Sunday, October 8, 2006

The Troubles at HP

Lesley Stahl's exclusive interviews with former Hewlett-Packard Chairman Patricia Dunn and Carly Fiorina, the former HP CEO.

The Troubles at HP
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Take 'em out

Speaking at a luncheon for international businesswomen, Fiorina warns them about the hard choices a boss must make >> Watch Clip

Comments

Sound off on this segment. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

1
Unbelievable re-write of history at HP. Very much like George Bush, Carly can't admit to any mistakes or not seeing a showdown with the board over her poor performance as a CEO. It was very clear to those of us inside of HP that we were on a sinking ship. the merger was a disaster with poor integration and the choosing of poor leadership because they were not from the HP side of the house. Carly was certainly a vindictive ruler, who spend more time promoting herself then she did running our company. HP may have been stogey, but it has been and now is again, a highly successful company. We earned our first losing quarter in all HP history under Carly's watch. She tried to dismantle the HP Way, a tried and true philosophy and replace it with "my way or the highway." It is quite obivious now that the company is significantly better off without her and we are being restored to the successful company were have always been under the leadership of Mark Hurd. It was Carly who created the disfunctional board that led to the ridculous investigation that has recently tainted the company's reputation for the strongest ethics in the industry. One important fact she failes to mention is that Tom perkins was not even an HP Board member when she imploded and was fired for poor performance, We all know the reason, she just can't or won't face it. I guess the "poor little rich girl" personna she know displays may sell a lot of books. I'll pick one up at the Goodwill in about 6 months.
Posted by jspector106 on Sun, Oct 8, 2006 9:42 PM ET
2
I just watched the end segment of 60 minutes, and before I even saw that piece, I felt that Carly Fiorina was special and competant. I also know that there are always 2 sides or even more to a story. Yes she admits her projections were way off, and a may not have been as competant to some at hp's good old boys board. But someone saw fit to screen and voted her in as a special person with a track record. As a business owner myself in technology, we use and believe in hp/compaq products. I am a strong man who is secure who I am as a man, but it was evil, dirty, biosed, the way she was treated upon inheriting this merger, responsibility, even before it really got going good. I support women in leadership, who are competent, qualified, have good ethics, morals, and yes are not perfect. She can definetly be on my board of directors anytime. And as far as these new investigations, lies, deceits that are coming out of hp, it all comes out in the wash as they say. Good luck Carly, and I hope that Patricia Dunn is truthful as well as Mark Hurd. But you only have to tell the truth the same way you don't have to fix it up. muchgold6
Posted by muchgold6 on Sun, Oct 8, 2006 10:22 PM ET
3
hello humans.people man and women! Did anybody die bcuz of this? life goes on! the company still up and running tha's all the matters stop the gossip stop the hating she's allready out of there tha's what you employees wanted and you got it. now let it go... May God Bless The Hole World
Posted by elxxquestxx on Mon, Oct 9, 2006 12:01 AM ET
4
I think that the U.S.A or human are a cold blood people. It's o.k for George W. Bush to send the U.S.A. to war but it not o.k for a woman to make a mistake. This is a company if McDonald's lost money they would have fix the problem and move on. Stop giving this woman so much pain, beside whart about Enron , did the get this type of media time no why because they are me. P.S. the woman has enough on her plate with cancer so JUST LEAVE HER ALONE.
Posted by brooksdavid18 on Mon, Oct 9, 2006 12:35 AM ET
5
Carly really equivocated when she claimed all that profit and cash flow growth. She failed to mention that the profit and cash flow came from the Compaq acquisition. Growth from an acquisition is not the same as organic growth. It is no proof of operational acumen. And it can be very damaging when it dilutes earning per share of stock when you issue your own equity to acquire the new company. Carly is disingenuous and anyone with simple knowledge of accounting can see through her prevarications. No sane board will hire her as a CEO again. She is all smoke and mirrors. And clearly a self promoter too. BTW, notice how she wouldn't touch the Patricia Dunn question. No doubt Carly is loving Dunn's current fiasco.
Posted by jgalliancecgcom on Mon, Oct 9, 2006 12:52 AM ET
6
I think it's rather unkind not to talk of churlish, to condemn Carly for refusing to take on questions concerning Dunn. First of all what do you want her to say? In a matter that is subjudice? Whatever her failings were as a CEO, she would stand guilty of even a greater crime if she came out and spoke to the detriment of Dunn and be seen as sly and dishonest if she spoke in her favour. In a normal environment she would be congratulated for neither heaping disrespect on the current CEO as everyone else seems to be doing, and for refusing to declaim on a matter in the courts. It is almost as if she is being goaded to enter the fray. Lest we forget what the issues at stake are: a company, one of the biggest in the world, is alleged to have willfully and knowingly violated one of the bedrocks of ethics on which democratic institutions and free enterprise intercross. And it is the notion that free speech is ancilliary to the protection of the investments which honest citizens everywhere make with their hard earned money.
Posted by objk2001 on Mon, Oct 9, 2006 2:08 AM ET
7
To Brooksdavid18 -- Your generalization of the American people makes me want to vomit. Because we happen to, at the moment, have a very unpopular president and this write up on Carly triggers opinions both ways, does not equate to "USA or human are a cold blood people". The beauty of America is that we are allowed to have these opinions and we are allowed to publicly discuss them. I am living in Europe for my fifth year now and am counting the days to get back to my country, the good 'ole U.S. of A!! Living abroad has made me more proud than ever to be an American. You are not only wrong, but dead wrong about my people. I've learned by living outside of America and amongst other cultures that these blasphemous statements made about Americans by non-Americans stems from ugly jealousy -- much like the ugly attacks on Carly Fiorina. Jealousy -- pure jealousy. Do good and be good and you'll never lose.
Posted by jrdkl on Mon, Oct 9, 2006 2:30 AM ET
8
Greed at the top will erode all ethics..
Posted by hpfreds on Mon, Oct 9, 2006 2:36 AM ET
9
HP is the worst company that I have worked for because of its lies, control, and brainwash (I left before Carly). The HP way is an integrity cover to sucker employees to stay (when the compensation is worse, they say you are family) and customers to buy (when to quality is worse, they say you get a trusted brand). Carly and Dunn are products of HP - the current, twisted HP way doesn't like to promote from within, so they get flashy, self-promoting, controlling leaders. HP also has sexual discrimination against men - our team and other teams of engineers were forced to hire female engineers who did not pass the technical interviews. That is why they get Carly and Dunn when there are tons of better candidates.
Posted by ourbber on Mon, Oct 9, 2006 2:47 AM ET
10
I don't know the rest of their stories to be able to judge either one of them. But I feel sad for these 2 women in power who failed while on the top. Some male CEOs failed too but did not get as much attention like these 2 did. As a woman, I can't help but feel sad for these two. I think the corporate playing field is still not fair for women in the top. A lot of male CEOs are also playing with numbers and yet they get away with it. So much for the male-dominated corporate world.
Posted by mguilatc on Mon, Oct 9, 2006 3:26 AM ET
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