Then, in 1999, Carly Fiorina arrived. Hewlett-Packard, arguably, has never fully recovered.
Posted on 09/24/2015 6:22:06 AM PDT by jimbo123
It’s hard to overestimate the impact that two young Stanford graduates, working in a small wooden garage behind a brown shingled house in 1939, had on the world of high technology. Without David Packard and William Hewlett, there would probably be no Silicon Valley.
The pair were known not just for technical innovation and global success. They were accidental corporate chieftains who created an ethos of profitability, humility and collegiality that came to be known as “the HP Way.”
Their doors were not just always open; they didn’t even have doors. They enshrined the idea of “management by wandering.”
“Bill and Dave would talk to anyone,” said Jerry Cashman, who worked as HP’s Work/Life manager from 1983 to 1999. “They would plop themselves down and say, ‘How’s it going?’”
The next two CEOs, John A. Young and Lewis Platt, rose through the ranks and ran the company the same way. Then, in 1999, Carly Fiorina arrived. Hewlett-Packard, arguably, has never fully recovered.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
This is a lot like the hit piece they did on Obama’s career before ‘08, except that that piece didn’t exist.
FioRINO lost to Boxer in a landslide. FioRINO’s senate campaign failure is a simple roadmap for Hillary to defeat her again. But that is the GOPe plan, right?
I lost faith in HP when they sold off the Instrumentation Division (its founding bedrock technology) to Agilent (now Keysight). I’ve heard it was because there was more profitability in printers, and in inkjet printer ink. Probably the potential popularity of HP laptops and desktops also.
As an engineer, to me the greatest instrumentation advancement of the last century was HPs HP8510B vector network analyzer. It facilitated the development of numerous solid state devices that were installed in every weapons system platform made. For HP to give all this up for profit was unforgivable, IMO.
As an HP retiree I totally agree with this...
She’s one of those people that I kinda remember from my military days....someone who fills squares....has ambitions...zero-people skills....and doesn’t care if the operation is a success or failure...it’s all cosmetic in the end.
Just like with Cruz and Trump, the more the GOPe types frantically try to destroy her the more I like her.
Agreed. Obama had never done anything except piddle around in identity politics; heck, both he and his wife had even lost their licenses to practice law (he, because he lied on his application about ever having used another name).
I lived near the one of the most important HP offices and knew a lot of people who worked for them, and the unfortunate truth was that this “cozy” corporate culture had become completely dysfunctional, non-competitive, non-innovative, and served only to protect the mediocre. It was almost a “nail that sticks up must be pounded down” culture, where people who excelled were seen as threats.
The egalitarian tech company model it introduced still persists BUT now it is much more focused on results. In fact, it’s so competitive and demanding that many people don’t last in it that long. But now we’re seeing high levels of innovation and competition, which is what a good company is supposed to produce.
This article is really short on details. Okay, so she didn’t spend a lot of time talking to the rank-and-file and embellished on marketing. Big deal.
It’s pretty routine for the culture of tech companies to change, sometimes radically, in order to adapt and survive. You can argue with what Fiorina did, but no one really knows if HP would have survived if they had stayed the course. Back in the 1980s, HP was mostly known for their calculators and electrical bench equipment. It seems to be neither of those were growth areas. I have both HP computers and printers. They are okay, but not great. Still, they’re better than either Dell or (now defunct) Gateway.
And they are bitter as hell about it and her ex-employees are lined up from Sunnyvale to the outskirts of Pleasanton waiting to go on TV and swiftboat her.
Ditto that....
“For me the seminal moment was one day when I was coming to work, there was Carly and an exact duplicate of the HP garage, for a commercial taping,” Cashman said. “There were two guys working a crane, with a shade that was 40 feet by 80 feet, and I said, ‘What’s that for?’”
It was a shade for Fiorina, who narrated and starred in the commercial, to protect her eyes from the sun.
“I was flabbergasted,” Cashman said. “Our first value was profit, and here she was using all this money? I walked away in complete disgust. It was all marketing and no substance.”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
She is certainly in the right party. All ego and charade.
I HATE Hewlett Packard because of their printers. Sure, the printers work fine, but when it comes time to refill the ink, those #$%@&^@ bastards try to force me to buy their small quantity and way over priced ink cartridges, and they won't let you replace just one. Nope, when one of them goes dry, the machine will not function until you have replaced *ALL* the ink cartridges.
I bought a refill from Office Depot, and when I tried to put it in the machine, the machine refused to allow it to be used.
I have never used that printer/copier/fax machine again. I almost smashed it to pieces with a sledgehammer and was seriously thinking of mailing it back to Hewlett Packard with an explanation as to why I would never buy another one of their products again.
Their tactics are coercive, and that is exactly how you get on the wrong side of me. This notion that you are going to force me to do something just because it makes you money tells me you aren't my friend, you aren't my ally, you are someone who is trying to put a little piece of slavery on me.
For what it's worth, I also hate Microsoft, and I see now the bastards are trying to FORCE me to upgrade to Windows 10. I think it's about time I started switching my systems over to Linux.
Oh, and by the way, my Uncle was once an engineer who worked for Hewlett Packard. They have really gone into the toilet as far as i'm concerned.
{This is a lot like the hit piece they did on Obama’s career before ‘08, except that that piece didn’t exist.}
So true. He so richly deserved it.
But she does too and at least we get this one.
I couldn't believe it when HP dumped instrumentation. To me, that was their raison d'être. HP without instrumentation became just another tech company and utterly forgettable.
Were you in Engineering? What years were you there? I'm wondering if you might have known my Uncle.
“Just like with Cruz and Trump, the more the GOPe types frantically try to destroy her the more I like her.”
Carly’s a Trojan GOPe plant. She’s the very antithesis of a conservative and is in it JUST for herself, her power trip, and her ego trip. Carly is basically a Republican version of Hillary, only without an email server.
The woman is reprehensible and a proven, serial loser. Essentially everything she touches turns to schit.
When I worked across the street at Varian Thin Film Systems back in the early 90s, the Original Garage was still standing, so she could have used the “real one” for free.
“Just like with Cruz and Trump, the more the GOPe types frantically try to destroy her the more I like her.”
You’ve got that wrong. The GOPe’s are the ones trying to help carry her to the top.
She was part of the McCain campaign. That should tell you who her supporters are.
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