Tough Calls by Dick Martin

Can you ever trust a PR man to write a rendition of events that is not entirely self-serving? To Martin’s credit, Tough Calls turns out to be a highly readable – and credible – account of one of the biggest business stories of recent years.

Through good times and bad, few companies have been so prominently and constantly in the public eye as AT&T. Unblinkingly honest, Tough Calls is an insider’s firsthand account of how AT&T tried to cope with fierce competition, economic turmoil, and intense media scrutiny. This is the story of the phone company – and there isn’t anyone who knows the story like Dick Martin. Tough Calls reveals how the strategies that drive major business decisions are disastrously wrong as often as they are right.

Dick Martin spent 32 years at AT&T in many roles, including the vice president of public relations. While there, he witnessed the company’s 1984 breakup, a 1996 bungled announcement of 40,000 layoffs that nearly ruined the company, turf battles with “Baby Bells,” and dozens of other crises that forced AT&T to make difficult decisions. In Tough Calls, Martin recounts the experiences of a company that has survived fierce business conditions and describes how any business can avoid mistakes while improving its brand.