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Perfect Enough (Carly Fiorina and the reinvention of Hewlett Packard), by George Anders.
From Issue Three of our newsletter.
A very accessible book, well written and sometimes exciting! It tells the story of HP from the creation of the company by Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett and its growth into ‘the best outfit on earth’.
We are taken through many of the challenges and pressures faced by HP, causing them to address the fundamentals of the way they did business, and finally, the fight to merge with Compaq last year. All the information has been gathered through personal interviews with all the principal characters in the book including Walter Hewlett and Carly Fiorina.
George Anders gives a penetrating insight into the culture that the founders established, which, through their ‘people oriented’ management style, created enormous loyalty from employees, shareholders and customers alike. This made Carly Fiorina’s appointment as CEO more difficult – she wanted to change the company to make it more profitable and competitive in a changing world. The merger with Compaq, the challenge to the time honoured loyalties, the behaviour of Walter Hewlett and others all make a fascinating story.
One can only admire Carly Fiorina for her determination, guts and vision. She has fought tough battles and won many of them; however, she is not superwoman and HP’s fight for position in the marketplace continues.