John, what a very good question.  Let me answer by way of another question
and then I will expound.

Do you remember what the industry was like in 1999?

At HP World 1999 in San Francisco, I was introduced to Carly who at that
time was making her first public appearance as CEO of HP.  I was chairman of
the program committee for the conference that year, which was why Carly
visited my booth and talked with me for a (very) few minutes.  Everybody
wanted to meet with her, it was a real zoo. That was also the largest HP
World ever.

This was just a few months before Y2K.  Does anyone remember Y2K?  Does
anyone remember the run up to Y2K?  During the prior few years, computer
companies were selling new systems so fast, they were going crazy.
Everybody thought this was great and that it would last forever.  HP was
growing their revenue each year at double digits.

This was the climate during which the HP CEO search and selection took
place.

This growth was fueled by Y2K and also had a limited lifespan, also because
of Y2K.  After all manners of companies and individuals had spent lots of
money on computers to be ready for Y2K, they were not going to continue on
that trajectory after Y2K.

We all see that now, but few people thought about it BEFORE Y2K.

I would say that if Carly had been hired in say, 1995/1996, she would be a
hero by 1999.  Being hired in 1999, just a few months before Y2K was not
conducive to success.

If you add to that the recession of 2000, the 9/11 attacks that cost 1.7
million jobs and $1 trillion to the US economy, and the Wall Street
scandals, it's just piling on.  Lots of companies got hurt.

By the time we emerged from all that, the landscape had changed.  I think
that trying to get into the consumer market in a big way, right after the
Compaq (merger/acquisition) was Carly's biggest mistake.  Even HP needs time
to digest its acquisitions.  Focusing on the newly-expanded core business
should have been the focus, not cameras and VCR/DVD converters.

HP had the chance and the capability to stake its claim as the leader in the
industry.  They worked very hard at avoiding that and succeeded.  Now, the
next CEO is going to be under an incredibly powerful microscope and that
will create problems of its own.


Denys

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of John Lee
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 5:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Carly fired question

You really have to question the ability and/or judgement of the BOD 6 years
ago (and however many are left today).  Didn't they question candidates
about their vision of the futurre of HP?  Did they think HP was going to
become king of the PC world?  Or storage world?  Or just what did Carly lay
out as her vision?  To sell the most iPods?

Where were future profits going to come from and why?  Isn't that the first
question you'd ask a CEO candidate?

John Lee



At 04:34 PM 2/10/05 -0600, Chuck Ryan wrote:

>Paying her the money also buys them a measure of control over what she
>can say about HP and the board. And at this point is really just a drop
>in the bucket compared to the billions she already cost them.
>
>
>Comments are my own, not my employer's... etc.
>
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