![[Allen pic]](/gif/1229armstrong.gif)
Welcome to the 25 Most Powerful list, C. Michael Armstrong, and good luck.
Armstrong has taken command of the biggest ship in the telecommunications ocean, but he's got to apply the rudder before it runs aground. AT&T has a big public relations problem these days, and no wonder. Former CEO Robert Allen botched the first try at hiring his replacement, with AT&T sending short-timer President John Walter packing in July after only nine months on the job. The company also has been hurt by the desertion of key executives such as Joe Nacchio and Alex Mandl, who certainly will come back to haunt their former employer (see their profiles).
The former chairman and CEO of Hughes Electronics Corp., Armstrong is viewed as a no-nonsense leader who knows how to turn things around.
Those turnaround skills will be plenty handy at AT&T, which these days is widely viewed as operating without a clear strategy. Its growth is stalled, its foray into local markets has been an attack in name only and the company seems to be watching from the sidelines as more aggressive players such as WorldCom, Inc. define the new rules of the network game.
Still, AT&T remains a $53 billion machine that isn't as broken as some analysts would have you believe. If Armstrong pulls off the right acquisitions and shores up AT&T's local, global and Internet portfolio, WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers may wish he had picked a fight with a smaller kid on the playground.
