the long term. And we would have been less likely to disappoint them. Armstrong's successor as AT&T's chairman and CEO, Dave Dor- man, appears to have learned from his predecessor's tenure. While not invisible, he studiously avoided the public limelight in his first year as CEO. But one of his first acts when he was appointed was to hold a rededication ceremony for Golden Boy, which is now firmly planted outside AT&T's headquarters in New Jersey. He invited Arm- strong's predecessor, Bob Allen, to the ceremonies as a special guest and pointedly read from a values statement that Allen had personally drafted seven years before on his kitchen table. Although Armstrong also participated in the ceremonies, employees took note that Allen- and the company's heritage-was back in style. But Dorman does not suffer from terminal nostalgia. He never misses an opportunity to warn that the communication services indus- try is in nuclear winter and to worry out loud about whether the com- pany has enough parkas. That was the theme of his get-acquainted breakfast with Jim Cramer, hedge fund manager turned media machine, almost five years to the day after Armstrong's appointment. Cramer had been on Armstrong's back ever since he had been forced to unload "T" at a fat loss. As Dorman and Cramer shook hands outside the hotel where they had met, a pigeon left the flagpole overhead and relieved itself on Cramer's shoulder. Even the doorman caught the symbolism. This page intentionally left blank Understand the Power of Symbols One of the biggest mistakes CEOs make is to neglect the emo- tional impact of their words and actions. The feelings that people attach to their opinions endure long after the rational arguments on which those opinions were based have been forgotten. Individ- uals or companies that evoke those feelings acquire symbolic power that can be displaced only by other, more powerful symbols. The most dangerous place to be is between clashing symbols. Trivestiture In September of 1995, Bob Allen and his wife, Betty, were