Posted on 09/14/2013 11:54:34 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Raj Mathai sits down for a rare one-on-one interview with former HP CEO Carly Fiorina.
Carly Fiorina's been out of the spotlight for nearly three years, after losing a hard-fought U.S. Senate race to longtime Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer.
So what's the former Hewlett-Packard CEO doing these days?
"I'm not doing any one thing full-time, and that's the biggest difference," Fiorina said. "I remain engaged politically, but I'm at the stage in my life now where I choose the things I can do and that's a wonderful place to be."
These days, Fiorina splits her time between Sausalito and Virginia. But don't mistake that for a life of leisure. She's chairman of the non-profit organization Good360.
"We are the largest product donation marketplace in the world," Fiorina said. "We help companies take excess inventory and then distribute that excess inventory to 37,000 vetted charities around this country."
As the first female CEO of a Fortune 20 company, she says, even all these years later, female business leaders like Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Facebook Executive Sheryl Sandberg still don't always get a fair shake.
"Despite all the progress we've made, it's still true that only 16 percent of board members are women. That number hasn't budged in 20 years," Fiorina said. "We have a long way to go, and yes, it is true that for women it's still different. The criticism is different. The scrutiny is different. The commentary is different, and so if you're a woman in leadership, it's still difficult."
While she looks back on her days as HP CEO with pride, it's clear she feels her ouster from Hewlett Packard was undeserved.
"The board of Hewlett Packard was completely led by two board members who subsequently were fired and was completely dysfunctional. The board sadly remains dysfunctional all these many years later," Fiorina said. "I'm sad when I see HP struggle or when I see the board continue in its dysfunction, but for me it was a great privilege and I think the results under my tenure speak for themselves."
Fiorina says she talked to current Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman.
"I told her she's been dealt a tough hand, and you know, sometimes companies run out of time no matter how strong the motivation," Fiorina said. "I mean, you watch companies, once great companies, Kodak, BlackBerry, Ericsson, Nokia, these are great companies that have run out of time, and I hope that doesn't happen to Hewlett Packard."
Great example of affirmative action for womyn. Single handily wrecked HP, then blew the Senate race. Got as far as she has ONLY because she was a woman. I hate these people who game the system and then pat them selves on the back about how the “broke the glass ceiling” or upset the “old boy network.”
I remember when HP stock,skyrocket after then dumped her and replaced her with a man. (Unfortunately, HP didn’t learn their lesson).
It's so tough. If you want to be a CEO ladies, work harder and smarter than the guys. And quit bitching about how tough it is!
All I know is, HP was never the same after her tenure, and she couldn't beat that harpie Boxer.
The word “Carly” is an epithet to the former HPers I know.
“Despite all the progress we’ve made, it’s still true that only 16 percent of board members are women. That number hasn’t budged in 20 years,” Fiorina said. “We have a long way to go, and yes, it is true that for women it’s still different. The criticism is different. The scrutiny is different. The commentary is different, and so if you’re a woman in leadership, it’s still difficult.”
Thanks nickcarraway.
Al Sharpton puts Apple in crosshairs, decrying all-white board
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3065925/posts
Single handily wrecked HP, then blew the Senate race. Got as far as she has ONLY because she was a woman. I hate these people who game the system and then pat them selves on the back about how the “broke the glass ceiling” or upset the “old boy network.”
Yet she’ll be giving speeches on her “successes” for decades...
“Great example of affirmative action for womyn. Single handily wrecked HP, then blew the Senate race. “
Don’t forget Lucent which she ruined before going off to HP. The woman was a disaster but rose very rapidly up through the ranks simply because she was a woman.
His prediction of the deal as an unmitigated disaster proved true, Fiorina immediately fired when the first quarter results of the completed merger demonstrated the catastrophe it turned out to be.
Part of her downfall was the manner in which she turned herself into a pariah within the industry, alienating HP management, Walter Hewett, other influential stock holders among others, with her management style, bringing attention to herself at the cost of HP, traveling the world in grand style, high profile in garnering the derisive title as "CEO Rock Star".
Excellent summary. Do I recall correctly that her contract called for a $30M bonus in the event she effected a merger (which explains the Compaq debacle)?
The article provides clarification of the merger bonus money which Fiorina declined to participate in to the tune of $14.4 million to avoid any conflict of interest.
USA Today:December 4, 2011-Many H-P Employees Oppose Deal With Compaq
What's more, good feelings were short-circuited last month when employees got a 2-day "thank you" bonus for strong fourth-quarter results. The next day, H-P and Compaq revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that management stood to reap $55 million in bonuses if the merger goes through. Fiorina and Compaq CEO Michael Capellas turned down $8 million and $14.4 million in bonuses, respectively, to avoid conflict. But the bad taste lingered, employees say.
Nah, Al has got it wrong (surprise!) Al Gore should be colored green!
HP was a company that always “promoted from within” until Fiorina came on board from Lucent, where she had problems too:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/15/carly-fiorinas-stint-at-l_n_764905.html
Yes, she did. But first she destroyed Lucent (formerly Bell Labs), one of the most innovative companies the world has ever seen.
Interestingly, the Lucent Wikipedia link does not mention Carly at all.
OK, thank you.
She was a LOSER at HP. Once a loser, always a loser.
What a whiner.
Wikipedia is generally worthless for any topic with a political component.
Amen. I thought it was particularly hilarious that Carly wasn’t mentioned at all.
And part of compensation for coming on board was to ship her sailboat cross country. I fondly remember monthly district meetings whose theme was to “embrace change”.
She would start speeches with “some of won’t be here to complete the journey” and her understudy took Carly’s forced ranking system to Kodak.
F Carly and f Compaq.
Oh yeah, it’s beensaid that Carly has a degree in business and a degree in history. She made HP business history. Lol
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