[nylug-talk] Carly Fiorina?

[Ron Guerin]

Judd Maltin wrote:
> From MSNB: "Fiorina, who holds degrees in medieval history and
> philosophy, business administration and management, is a standout in
> liberal Silicon Valley for her Republican activism. She has taken heat
> for her outspoken advocacy of the offshoring of U.S. jobs to low-wage
> workers abroad."

Fiorina is mostly interesting because of her gender.  If she had been a
man, her failures wouldn't be all that notable in an era where we still
hadn't gotten Ken DeLay on trial.  As a woman, she rose to a position
which gives her continued relevance.  I can't say she's an example for
the daughters of America to aspire to, but given that being at the helm
of a major corporation while it lost its way isn't really all that
noteworthy, I suspect over time those who weren't directly affected by
what happened at HP will forget about that, and the record won't be too
hard on her.

I'll excerpt from Robert X. Cringely here:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060928.html

   In the summer of 2005 I was approached by HP to make a film
   for the dedication of the restored garage on Addison Avenue
   in Palo Alto where the company was founded back in 1939.
   Compiled mainly from library footage including high definition
   green screen interviews shot with Hewlett and Packard, the idea
   was to reinforce in the wake of Carly Fiorina's downfall as CEO
   that the HP Way was still fully in force, that the company was
   committed to excellence. Imagine something like the last 10
   minutes of The Natural, complete with the Randy Newman musical
   score.

   "Then you'll have to get the new guy (CEO Mark Hurd) to say
   that," I told the folks from HP. "You'll have to get him to
   appear in the film telling employees and customers that the
   company is returning to its core values."

   They wouldn't do it.

   The folks from HP charged with doing this film had no idea
   whether or not the new CEO (who was about to start firing
   thousands of people) actually embraced the HP Way. Nor were
   they going to risk asking him. All of which makes me wonder how
   deep has been the company's real commitment to these values.

The things *we* think Fiorina did wrong, does HP agree?  Fiorina's gone,
has anything changed?

- Ron