We will have to see how this pans out, but Verizon may have just hit a home run with Dan Schulman. Dan started out decades ago working at the original AT&T as an entry-level account manager. When he left AT&T, he was a Presidents and managed roughly 40,000 workers. Next, he became president and CEO, and then the COO of Priceline.com. The next two years he grew revenue from around $20 million to around one-billion-dollars. So far, so good.
Then Sir Richard Branson asked Dan to become the CEO of brand-new Virgin Mobile USA. Schulman ran that until it was eventually acquired by Sprint Nextel in 2007. He grew Virgin Mobile to more than five-million users and more than one billion dollars in annual sales.
His next few jobs were not in wireless. First, American Express grabbed him. Then PayPal made him CEO after splitting from eBay.
He was a home run hitter at each of these companies over the past several decades.
Could Dan Schulman be the change-agent Verizon needs?
Now, after this long and successful run of success stories, Dan has landed at Verizon. I would imagine CEO Hans Vestberg has high expectations about what Dan can and will do for him and the company.
Verizon is the U.S. industry leader in the wireless network services. That being said, while it is huge and successful, it has tried for many years to raise their growth rates.
So, could Dan Schulman be the magic bullet Verizon needs?
One of the benefits of my position in the industry is I get the chance to spend time with and get to know the powerful leadership of many different companies.
The wireless industry has been around since the early 1970s, and I have met quite a few very interesting leaders who have steered the industry in new and different directions.
Wireless has grown and changed, many times. Starting out five decades ago as many smaller carriers who went through decades of M&A, innovation and transformation.
Wireless industry has become an important and leading sector
Today, the wireless industry remains an important and even critical service here in the United States and in fact, worldwide.
However, wireless also looks very different from the industry it was when Dan Schulman was last here.
During the past decade wireless growth has slowed. AT&T and Verizon even took a strange turn a decade ago making some strange acquisitions wanting to dominate a new and larger industry. Thank goodness they are back on track now.
However, they are finding vibrant growth is still a key challenge.
Where does Dan Schulman fit into Verizon growth?
That’s where Schulman could help Verizon. Vestberg decided to make the investment and hire Dan. The thought was Dan could fuel growth like he has done at so many other companies he worked with over the past several decades.
Growth can and will continue in wireless. The mistakes Verizon has made over the past decade made it look like a ship cruising in circles. There is power. There is just no direction.
So, can Dan provide Verizon with a positive growth path? I hope so. The company is a strong and positive part of the wireless industry in the USA.
Good and bad news for Verizon in wireless
The good news is Dan started out in the wireless world. He successfully grew and build his way when the industry was young and very different for more than one company.
The problem is that was decades ago, and the wireless industry has changed, in fact several times since then. It is a different place today.
As I see it, his familiarity with wireless and his new perspective, untarnished by recent events, could be just what Verizon needs right now. We’ll see.
Wireless industry has changed over the decades
Yesterday, wireless started out in the analog marketplace with voice calling. Then it switched to digital, then from 2G all the way to 5G and beyond.
Each change-wave took years to move from one level to the next. Each time there were new growth challenges that needed to be met.
Competition is also quite different today. Competitors which Verizon battles with today are very different.
AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Xfinity Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, Optimum, Cox
Some are big carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Many are smaller resellers like Xfinity Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, Optimum, Cox and countless others.
You see, today MVNO resale is a big, strong and growing wireless industry segment. It was not when Schulman was in wireless many years ago.
The economy today is also troublesome. Perhaps that will be corrected under the new Presidency. We will see.
Today, the iPhone and Android are king of the wireless hill. Apps have exploded from a few hundred with Blackberry to millions today. That is all new compared with years ago.
Many strong leaders in wireless have reached their peak and have since fallen. Consider Motorola, Blackberry, Palm and others.
Can Dan Schulman inspire growth at Verizon?
As an advisor to Verizon, and their founding companies, and in fact all the competitors in the space for more than three decades, I have always been impressed with wireless performance in general, until roughly a decade ago.
Since then, I have been complaining about many companies taking the wrong direction. Things are better today, but they are still not growing the way they once were.
In fact, the entire wireless industry is experiencing this same problem. This is a change-wave, and it is impacting all competitors.
The good news is mistakes made in the past do not have to be their direction moving forward.
Verizon can be fixed with the right leadership and new ideas
I believe this can be fixed. As an example, T-Mobile was struggling for years under different CEOs and strategies. Then they finally found the right leader with the right ideas and turned things around quickly.
Is that what we can expect from Dan Schulman?
He has a solid track record of being successful at the companies he has led. He may have exactly what Verizon needs to get back on the growth track.
New ideas from the industry are already percolating. Ideas like working with 5G and FWA for wireless broadband and private wireless services. This is all a good start.
Will Dan Schulman be like throwing gasoline on a tiny fire?
Can Schulman joining Verizon be like throwing a cup of gasoline on the sparks of growth of today?
I hope so. I hope he will have the power to make the changes in his gut. I hope CEO Hans Vestberg will have the courage to give Schulman the leeway he needs to do just that and make the difference and save the company.
Verizon, their customers, workers and shareholders all need this recovery.
As for now, we will just have to wait and hope and see what happens next.
So, will Dan Schulman joining Verizon be a home run or a strike out? Only time will tell. Here is hoping for the best!
So, congratulations to Dan Schulman, to Hans Vestberg and to Verizon. This is a great next step. Let’s hope it works.
