What Should Leaders Say About ‘Noise’ Outside the Company?

When AT&T CEO John Stankey announced last month that he was moving the telecom’s headquarters, he addressed the thousands of employees who would trek from downtown Dallas to a suburb about 45 minutes away.

“I am sure this news triggers many questions and natural curiosity for nearly everyone,” he wrote. “I am also sure that it will trigger speculation and editorial narrative by those outside the company. I’d ask for patience in getting the answers to your questions and suggest you ignore speculation from uninformed ‘sources’ who are not participating in this work.”

Stankey acknowledges that employee will have questions, but he makes an unrealistic request that they pay no attention to information from outside the company. Most workers simply will not go along, much to the frustration of many chief executives, who wish that their employees worked in a giant soundproof booth.

The better practice is to clearly ask employees to quickly bring media reports, social media posts and rumors to the attention of leaders and managers. That might ease some of employees’ worries even as it forces leaders to share more information than they’re comfortable doing. It also creates a valuable channel of information about what employees are thinking.

“When it comes to communications, too many CEOs live in a bubble,” Jim Ylisela, senior partner with Ragan Consulting Group, has written.

Just as important, when addressing information from outside of the company, such as news media reports, it’s crucial that the statement be consistent with what employees have been told.

To demonstrate the point, let’s take a close look at AT&T’s planned move from downtown Dallas to Plano, Texas, about 25 miles away.

The move
Big facility moves, whether offices, factories or warehouses, are usually stressful for employees. This move comes at what is probably an especially unsettled time for many AT&T employees.

The third-largest mobile phone provider in the U.S. began reducing office space nationwide in 2023, when it had 160,700 workers, which dropped by 7% in 2024. In January 2025, employees were ordered back to the office full-time, a move that prompted Bloomberg to question if the edict was intended to push employees to quit rather than return to the workplace full-time.

AT&T is moving to a 54-acre site in Plano where it plans to build a horizontal, suburban-style campus. The move is a key part of Stankey’s plan to change the culture of the company that he announced in a heartfelt but poorly written memo he issued in August.

The company is leaving several downtown buildings, including a 37-story tower named after a former chief executive. The company has been headquartered in the building since 2008, when it moved from San Antonio.

About 6,000 AT&T employees worked downtown in 2022, according to an estimate. About half of those employees will have shorter commutes, but half will have longer trips after the move to the suburbs, which is planned to begin in 2028.

Downtown Dallas
Despite the change in commutes, some AT&T employees may welcome the move. Like some downtowns nationwide, the area around AT&T’s headquarters has struggled with crime and visible homelessness.

In February 2025, a report by Boston Consulting Group about public safety in downtown Dallas warned that AT&T “would consider relocating” if those issues were not addressed. The consulting firm didn’t cite a source for the warning but did interview an AT&T representative of the company in its study.

The report didn’t receive much news coverage at the time that I could find. It surely caught the attention of many AT&T employees, at least through word of mouth. At about that time, the company began reviewing its options in the market.

Breaking news
In late August, The Dallas Business Journal broke the news that AT&T had toured sites in the suburbs north of the city, including the site in Plano that the company ultimately chose.

“We don’t comment on rumors,” a company spokesperson said.

With that story, AT&T began a tactic of dismissing stories on the search as rumors, speculation or both. Here’s a sample:

• In mid-September, after an event that featured Stankey, The Dallas Morning News said, “An AT&T spokesperson present at Friday’s event refused to answer questions regarding the search, saying the Fortune 500 company doesn’t address rumors or speculation.”
• In another story in late October, The Morning News said, “AT&T representatives have not addressed the search, saying the firm doesn’t comment on speculation.”
• On Dec. 28, 2025, The Wall Street Journal said, “AT&T declined to comment on its plans, saying discussion of its potential departure was ‘based on rumors and speculation.’”  Nine days later the company announced the move.

We don’t know what AT&T leaders told employees after the Boston Consulting report or after the media reports.  Did executives say that questions about the move were just rumors and speculation? Or if they provided basic information about the search, did employees wonder why the leaders were discrediting the media reports?

Stankey has thought about how much information to share with employees — and when.

During a Dec. 9, 2025, event sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, he talked about his August culture memo and the attitudes of employees, including AT&T’s.

There is a “general mistrust of institutions” which includes corporations and the news media.

“My belief of how you have to navigate this trust dynamic is: You have to be very transparent,” he said. “You can’t astroturf anybody and over the long haul build trust.”

The success of AT&T’s move depends on Stankey building genuine grassroots support. Changing the company’s culture depends on it too.

Tom Corfman, a senior consultant with Ragan Consulting Group, is a long-time AT&T customer who gave up his landline — last year. Want to learn more about how we can help your communications, internal and external? Email Tom to set up a free call with Tom and RCG partner Jim Ylisela.

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