lly, in desperation, I trapped BT's principal negotiator in the elevator. "How big will this venture be?" I asked. "Oh, I don't know," he said, watching for his floor SO that he could escape. "I'd say about $10 billion." That was the number I stuck in the release as a placeholder, and through dozens of subsequent reviews, it never changed. Unfortunately, by the time the Say Good-Bye to the Rah-Rah Brother- and Sisterhood venture actually closed, for various reasons having to do with a general decline in international prices, a softening of the market, and a deci- sion to transfer fewer of its parents' customers to it, Concert's annual revenue was more like $7 billion-not a pittance, but 30 percent less than advertised. Concert began life with the unfortunate perception that it was a loser. Underpromising does not guarantee that you will overperform, but overpromising sets the stage for certain failure. And the worst possible combination is promising more than you can deliver and making the media your co-conspirator. The Wall Street Journal had been speculat- ing about AT&T's cable telephony partnerships since September 1998. Its principal cable industry reporter, Leslie Cauley, seemed to have a pipeline into the company's thinking. When we announced the joint venture with Time Warner, it seemed like one of those events that could change the course of an industry. Combined with TCI's affili- ates, the two companies could reach about a third of the country's homes, including those in such large cities as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Houston. The Journal sent three reporters to the news conference, and when they returned to the newsroom, they had a spirited discussion with their editor, who was somewhat less sanguine about the announce- ment. "It's only an agreement to agree," she said. "They haven't signed anything binding yet." Cauley, who had already spoken to Hin- dery, was convinced that the deal was done and argued that the two companies would not have put their CEOs on stage together if there was any ch