"Ding dong the witch is dead, the wicked old witch...."
Carly was officially fired by the Board of Directors and it was annouced today 02/09/2005. So I guess she is now "OLD" news.....

Amen, Woody... ///I am just amazed at the people who actually believe the hype about Carly being such a great leader. From what I have witnessed she is more of a show piece and not a real leader. Sometimes I wonder if the BOD brought her in just to give a new face to HP. People use to say that HP wasn't keeping up with the times and was becoming old. What a price to pay for Corporate face-lift !!!!///

she's a great speaker, wonderful presenter, and lousy CEO/COO. put her on the podium for your company [please!], but don't ever let her have a hand in decision-making or, god forbid, anything to do with motivating employees to make a company more successful.

"growth through downsizing" is my take on her...
maybe i should change that to "growth through attrition"?

+af

Carly is running HP into the ground. Who needs to worry about Dell. She bought Compaq, and now we regret it. Face it HP she is no good!

Does anybody have the full Fortune article availabe for download ?

re: "quincentvg commented on 28 January 2005:"

amen! Ann's Services group has no idea how to create or keep business. and there are lots of bright people still at hp [and a lot who are no longer at hp] who could still / could have explained it to her, if there were anyone there who could listen. from the top down, there are not, and that's the real shame, imnsho... :)
+af

An earlier post read "HP has grown better than Dell using GAAP numbers, and better than IBM using any type of numbers."

Sales or other accounting numbers are however irrelevant. What really matters is value to shareholders (which is determined by the market's perception of future profit performance). One can buy Sales by acquiring companies (for example Compaq), however to create shareholder value one needs to create profits.

So let's take a look at HP's share value performance relative to IBM and the Dow:
Jan 2000 to Jan 2005: HP -60%, IBM -15%, Dow -5%
Jan 2003 to Jan 2005: HP +5%, IBM +20%, Dow +30%

Clearly if HP was told that the above would be the future they would not have hired Fiorina. By this objective standard she has clearly failed in her job.

I can't speak to the PC or Printer side of HP, but I can speak to the medium to large server business. Any company that lives by a sales motto of "We don't have to retain customers, they'll be back in the future" is not going to do very well. Our company and others have brought many ready-made sales that were going to be quite profitable for both HP and us, only to have the HP managment tell the sales person to either take the sale "in-house" or up the margin. In both cases the sale usually ended up going to another company. When we took this up with "upper managment" (i.e. Senior VP) at a hardware conference the above quote was his final take on the whole affair. When customers for large machines go to another company and begin to grow a system on that hardware they are very unlikely to ever change horses in the future, particularly if large sums of money are invested in software development.

I have to admit I found it funny when Compaq and HP merged, Compaq was already struggling and failing miserbly, HP was doing well and only needed some minor adjustments to do better. The two merge and everyone expects it to be phenominal. Are you kidding? With all the products they had in common and no desire to bite the bullet, how were they going to generate enough revenue to maintain concurrent product lines. Were people loyal to the Journada going to buy the IPAQ if they hadn't done so before? Were companies who purchased DEC going to suddenly change over to HP-UX? At the same time how were you going to draw new customers to any of these product lines if they were identical to another of you lines?

I am just amazed at the people who actually believe the hype about Carly being such a great leader. From what I have witnessed she is more of a show piece and not a real leader. Sometimes I wonder if the BOD brought her in just to give a new face to HP. People use to say that HP wasn't keeping up with the times and was becoming old. What a price to pay for Corporate face-lift !!!!

HP still has a great set of smart people, and great technology and supply chain assets. The Enterprise Direct selling organization has FINALLY, with the departure of Peter Blackmore, embraced the urgent need perform more effectively (by selling the value, not just the Intel-based, portfolio.) The pure tragedy in all this is that these get better processes could have started a year earlier. Does it take a bad quarter to have the excuse to fire an executive? I thought we were all employed "at will." Ooops, that's just the peons. The Carly's and EVP's of HP have contracts and even if they are fired make out like bandits.

The issues in HP are most serious in Technology Systems. Unfortunately, the leadership team here is from the totally uncreative Services side of the business. this is mainly a Support business, which is pure drag from the hardware business. These are not product generating, visionary leaders. Carly, while aggressive in her directives and "aspire planning" is really quite wimpy in managing her staff. Therefore she doesn't trust them, requiring every major operational initiative to have to waste time being trucked up to her. Her lack of patience for processes, and lack of instinct in understanding how large organizations work as a living breathing entity are disheartening to see.

The quarterly leadership briefings have become nerve-wrackingly quiet when it comes to question and answer. Nobody dares ask a controversial or threatening question for fear of being labeled "weak."

Just not an inspiring role model.

thank you all for saying that! all of you! if there's any hope for hp, it'll come from the BOD tossing her out. if they had any cojones at all, they'd buy enough lawyers to undo any golden handshakes, too.

indeed, she HAS nearly destroyed an American business icon, virtually single-handedly. how? first, by believing that she and only she knows what's right, or the truth. that ain't the case.

second, by not firing several hundred VERY ineffective and wrong-headed upper and middle-managers from the very get-go. she kept and fertilized the cancers that started taking hp down a decade or two before she even arrived.

"Carly is very, very aggressive in how she sets her goals, and she doesn't like to hear 'no'. I think people try to tell her about the problems, but you don't get anywhere. That kind of percolates its way down to the rest of the company and is sort of a disease."

google that quote......

and to the rose-colored-glasses-wearing contributors to this thread, no, she won't read any emails you send. they're very effectively filtered by her "loyal" staff, making sure that the above quote isn't threatened.

i'd sent her emails, internally, for several years before i retired from hp in '02. for one, two levels of management asked [told] me to cease and desist, and when i accused one of CF's top managers of blowing smoke up her.... [you know what]... the Finance Guy of one of the managers i'd mentioned took me behind the woodshed for about a half hour. the Guy Himself didn't have the "time?" [cojones...] to do it himself. and his finance guy was squirming in his seat either because he had a huge case of hemhorroids or he knew i was telling the truth and he had to put up a good show.

all i believe is that hp didn't need to decay as it has, and that the "worker-bees" HAVE been trying to keep the ship afloat and headed in good directions, DESPITE all of the horrible things they've been made to do by middle and upper management. because of the lousy tech job market, most would rather stay than try to find a better job [even a tattered security blanket feels better than the potential for none at all...], and so many people have described the atmosphere inside hp as one of abject fear, that it practically makes me cry.

what hp could have been, without her and the lousy managers..... there will be hundreds of HBR case studies done in the coming decades, about the decay.

i just with i could be part of the recovery team.

+af
www.plusaf.com

...///Carly's gone///...

If it's for real, it's about time. Perhaps we'll finally see most of the cr*p brought over from the acquisition disappear. It would be refreshing to see HP conduct business again as HP instead of Czarly's Comcr*p Company.

Perhaps now the focus will be on products with some margins versus commodities and Dell.

||||yeah 5 writes: Her time is up. She's destroying an American icon through inability to execute a sound strategy||||

She makes $20,000,000 a year, has another $5,000,000 in jet costs, entourage, etc. picked up by HP, and is required to do nothing.

Who would ever leave a gig like that?

According to this guy at MSN, one of his 12 predictions for '05 is that the board will oust Carly and replace her with a former Dell exec. The new team pares down the production and distribution infrastructure, revamps sales and marketing and produces a comeback in just 6 quarters. The idea that the change is working catches investores by surprise, and the stock becomes a leading name in the Dow for '05. Carly's gone.

Buying Compaq hasn't paid off for Hewlett-Packard's investors. Not by a long shot.

did the famed merger that Fiorina engineered between HP and Compaq produce value for HP's shareholders? Second, with that merger nearly three years past, is HP in shape to thrive in its brutally competitive world?

///Fiorina's potential near term departure opens up many possibilities. Based on her performance to date, it could be a messy, expensive affair if the Board tries to force her out///

Her time is up. She's destroying an American icon through inability to execute a sound strategy

In my opinion, it is only a short time before she is out of there. The news is beginning to leak out, and I would bet there are serious negotiations going on right now as to what her golden parachute will be. Of course, it will have to look as if she is doing the departing on her terms and not being pushed out the door.

I would expect the news within a few weeks if not sooner.

I believe CF has done damage that can't be repaired, like the Compaq mess and the destruction of the old HP.

As for paying to get rid of her, even $300 million should be considered a bargain. She's already cost far more than that. It's galling of course, because much apart from receiving anything, she ought to be shelling out.

Investors dislike risk and uncertainty. Fiorina's potential near term departure opens up many possibilities. Based on her performance to date, it could be a messy, expensive affair if the Board tries to force her out. A more reasonable person would have understood that she had alientated employees, investors and customers earlier, and left instead of raiding the treasury and bribing bankers to force the merger thru. If this turns in to another dog fight, the stock will suffer.

We also don't know who the Board will recommend as a replacement. Currently they don't have much credibility. They hired Fiorina and allowed her to stay years past when it was clear she was failing

Investors dislike risk and uncertainty. Fiorina's potential near term departure opens up many possibilities. Based on her performance to date, it could be a messy, expensive affair if the Board tries to force her out. A more reasonable person would have understood that she had alientated employees, investors and customers earlier, and left instead of raiding the treasury and bribing bankers to force the merger thru. If this turns in to another dog fight, the stock will suffer.

We also don't know who the Board will recommend as a replacement. Currently they don't have much credibility. They hired Fiorina and allowed her to stay years past when it was clear she was failing

Red Herring is saying Carly's the modern face of HP,adding: "But sources say that her hands-on approach is frustrating subordinates and creating a bottleneck around thats hampering the companys ability to respond quickly to market changes. According to some HP watchers, Ms. Fiorina is a brilliant strategist but not much of a people person. She does not seem to have confidence in her team, says one source."

These media articles are starting to smell like Wall Street is trying to shake HP stock out of weak hands. Everyone wants positive changes to happen at HP, but there's no way the media is going to drum Carly out of the CEO's job. Only bad earnings/revenue guidance can do that. And, if she does leave, the stock will most certainly rise several points.

The biggest problem isn't that earnings have been so bad; it's that they could have been so much better with solid execution. It like Michael Jordan scoring 15 points on game in the NBA; great for a journeyman player, not so good for MJ.

There was an article a few days back about HP settling a lawsuit with some company that was going to cost them a few cents/share on this quarters announcement, not sure how that will affect analysts opinions of results.

Everyone should email Carly with your thoughts and opinions. I guarantee her executive secretary or head of security will get the messages. Some will probally be read by Queen Carly herself. ([email protected])

I lost my job too, now I have a better one, but I will never buy an HP product untill this cold hearted woman leaves the company.

I can not accept her ruining the company with her lies, destroying jobs but at the same making lots of money for herself and her family and leaving a lot of fantastic people in the street

As a former 29 year 4 month employee of HP (dumped by Carly w/ 16,000 others), I find her lousy tenure at HP partly the fault of the financial press not being on her case more. Also, the BOD has been asleep at the wheel. Your article makes a lot of sense and more needs to be written about how she has ruined a once admired company and created no shareholder value since her hire. How can a company be efficient when every employee has their morale squashed?

###The Challenge: How Does a Company Succeed in Enterprise IT, Personal Computing, Peripherals, and New Technologies Simultaneously?###

It doesn't!

Even Business Week, which hasn't given CF a pass post-merger, thinks the merger was OK. But BW also believes that she must develop consistency in reported earnings and improve margins in the commodity businesses. The board "rumor" (sounds pretty strong to me) being leaked is not really in the interest of shareholders. The board should either issue the result of its deliberations or keep quiet, not have leaks which might give advantage to those closer to the kitchen, assuming the latest leak really came from the BoD (which might not have been the case).

I used to work there. It ain't the same HP since "that woman" took over. It's just another high tech company competing in the marketplace that uses and misuses its workers like all the rest. Carly is best CEO ever...for DELL, IBM and SUN.

HP is the most successful most envied company out there in nearly every market they enter. Look at the innovation and leadership in printers, high end computers, iPaq handhelds, and digital cameras.

Now the so-called leaders like Dell and others are trying to enter these markets with me-too emulations on a bargain basement price proposition.

Could it just be that HP as a leader is being unjustifiably criticized but justifiably copied, and those following HP's footsteps should be examined for why they must look to HP for thought and product and solutions leadership? Its competitors speak one way and emulate another.

Interestingly this HP leadership will come to the forefront of public awareness as consumer digital imaging cameras, HDTV, entertainment enters into leadership. Then the talking heads will begin to recognize HP's greatness as well.

And critics will question HP's followers and why they can't "invent" like HP and other TRUE LEADERS.

HP has grown better than Dell using GAAP numbers, and better than IBM using any type of numbers.

HP's annual meeting is coming up soon.

Send a message - vote no for all directors.

Fortune has published a Carly-negative piece:
"Hewlett-Packard: Why Carly's Big Bet Is Failing"

Then late last night the Wall St Journal published another Carly-negative piece:
"Carly Fiorina Fails At Hewlett-Packard After Betting Badly"

Now SYS-CON Media...what's going on here? A media conspiracy?