Telecom boom: Joining movement by default

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2007 | by Kevin Maney

Q: How did you end up running Corning's fiber-optic business during the telecom boom?

A: I got a call that they wanted me to go to work in optical fiber, and I had absolutely no interest whatsoever in doing that. So I turned that job down as I turned down almost every promotion I'd ever been offered. So I was politely brought in to the person running the (fiber business then), who pointed out to me that he was just being polite asking me whether or not I wanted to do this -- and that I was going to go into fiber.

Q: That was 1992?

A: Yes, quite awhile before it actually took off. Then the telecommunications boom (in the late-1990s) was quite something. What was happening made perfect sense. We were all part of the new economy and the new math, and...