BT’s CEO is bringing football logic to Britain’s digital future
For most of us, telecommunications infrastructure is largely invisible—only noticed when something goes wrong and we lose Wi-Fi or phone signal. Allison Kirkby wants to change that. As CEO of BT, the Most Powerful Women honoree is overseeing one of the biggest infrastructure transformations in the U.K., from fiber expansion to the country’s shift away from legacy landlines. But she is also trying to make a deeply technical business feel culturally relevant again. This ambition is what lies behind BT’s growing number of major sporting partnerships, most recently with UEFA. For Kirkby, these flagship moments that bring together millions of people are more than simple branding exercises; they are live demonstrations of the power and reliability of the digital networks underpinning modern life. 66Allison Kirkby’s rank on Most Powerful Women “We’ve always been the connectivity providers,” she says. “From the 2012 Olympics to the Queen’s funeral—these are big events that unite the nation. It’s a great way to show people: ‘if an organization like UEFA trusts them to run safe, secure, resilient connectivity for these massive events, then I trust them as well.’” “We need more strikers” And elite sports have more to offer than lucrative partnerships, they also provide apt metaphors for business performance. “I think of great sports outfits both from an individual player point of view and from a team capability point,” she says. In BT’s case, the “individual players” are the company’s four brands: BT, EE, Plusnet and Openreach. As CEO, she must operate like a football manager, deciding where the team needs greater investment and where to pull back. (When I joke that she is the Gareth Southgate of telecoms, Glasgow-born Kirkby replies that she sees herself more as an Alex Ferguson). “You can’t evolve technologically and take advantage of the growth potential of AI if you don’t have a brilliant digital backbone”Allison Kirkby, CEO of BT “In recent years, we’ve probab