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 finished my last job, at Global Crossing, it was the first time in God knows how many years that I wasn't in a job. It was probably 32 years or so, and there I was, it was like pow!

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.

Deutsche Telekom was a brand that people still loved, the nerds loved it, and it was still there, it was still visible. The advertiser was OK. But it was a mess. It was in my mind, though, intuitively obvious what to do. I had some advisers and friends, and we looked at it and said all you have to do is get the iPhone, buy some spectrum, consolidate the industry, reinvigorate the brand, and take this company public.

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.

It's kind of fun at my age to go back and talk to business-school people. I tell them, "I can summarize everything you need to know to lead a major corporation. Are you prepared to write this down?" And then they get all ready. I tell them I can summarize how I succeed as a leader: Listen to your employees, listen to your customers, shut the f - - up, and do what they tell you.