22 FORTUNE FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
three carriers have mud-
died the waters with forget-
table ads so far that in
some cases had to be pulled
after the ad industry’s
watchdog pegged them for
exaggerations. T-Mobile’s
recent ad starring Bill
Nye, the Science Guy, got
dinged for promising the
“most reliable” 5G network,
while Verizon had to pull a
Super Bowl ad claiming its
5G network was built for
first responders and drop
its claim it had the “most
powerful” 5G.
Still, Sievert may be
ideally suited to design
the message that wins
the 5G era as firmly as
Verizon’s “Can you hear me
now?” campaign helped it
dominate the 3G and 4G
periods. “We’re going to
create some real FOMO
among people carrying
around AT&T and Verizon
phones,” Sievert wagers.
He first learned the
business sitting at the
kitchen table listening to
his dad, a marketing guru
for IBM and other com-
panies, craft campaigns.
After graduating from
the Wharton School in
1991, he joined Procter &
Gamble, where he oversaw
brands including Crest
and Pepto-Bismol. The
stomach-calming Pepto
team sat with the Metamu-
cil team, leading to some
hilarious co- marketing op-
portunities, at least inside
P&G’s walls. A T-shirt with
both product logos read,
“With friends like these,
who needs enemas?” “P&G
didn’t have quite the same
swag game as T-Mobile,”
Sievert jokes now.
From P&G, Sievert won
increasing responsibilities
across corporate America,
joining IBM’s personal
computing unit for a few
years before the lure of the
dotcom bubble drew him
to E*Trade in 1998, where,
at not yet 30 years old, he
was named chief market-
ing officer and helped de-
velop the broker’s memo-
rable Super Bowl ads.
Then came lead marketing
roles at AT&T Wireless in
2002 and at Microsoft.
From there, missing a
“hypercompetitive market
like wireless,” he found his
way to Sprint’s Clearwire
unit, and ultimately, in
2012, to T-Mobile.
Sievert helped de-
velop Legere’s “Uncarrier”
strategy that did away
with two-year contracts,
overage charges, and other
annoyances. Loyal custom-
ers were rewarded with
free pizza promotions and
“Netflix on us.” T-Mobile,
in fourth place in 2012,
passed Sprint in 2015 and
is now ahead of AT&T by
some measures and aiming
to pass Verizon.
“The opportunity we
have in front of us is like
nothing we’ve ever had,”
he says. T-Mobile’s fast 5G
already covers where more
than 100 million people
live and will double that by
year-end. AT&T and Ver-
izon cover a tiny fraction
of that with their fastest
5G. Also in Sievert’s sights
is completing Legere’s
effort to take on the cable
market. “It’s a $100 billion
industry dominated by
companies customers don’t
love,” Sievert says.
Sounds like a great
call.BOOKSH E WROTE
THE BOOK
ON GE
JEFF IMMELT OPENS
UP ABOUT WHAT WENT
WRONG AT ONE OF
AM ERICA’S G RE AT
COMPANIES (AND THAT
G E TAT TOO).
BY GEOFF COLVINWHY WOULD Jeff Im-
melt write a book about
his troubled tenure as
General Electric’s CEO
from 2001 to 2017? He
confronts that question
on page one. “My tenure
had ended badly,” he
acknowledges in the first
paragraph of Hot Seat:
What I Learned Lead-
ing a Great American
Company. “My legacy
was, at best, controver-
sial ... Maybe it would be
better not to write a book
at all.” He changed hisIn 2018 FortuneÕs Geoff Colvin delved into the decline
of GE; the article in part spurred Immelt’s book.mind in 2018; an article I
wrote played an indirect
role. He decided to tell
the story of why he did
what he did, to own up to
mistakes, distill what he
had learned, and defend
himself against criticism
he considers unmerited.
He does it engagingly and
candidly, emphasizing his
successes while admit-
ting to errors of judgment
and action. After years
of refusing to criticize
his celebrated predeces-
sor, Jack Welch, Immelt
blames him for leaving
behind messes that had
to be cleaned up. Yet
he writes that he called
Welch for advice in the
financial crisis—a period
so traumatic for Immelt
that, he reveals, he briefly
planned to resign after
being forced to cut GE’s
dividend for the first time
since 1938. He confirms
that he was pushed out of
his job suddenly, after a
disastrous performance
before a group of Wall
Street analysts. He also
explains why GE’s famous
round logo is tattooed on
his left hip.
Immelt’s story is not ul-
timately a happy one. The
hard fact remains that GE
today is a mere remnant
of what it was when he
became CEO. This book is
his telling of what the hell
happened.THE BRIEF — TELECOM