When I Saw the Writing on the Wall in Telecom (And Why I Left Before I Had To)

Sometimes the most important career decisions aren't made because of what everyone else sees. They're made because you've been paying close enough attention to recognize meaningful change before it becomes obvious.

Join me in the wayback machine...

It's mid-2004.

I had worked in the telecommunications industry for more than ten years. Two years as a temporary employee and nearly eight as a bona fide employee for a regional Bell company that had eventually become part of AT&T. Those years were anything but predictable. I started my career right after the transition from Ohio Bell to Ameritech, then lived through the additional buyout by SBC, and finally saw the start of the full circle when all the Baby Bells were acquired back and became AT&T...again. If you worked in telecom during that era, change wasn't unusual. It was business as usual.

By that point, I was part of a field sales team serving small-business customers with 10 or fewer phone lines. Every day, my team and I sat across the table from business owners learning about their companies, their challenges, and how communications technology could help them operate more effectively.

I loved it.

Looking back, I realize those customer conversations were preparing me for one of the most important career decisions I would ever make.

At the time, I had no idea.

The Regulation That Changed Everything

In November 2003, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) introduced wireless local number portability.

Most people remember it for one reason: consumers could finally keep their phone number when switching wireless carriers.

That was certainly significant, but it wasn't what caught my attention.

For the first time, businesses could also move their traditional landline phone numbers to mobile phones.

Today, that probably doesn't sound revolutionary. We carry our business in our pockets without giving it a second thought.

In 2004, it was a game changer.

Think about the businesses I worked with every day:

• Financial planners

• Plumbers

• Electricians

• HVAC companies

• Attorneys

• Pest control services

• Landscapers

• General contractors

• Small professional offices

For decades, these businesses had been tied to a physical location. Calls came into the office. Someone answered the phone, or an answering service picked up after hours. If no one was available, customers left a voicemail and waited.

Wireless number portability changed that entire model.

Now, a business owner could answer the company phone while driving between appointments. Technicians could take customer calls from the field. Small businesses suddenly had flexibility they had only dreamed of.

I became fascinated.

Not simply by the regulation itself, but by what it meant for the people I served.

The Questions That Changed My Thinking

Because this was my business, I stayed current on every regulatory update I could find.

Understanding the changes wasn't optional. It allowed me to advise my customers with confidence, answer their questions accurately, and prepare them for what was coming.

What I didn't expect was how much my customers would teach me.

Every conversation generated new questions.

"What happens to my voicemail?"

"Can every line be moved?"

"Do I still need an answering service?"

"How will my employees answer calls?"

Sometimes I knew the answer.

Sometimes I didn't.

When I didn't, I went back and learned more.

Those conversations pushed me to keep reading, studying, and understanding not only the regulation itself but also the broader direction of the industry.

Over time, something interesting happened.

“The government regulation told me what was changing and when.
My customers showed me why it mattered.”

That's when I began connecting the dots.

The technology wasn't the real disruption.

Customer behavior was.

Listening Differently

As I listened, I noticed a pattern.

Business owners weren't asking how to preserve the old way of doing things.

They were asking how quickly they could embrace the new one.

They weren't looking for incremental improvements.

They were imagining entirely different ways to run their companies.

Every customer conversation reinforced what I had begun to suspect.

The writing wasn't on the wall because of a government regulation.

The writing was on the wall because my customers were already thinking and behaving differently.

The more I listened, the more one question stayed with me:

If my customers were changing this quickly, how long before our business has to change too?

The Hardest Career Decision I Had Made

Around that same time, recruiters began calling.

Like many professionals, I wasn't actively looking for a new opportunity.

But I listened.

The more I evaluated what I was seeing in the marketplace, the more convinced I became that telecommunications was entering a period of transformation unlike anything we had experienced before.

This wasn't another merger.

It wasn't only a reorganization.

This change struck at the heart of how our customers communicated, how they purchased services, and ultimately how our company would need to operate.

So I made one of the hardest decisions of my career.

I accepted another opportunity.

When I met with my manager to resign, I explained exactly why I was leaving. I shared my concerns about where I believed the industry was headed and how dramatically I thought the business would change.

She listened respectfully.

She did not see what I was seeing.

Three Months Later

About three months after I left, the field sales organization I had been part of was eliminated.

The call center where I had started my career also began shrinking significantly.

Many talented colleagues suddenly found themselves navigating career transitions they never expected.

When I heard the news, I felt a mix of emotions.

I was deeply concerned for friends and colleagues whose careers had been disrupted.

I was relieved that I had avoided the same outcome.

And if I'm being completely honest, I also felt vindicated.

Not because I wanted to be right.

Because my assessment of what was happening had been accurate.

That realization came with another emotion I wasn't expecting.

A sense of helplessness.

I found myself asking questions that still trouble me today.

Could I have explained what I was seeing differently?

Could our leadership team have recognized the signals sooner?

Could we have developed a different strategy for our division?

Most importantly...

Could we have helped our small business customers navigate this enormous shift instead of watching many of them move away from us?

I'll never know the answers.

But those questions changed how I think about leadership and the workplace forever.

What This Experience Taught Me About Career Foresight

For years, I've encouraged my clients to invest in personal development.

Read industry publications.

Follow thoughtful leaders.

Join professional associations.

Attend conferences.

Build meaningful relationships.

Stay curious.

Some people hear those recommendations and think they're simply about becoming more knowledgeable.

They're not.

They're about developing career foresight.

“Looking back, I wasn’t predicting the future.
I was paying close enough attention to recognize that the future had already started.”

That ability wasn't luck.

It wasn't intuition alone.

It was earned.

I stayed close to my customers.

I stayed current on my industry.

I understood the history that shaped the present, from the divestiture of Ma Bell in 1984 to the regulatory changes unfolding in front of me twenty years later.

My customers' questions sent me back to learn more. What I learned helped me better serve them. It’s a learning cycle. Together, those conversations and that knowledge revealed patterns that neither one could have shown me on its own.

That's where self-trust came from.

Not from believing I had all the answers.

From trusting the evidence I had researched.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

Today, the disruption isn't wireless number portability. Who would even use that phrase now?

It's artificial intelligence.

Tomorrow, it will be something else.

The technology will change.

The principle won't.

The professionals who thrive won't necessarily be the ones who can predict exactly what's coming next.

They'll be the ones who stay close to their customers, remain connected to their industries, continue investing in their personal development, and have the courage to act when the evidence tells them meaningful change is already underway.

That's what career foresight looks like.

It's one of the reasons I wrote Own Your Career.

And it's one of the reasons I coach the way I do today.

Because your career shouldn't be shaped solely by circumstances out of your control.

It should also be shaped by your willingness to recognize meaningful change while you still have choices.

A Question to Leave You With

What writing is already appearing on the wall in your industry?

Are you paying close enough attention to your customers, your profession, and the trends shaping your work to recognize the patterns beginning to emerge?

Those aren't questions to answer out of fear.

They're questions that help you build a career with intention, strengthen your judgment, and own your career before change begins making decisions for you.