Page 148 - The Resilient Organization

8

The following case study, which I coauthored with Amy Muller, is an
example of highly imaginative thinking in a once revered organization. It
also illustrates some elements of corporate jestering as the scientists—the
main players of the case study from AT&T Labs—called themselves
ODDsters for the Opportunity Discovery Department and occasionally left
others wondering.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ODD: THE ODD
MISSION AT AT&T 1

The one thing most managers are sure about is that scientists cannot—and
should not—meddle in corporate strategy. For heaven’s sake, they know
nothing about business! And yet this is a story about how a group of scien-
tists within AT&T—then the leading long-distance provider in the United
States—proved them wrong. This is a story of rare corporate spirit on one
hand, and management failure on another. The sting is that even a group of
this caliber—some of the smartest people from Bell Labs who have enjoyed
renowned careers since—could not reverse AT&T’s decade-long failure to
adapt to a hostile environment, replete with new competitors and disrup-
tive technologies.
Starting in 1995 and lasting through early 1998, AT&T’s Opportunity
Discovery Department (ODD) was a hotbed of just the kind of heresy that
could have given the company another chance. Nestled in a corner of the
2
AT&T Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, ODD comprised a group of eight
energetic souls who, for three and a half years, devoted their considerable
talents to the salvation of AT&T.
Like many good ideas, ODD was conceived around the proverbial water
cooler. Its four founders constituted an eclectic assortment of researchers led

■ 135 ■