January 9, 2007

The editor of Pioneers of Soviet Computing attended a reception for Carly Fiorina, former Chairwoman and CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP) Corporation. This event was sponsored by the Harvard and Wharton Business School Clubs of Washington, DC, and the City Club of Washington, DC. As everyone in the Information Technology industry knows, Carly has been in the world news headlines for several years: Fortune magazine once named her the most powerful woman in business. Her leadership tactics, gender, stylish appearance, and controversial firing by HP’s Board of Directors have all been the subject of much public discussion and query. Now the headlines are about her new book, Tough Choices: A Memoir.

Tough Choices is good reading. If you haven’t read it, go out and buy it. Not only is Carly’s own life’s story an unusual and interesting one, but her experience in the male-dominated communications business scene is an eye-opener. My favorite among her personal stories was her recollection of following her supervisor from AT&T Corp. into a Washington, DC strip club in order to complete a project with clients. And of course she spoke at length of her later and more well known experience, both good and bad, at HP.

Besides talking about her book she shared her view on the future of the PC business in America, predicting that HP will make it because they have further diversified their product lines since her departure. Yet Dell Computer Corp. – according to Carly - may not last, since they do only one thing.

Carly talked more generally about leadership, and change, and how organizations that refuse to change with the times run into trouble: those in power often don’t want their comfortable organizational structure shaken up. Change is always painful, but is necessary – along with continuous innovation - for an organization to survive.

HP is doing well now: its stock was around $42.00 per share in early January, 2007. Possibly Carly was responsible for HP’s turnaround, and possibly not. But her views on business in the 21st century are refreshing for sure.