喜欢爆粗口，骂过特朗普，这位CEO如何让一家正在衰退的企业实现华丽转身

知情人士和业界专家都表示，T-Mobile之所以业绩大振，正是因为此类聚会中呈现出的员工干劲。人群大声喊着“跟我们一起冲吗？”这是超级碗上T-Mobile公布以多元化为主题的口号。现场飘起了五彩纸屑。随后是提问时间，30分钟里，莱格尔和团队回答了宴会厅里和通过网络直播观看现场的观众们各种问题。莱格尔语速很快，语调平和，还向勇于发问的员工颁发现金奖励（手边有一卷20美元钞票）。有些是搞笑问题（我们有没有买五彩纸屑公司的股票？），但其他问题都很真诚，很有探索精神。之后数十位员工排起队跟首席执行官握手，摆好姿势拍合影。莱格尔又待了大概半小时，跟在场所有员工都握手拍照。

“他真是个了不起的人，跟我之前见过的首席执行官都不一样，”跟莱格尔自拍后，在纽约布朗克斯T-Moblie实体店工作的唐纳德·史密斯表示。“他看起来特别真诚。”

莱格尔显然更擅长引发争议。他出了名的急脾气且好斗，而且特别喜欢骂竞争对手（他常说AT&T和Verizon“一个蠢过一个”），经常公开爆粗口，偶尔也在社交网站Twitter上参与骂战，2015年还曾与当时的总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普对骂过，原因是特朗普批评混合武术明星尤达·鲁西。（大选后，莱格尔说过去的仇“既往不咎”，而且对更宽松的管制环境表示乐观。）然而，莱格尔的疯狂并未影响公司，在他带领下T-Mobile已成发展速度最快，业绩也最好的无线运营商。

2012年底，莱格尔就任首席执行官，当时正是业绩低迷之时。当时T-Mobile还是德国电信子公司，一边眼睁睁看用户流失，一边等待着AT&T收购，结果监管机构叫停了这笔390亿美元的交易。莱格尔迅速采取一系列精明的举措重整了业务。T-Mobile与苹果达成出售iPhone的协议，还购买更多频谱改善网络。2013年T-Mobile上市时，之后股票开始交易。（德国电信仍是大股东。）

T-Mobile成功还有一个关键，就是寻找业内对手，莱格尔到处树敌就是掀起通信行业战争的重要一击。（以前竞争对手会分开回应；现在多数置之不理。）策略主要是：抛弃正常的计划和价格。完全跟随用户的欲望，消除体验中的痛点。具体来说是不超过两年的合约计划，取消漫游费用，账单底部没有难以理解的费用。最重要的是，2016年，T-Mobile最先取消月度数据限额和超额费用，一举领先竞争对手AT&T和Verizon，还逼着对手效仿。

从数字就能看出成绩：2013年收购MetroPCS后，T-Mobile用户比其他运营商增速都快，达到7300万人。由于上市也是协议一部分，其股价也随之上升，表现超过竞争对手。或许更重要的一点是，其用户特别忠诚：据Business Insider旗下 BI Intelligence新近一项调查，T-Mobile约有四分之一用户表示无论如何也不换运营商，相比之下，AT&T的死忠用户只占16%，Verizon有15%，而Sprint只有7%。

T-Mobile拼命壮大无线领域的同时，竞争对手们都在忙别的。AT&T在争夺视频用户，收购了卫星电视公司DirecTV，又签订协议收购时代华纳（虽然受到反垄断调查搁置）。Verizon努力削减成本，出售Fios网络大部分资产。Sprint则在巨额债务中挣扎，去年还削减了改善网络设备方面的支出。

相比之下，T-Mobile一直以用户为中心。为了共同努力，公司高层很注重与一线员工互动。“莱格尔花很多时间跟T-Mobile员工接触，一边鼓舞士气，一边倾听。”莱格尔领导期间长期关注T-Mobile的BTIG研究机构分析师沃尔特·皮西科表示。“公司里有两种人，一种是客服，一种是客服的客服，”负责销售链的执行副总裁乔恩·弗雷尔表示。“我就是客服的客服。”

1月难得不下雨的一天，在西雅图郊区贝尔维尤10层一角的办公室里洒满阳光，莱格尔又在调解纠纷。

办公室不算大，堆满了东西所以显得有些挤。他穿着NHRA赛车服，颜色是T-Mobile标志红；旁边摆着之前被称为“T-Mobile女郎”的卡莉·福克斯形象纸板；桌上有两个女儿的照片；还有为慢烹饪节目准备的烹饪书，节目在Facebook上出人意料地受欢迎。

眼下让人烦心的是，语音玩具Furby Chewbacca娃娃跟另一个语音玩具“Corporate Yes Man”娃娃你来我往聊个没完。每次Furby咯吱一下，Yes Man就要答一句（“哦对，我在这呢。”“完全同意你的说法”），然后Furby跟着接话，Yes Man又回答，说个没完。“经常这样。”莱格尔说着，一边想让娃娃们闭嘴，可惜没成功。

That success, insiders and industry experts agree, is fueled by rah-rah rallies like this one. The crowd chants “Are you with us?,” a slogan from the diversity-themed ad T-Mobile unveiled during the Super Bowl. The confetti cannons do indeed fire confetti. And then it’s question time: For 30 minutes, Legere and his team field inquiries from employees in the ballroom and others watching via webcast. Legere keeps the pace rapid and the tone solicitous, doling out cash rewards (peeled off a stash of rolled-up $20 bills) for those brave enough to query him. Some questions are jokey (Have we bought stock in confetti cannons?), but others are sincere and probing. Afterward, dozens of employees line up to shake hands with the CEO and pose with him for pictures. Legere hangs around for almost half an hour until the entire line gets through.

“He’s like an amazing person, different from everyone I’ve ever seen as a CEO,” Donald Smith, who works in a T-Mobile store in the Bronx, says after snapping a selfie with Legere. “He seems like he actually cares.”

Legere certainly cares about making a ruckus. Famously brash and competitive, he’s best known for castigating his competitors (he routinely dismisses AT&T and Verizon as “dumb and dumber”), uttering public profanities, and engaging in the occasional Twitter war—including with then-candidate Donald Trump, in 2015, in a spat over tweets in which Trump criticized mixed-martial-arts star Ronda Rousey. (After the election, Legere said he had “got way past” the feud and was optimistic about the impact of a less restrictive regulatory climate.) Still, there is method to Legere’s madness, and it has helped T-Mobile become the fastest-growing and best performing wireless company during his tenure.

Legere came on as CEO at the end of 2012, a low point for the company. T-Mobile, then a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, was shedding customers as it waited to be acquired by AT&T—only to see regulators block the $39 billion deal. Legere quickly shored up the business with savvy moves. T-Mobile got a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone. It bought more spectrum rights to improve its network. And in 2013 it went public, so its stock could be used for dealmaking. (Deutsche Telekom remains the majority owner.)

Just as key to T-Mobile’s success was its decision to make an enemy of its own industry, launching a messaging war in which Legere’s f-bomb-throwing was central to the assault. (Its opponents’ flacks used to respond with indignation; now they rarely take the bait.) The strategy: Get rid of typical plans and prices. Embrace customer desires and eliminate their pain points. That meant no more two-year contracts, no more roaming fees, no more incomprehensible charges at the bottom of every bill. Most significantly, T-Mobile was far ahead of AT&T and Verizon in 2016 in scrapping monthly data limits and the annoying overage charges they generated—forcing its bigger rivals to follow suit.

The numbers show how well it all worked: Boosted by its 2013 acquisition of MetroPCS, T-Mobile’s subscriber base has grown faster than any other carrier’s, to 73 million. Since going public as part of that deal, its stock has soared, trouncing its rivals. Perhaps most important, its customers are loyal: According to a recent survey by Business Insider’s BI Intelligence, almost one-quarter of T-Mobile’s customers say they would never switch to a competitor for any reason, vs. 16% of AT&T’s customers, 15% at Verizon, and just 7% at Sprint.

T-Mobile has grown in wireless at a time when rivals have seemed to be looking beyond it. AT&T has been pursuing video customers, by buying satellite service DirecTV and agreeing to acquire Time Warner (though that deal has been held up by antitrust cops). Verizon is trying to shed costs, selling off major parts of its Fios network. Sprint, meanwhile, is struggling under a massive debt load; it slashed spending on network improvements last year.

In contrast, T-Mobile has stayed relentlessly phone-consumer-focused. And to make the effort pay off, top brass interact constantly with their frontline colleagues. “Legere spends a lot of time with the T-Mobile workforce, building morale and listening,” says Walt Piecyk, an analyst at BTIG Research who has followed T-Mobile throughout Legere’s tenure. “There are two types of people in this company: those who serve customers and those who serve those who serve customers,” adds Jon Freier, the executive vice president who oversees the company’s retail chain. “I’m in the second bucket.”

On a rare rain-free day in January, as sunlight pours into his 10th-floor corner office in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Legere is playing peacemaker.

His relatively small workspace is crammed and crowded. He’s got his NHRA auto-racing suit, in T-Mobile magenta; a cardboard cutout of Carly Foulkes, the ex-pitchwoman colloquially known as the “T-Mobile girl”; pictures of his two daughters; and cookbooks for his slow-cooking show, a surprise Facebook hit.

The current distraction, however, is a battle between a voice-activated Furby Chewbacca doll that has gotten stuck in a feedback loop with another voice-activated toy, a “Corporate Yes Man” doll. Every squawk and squeak from the Furby sets off the Yes Man (“Oh, yeah, I’m behind you all the way,” “Couldn’t agree with you more completely”), which gets the Furby talking again, triggering Yes Man, and so on. “This is so typical,” says Legere, trying unsuccessfully to shut off the doll debate.

其实莱格尔并不总是骂骂咧咧。他曾在AT&T工作18年，做过各种管理职位，之后在电脑制造商戴尔负责亚洲和欧洲销售业务。“他总是能把握好分寸。”猎头公司罗盛咨询招聘主管雷·赛德尔表示，他认识莱格尔已经超过20年。“我觉得他变了很多。”莱格尔则表示现在很多工作方法学自戴尔公司创始人迈克尔·戴尔。他亲眼见到电脑大亨戴尔跟股东们打成一片，在公司年会上签名，他发现充满活力的首席执行官可以激发忠诚，也能获得大量免费宣传。“我学到了太多，”莱格尔表示。“他热爱客户，因为他喜欢自己的工作，喜欢与工作相关的一切。”戴尔对莱格尔也是赞誉有加。“约翰潜力巨大，前途无量。”戴尔在回复《财富》杂志的邮件中称。

莱格尔第一次担任首席执行官是在电信公司Global Crossing负责亚洲电信服务，之后升至母公司任职，但经历并不轻松。随着互联网和电信泡沫破裂，Global Crossing迅速申请破产，莱格尔裁掉数千员工。莱格尔任职期间，该公司亚洲部门还花钱和解两起性别歧视投诉，因为有女性员工指控莱格尔发表了歧视性言论，还在办公室有过激行为。（当时莱格尔未就和解发表评论；T-Mobile也拒绝就此事发表评论。）挽救公司的颓势花了多年，直到2011年莱格尔才终于扭转了销售局面。

在T-Mobile他几乎从头开始，这毕竟是飞速发展的行业里最大品牌之一，但在客户心目中形象不佳。他上任首席执行官后第一件事就是撰写宣言，开头是，“我们跟其他运营商不一样……我们是不用道歉的非传统运营商。”里面还写道，“我们要立刻给用户送达新手机，不能等。”刚上任不久，莱格尔就在办公室里装上客服热线，听服务人员跟用户对话，经常一听就是几个小时，而且听到很晚。大部分“非传统运营商”的想法，例如放弃签合同或取消费用等等都是因为听了用户跟员工对话。“之前我提出的整体策略，”他表示，“就是听员工的，听用户的，闭上臭嘴按照他们说的做。”

T-Mobile确实贯彻了“照他们说的做”，还采取了“专家小组”策略，即授予呼叫中心的员工前所未有的权利。按照去年实施的该计划，T-Mobile将客户按照12万人分块，每一块由专门的小组负责，每个小组几十人，有专门的呼叫中心。用户打电话要求服务时，会转给指定的团队，而不是按照业内通常处理方式，随机分配给该时刻空闲的接待专员。因此用户发现，这里没有其他地方常见的转移呼叫推诿责任，实在让人厌烦。客服要为各自的用户群服务结果负责，业绩标准包括用户转投其他运营商的频次，或呼叫服务的频率，客服和管理者都有权发放服务积分和修改账单等。

Brashness wasn’t always typical for Legere. He built his career in various executive posts over 18 years at AT&T, and then at computer-maker Dell, where he ran sales in Asia and Europe. “He was always reasonably buttoned down,” says Rae Sedel, an executive recruiter at Russell Reynolds who has known him for more than 20 years. “I think he made a dramatic change.” Legere says some inspiration for his current approach came from his experience working for Michael Dell. He saw the PC mogul wading into crowds of shareholders and signing autographs at the company’s annual meeting, noting how a larger-than-life CEO could inspire loyalty and garner loads of free publicity. “I learned a ton,” says Legere. “He loved his customers, because he loved the subject matter and he loved everything about what they were doing.” Dell is happy to return the compliment. “You could see John had huge potential and a big future ahead,” the company founder says in an email to Fortune.

Legere’s first CEO stints, at the Asian unit of telecom-services company Global Crossing and then at the parent company, were anything but fun. As the Internet and telecom bubbles burst, Global Crossing careened into bankruptcy, and Legere laid off thousands of employees. The company’s Asian unit also paid to settle two sexual discrimination complaints during Legere’s tenure, after female employees alleged that Legere made belittling remarks and behaved aggressively in the company’s offices. (Legere did not comment on the settlements at the time; T-Mobile declined to comment for this story.) Managing the company’s decline took years, and Legere stayed on until he engineered its sale in 2011.

At T-Mobile he got to start over, at one of the biggest brands in a fast-growing industry—one with a major image problem among consumers. His first move as CEO was to draft a manifesto which began, “We’re not like the other carriers … we are unapologetically the un-carrier,” and included lines like, “We will give customers new phones right now instead of later.” Early on, Legere had a line installed in his office to listen in on customer service conversations, which he would do for hours, often late into the night. Most of his “un-carrier” ideas, like getting rid of contracts or dumping fees, came from listening to customers talk with staffers. “My entire strategy that I coined early on,” he says, “was listen to employees, listen to customers, shut the fuck up, and do what they tell you.”

T-Mobile is doubling down on “do what they tell you” under an effort called “Team of Experts,” which has given call-center employees unprecedented authority. Under the plan, which launched last year, T-Mobile divided its customers into blocks of about 120,000, who are each assigned to a specific group of a few dozen employees at a specific call center. When customers call for support, they are routed to their assigned team, instead of being assigned to a random rep at the least busy center in the country, as is typical in the industry. There’s no transferring of calls elsewhere in a frustrating ducking of accountability. Reps are held responsible for the outcomes of their customer group, measured by metrics such as how frequently customers defect to another carrier or how often they call support, and reps and their managers are empowered to hand out service credits or alter bills.