What of your boss’s words will be remembered?

Will your boss be remembered in his or her own words? And what words will those be? Robert Allen worked for AT&T for 40 years, many of them as CEO. His New York Times obit contained only one quote, written in a message to employees when AT&T laid off 40,000 of them in 1996: “Restructuring to get to a strong future does unfortunately require force reductions. I’m not immune to the emotions they engender. I’m deeply saddened by the pain and loss this is causing some of our people and their families. But in the end, concern isn’t enough.”

Ugh. —DM