Fiorina: Board intrigue familiar - Fired chief executive at HP describes 'veil of dysfunction'

AP ^ | 10/9/6 | Benjamin Pimentel

[SmithL]

Former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina said Monday that she was stunned and saddened by the spying scandal engulfing her former company, noting the fiasco highlighted the "boardroom dysfunction" that led to her ouster.

[Tech Talk Podcast - Former CEO Carly Fiorina talks about HP's scandal, the corporate glass ceiling for women, and fake testicles.]

Fiorina, 52, who was fired by the HP board in early 2005, is promoting her new memoir, "Tough Choices," which recalls her colorful but controversial career as a high-profile Silicon Valley executive.

Her book was published this week, at a time when the Palo Alto technology giant is reeling from an embarrassing scandal that led to the filing of criminal charges against ex-HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn and four other people involved in the company's disastrous probe of boardroom leaks.

"I was shocked on the one hand, sad, and in some ways it lifted a little bit the veil of dysfunction in the boardroom," she said in a phone interview with The Chronicle. "Clearly that was part of (the reasons for) my departure from HP. ... I think it's an example of people becoming overwhelmed by their own issues and their own agendas and losing track of the big picture, (of) what's in the best interest of the company."

The scandal erupted after an HP team assigned to investigate boardroom leaks to journalists was found to have used false identities and other questionable tactics to obtain personal information of directors, employees and reporters.

"Some members of the board were uncomfortable with my focus on what was acceptable behavior inside the boardroom," Fiorina said in the interview.

In her book, Fiorina says her own battle with boardroom leaks was a big factor in her ouster.

[SmithL]

Poor Carly certainly understood the concept of at-will employment when she was doing the laying-off. But when she was on the receiving end, all of a sudden, it became too confusing.

[raj bhatia]

She is pretty imcompetent technically. She tried to "motivate" the tech folks by using Amway seminar like meetings. She was a laughing stock atleast among the techies.

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

Seems like when a board member is much more interested in sailing around the Caribbean in a $100 million sailboat (can you say extreme excess and self centered behavior), than really caring about a company's health and welfare, can you say barnacles attached to the hull.

[upchuck]

Carly damned near destroyed HP. Same with Lucent. Seems like everything she touches turns to sh!t. I wonder how her book will do?

[florida one]

Look at the stock price when Tom Perkins forced Fiorina out, and look at the stock price today. I'd say he earned his boat trip.