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October 9, 2006 12:56 PM PDT
Newsmaker: Fiorina says board let emotion trump reason
See all Newsmakers- Related Stories
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Dunn, Fiorina lash out at HP board
October 8, 2006 -
Fiorina book: HP board was 'dysfunctional'
October 6, 2006 -
Fiorina steps down at HP
February 9, 2005
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In terms of the battle, is there anything, looking back, that you'd do differently, or did things go about as well as they could go?
Fiorina: Change always is resisted. When you have the kind of situation that we were dealing with--an inconic company, mythic founders, fear of what such a fundamental change would mean to the Valley and the company, the context of a very negative environment in which people were distrustful and pessimistic--of course there is going to be a battle. Of course it is going to be intense. I am proud that we fought that battle with honor. I am proud that we made the tough choice. And I am proud, now, to see Hewlett-Packard as the leader it should be because of those roads.
HP, especially prior to the leak scandal breaking, had been getting a lot of credit for its turnaround. Not all of that credit was being given in your direction. How much of the credit for HP's turnaround do you think you deserve?
Fiorina: First, it's not a turnaround. A company doesn't turn around in 12 months, it's not the nature of the beast. Hewlett-Packard is a company that has been transformed from where it was in 1999 to where it stands today. A large part of that transformation occurred on my watch.
I certainly do not deserve all the credit for what has happenned. But I do deserve my fair share.
How much of that work, and of that effort, do you think has been put in jeopardy by the leak scandal?
I think one of the reasons that the current events are very sad is because they distract employees. They impact the reputation of the company, and there is a board and management team that now have a substantial set of issues to deal with that is not about the performance of the company in the marketplace. It is about the ethics and the character of the company.
Do you see HP being able to handle it as a bump in the road, or do you think this is going to be a pretty significant negative event?
Fiorina: All companies are sometimes faced with issues of ethics, character, how things get done. I talk in my book a lot, as I did while I was at HP, that how things get done is as important as what gets done. When issues around character and conduct occur, real conversations have to take place about it. You can't brush it under the carpet. You can't pretend it didn't happen.
In the book, Michael Capellas comes in for a fair bit of criticism. I think that may surprise some people. Outwardly, it seemed like happy merger partners, complementary strengths. What was going on?
Fiorina: When you decide to write an authentic book about business, which was my goal, I decided I had to talk about my experiences as they really occurred and people as they really behaved. You can't walk away from it just because people happen to be well-known.
As I point out, early on in my career, I do not believe people should be abused by others in the business world. It's not consistent with treating people with respect and dignity. When that behavior becomes counterproductive, that's another tough choice that has to be made.
So the key issue--was it the way he was treating you or the way he was treating other employees?
Fiorina: I'm pretty tough, in the sense that how people treat me, as I think I illustrated in the book. Early on in my career, there was this lawyer who abused everyone around him, including me. He could yell and scream at me all day long.
That's not what finally caused me to take action. It was when he yelled and screamed at others who had no power. When someone in a position of power abuses those who are powerless, it has a double impact. I can stand up for myself. Others can't always.
When you look at the business world and gender in particular, what are the things you see that need to change in order to make things more equitable?
Fiorina: I think I have strived my whole career to play by the same rules. I think everyone should have an opportunity to play by the same rules. I don't believe that women should be given special treatment or an easier ride. I do believe they should be given the same treatment and judged by the same standards. And we still do not yet have a color-blind or a gender-blind world, and certainly, it's not yet the case in business.
How much of the problem is an early-education problem versus the way business works? Do we have enough women in science and business and technology?
Fiorina: If you just looked at the statistics, clearly, no. I think we are engaged in an evolutionary process, and it takes time, but maybe one of the conversations that this book motivates, I hope, is about business and how it operates.
I hope it will motivate a conversation about character. I hope it will motivate a conversation perhaps about board governance. I hope it will motivate a conversation around, "Why is it that we characterize and caricature women differently than men, and why is it that they play by different rules?"
In terms of the book, what is it most that you hope people will take away from it?
Fiorina: I hope they will say, if they are in business, "Gee, that is what it is really like." I hope people will get an appreciation for both the difficulty of change and the necessity of change. I hope people will step back and think about the importance of character and ethics. And I hope they will come to know me not simply as a caricature but as a person.
It sounds like the weeks after you left HP were particularly hard in that respect.
Fiorina: It was a shock, what happened. It happened very abruptly. It happened without conversation or explanation. I got beat up pretty bad out in the public space for many weeks thereafter. That's not a pleasant experience. Yeah, it was a tough time.
Do you think you are different, and if so, how, as a result of having gone through that experience?
Fiorina: I hope I am not different. I hope I am still a very optimistic person. I had things that I believed about human nature, both in its best form and its worst form, reinforced for me.
I think that in many ways, as I try and say in the epilogue, all the things that I have believed all my life and the toughest choices that I had to make at HP--those things have been validated and reconfirmed for me in the last 18 months. I said at the close of the book what I believe. I feel blessed. In many ways, this period of time for me has been a gift.
You mentioned that you haven't settled on what that next challenge is, but are you feeling pretty close to ready? Would you expect, in the next year or so, to be doing something new and different full-time?
Fiorina: I have been doing lots of new and different things for the last 18 months, and I feel pretty busy. I will make the decision when it is timely, and I think I will know when that is. And yes, I think it is probably sooner rather than later.
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16 comments
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yet, self-ordained gifts to corporate H-P non-success , Fiorina and
Dunn.
But I sure do find CNET typos very entertaining. Way-to-go CENT!
Oops, I mean CNET.
But then again, her information is past history anyway, so why is she indeed repeating all her mistakes , errors and poor options for all to see?
Perhaps the title should read "I did it the wrong way and learned nothing and went nowhere anyway!"
Fiorina: I think it is certainly something I would consider."
Carly said, "no American has a God given right to a job", as she was off shoring HP jobs as fast as she could. Remember this when you vote.
If the business world is that much against women, the explain Carol Bartz, Carly!
No, your arrogance and incompetence caused your removal. Your gal-pal Dunn is cut from the same cloth. The last thing young women need are role models that are stupid, vain, arrogant image-obsessed witches like you.
There are plenty of important woman CEOs around, the difference is they don't wear their sex on their sleeves or play the blame-game when they screw up.
GO AWAY!
That said, I assess Fiorina and Dunn were hosed, given up, used and tossed under the bus.
I've been in many a corporate board rooms, and just about every time I leave I feel like I need a shower and a priest, or both.
I have literally spun men around in their seats and looked at their backs... being asked by one man what I was looking for... I replied, "a dorsal fin!"
Beginning with Fiorina and through Dunn, HP started to show some life, and dare I say, some "Stones." It seems to me, that the "ink first and only" dolts on the board didn't much like the new direction and they started to undermine these two CEO's - leaks being only one tools used to bring them down.
In the Army, and in my company, we measure people by what they do - what they do is what they are.
I loved that about combat arms units - they were blind - to all but what a man was. I'd give a thick nickle to be able to share that ideal with the well dressed "gentlemen" of HP's board.
Fiorina may not wish to say it, so someone has to, she and Dunn were not treated fairly. Creepy little men do not know how to do that - they do not know how to fight, much less live by a code that places everything ahead of one's self.
Although I must admit, her mud-slinging, truth-twisting, responsibility-dodging ways should serve her well in her political career.
Cheerio, lady..... ;)
OK, are we reporting here, or doing some gender biased, 'self-promotionarial' charity work. I am not sure what made this correspondent try and eek this out but, 'value added sour grapes' I don't think so.
First of all we are not entertained by extending the voyueristic 'celebrity' watching as might be supposed and I find nothing redeeming in this article, sorry.
Secondly, she is just as responsible for supporting and escalating the shoddy, careless, punitively prosecutional vindictive culture of hp as any previous or current dictator.
Had she actually had the gumption or intestinal fortitude to provide a little credence that hp is rife with an out-of-control mindset, we could possibly begin to entertain the remote possiblity of her getting incidentally swept up or an oversight of negligence.
That's another nail in,... lol.
OK, are we reporting here, or doing some gender biased, 'self-promotionarial' charity work. I am not sure what made this correspondent try and eek this out but, 'value added sour grapes' I don't think so.
First of all we are not entertained by extending the voyueristic 'celebrity' watching as might be supposed and I find nothing redeeming in this article, sorry.
Secondly, she is just as responsible for supporting and escalating the shoddy, careless, punitively prosecutional vindictive culture of hp as any previous or current dictator.
Had she actually had the gumption or intestinal fortitude to provide a little credence that hp is rife with an out-of-control mindset, we could possibly begin to entertain the remote possiblity of her getting incidentally swept up or an oversight of negligence.
That's another nail in,... lol.
fleeced out of and enjoy her retirement?
Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com