When I used to live in Asia, they used to say, "If you're going to sing karaoke, you want to go after the worst singer." And I'd be coming in Deutsche Telekom after the worst singer.

I think this job at T-Mobile has more than anything else helped me really see and understand how to set a strategy, communicate like crazy, and then passionately lead from the front of it.

I went, and my first interview was with René Obermann, who was the CEO of Deutsche Telekom at the time - wonderful guy. And right after hello, I told him that it was my opinion that he could only fail one way in the US. I said, "Do exactly what you're doing - nothing."

When I go to T-Mobile retail stores, I jokingly tell the employees that everybody between me and them is the enemy. In effect, what I mean is that in my paramilitary hierarchy, if I can hear them and they can hear me, everything will be fine. All we need to do is make sure the entire company understands that it's their job to pass information between us. And so far so good.

When I used to live in Asia, they used to say, "If you're going to sing karaoke, you want to go after the worst singer." And I'd be coming in Deutsche Telekom after the worst singer.

I tell employee of T-Mobile, "Listen, if some of this doesn't make sense to you, what should make sense is the reason I'm telling you - I respect you as an owner and as a partner and I'm going to tell you this all the time. Feel free to tune out."

I'm very careful, especially with the company, to not spend too much time playing the success reel because I really do believe that everything that's been accomplished can be parlayed in an equal amount going forward.