:44 PM
lgv said...: Wait, there's more.

" The female executives were said to have been uncomfortable with Mr. Legere's behavior at management meetings. In the presence of Ms. Smith and Ms. Chow, Mr. Legere and his male subordinates would discuss plans for going to gentlemen's clubs and hostess bars, according to several people with knowledge of the complaints.

It also upset some female employees that Mr. Legere referred to one secretary as Miss Piggy in conversations and e-mail correspondence with other company employee"

All settled out of court. Clearly, a series of microaggressions against female subordinates.; 6/19/14, 4:57 PM
Stephen Givens said...: I can hardly wait to see the psychdrama when Softbank/Sprint's egomaniacal Masayoshi Son buys T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom.; 6/19/14, 5:13 PM
Joe said...: Based on my experience, AT&T and Verizon are fuckers.

(I've had a great experience with T-Mobile.); 6/19/14, 8:11 PM