A note that there are also some employees (I've talked to some) that hold that HP was in serious trouble by the time Fiorina took the helm and that she was doing the Board's bidding.
It could be. But Fiorina was at the helm when HP hit the rocks, the same as when she was at Lucent, so just like the manager of two losing ball clubs she gets tarred with the disasters.
You’ll run across HP alumni who have contempt for the way she had an entourage accompany her when she ran HP. They call her “Rock Star Carly’ IIRC, and they don’t mean that in a happy fashion.