Robert Mills <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Many many many years ago, when Windows was still an idea in Gates head,

Bill Gates (whether you like "his" products or not) certainly
has done his best (whether you approve of his methods or not) to
convert an ugly duckling (early Windows) into the Mighty Potent
Enterprise (MPE) that it is now.

We will forever wonder what would have happened if someone with
one thousandth of Bill's leadership had been in charge of the
MPE that HP invented.

Why am I so interested in studying "leadership", you ask?  Please
see http://www.svwc.com for a taste of an annual event that was
founded by my kids' school a few years ago: The Sun Valley
Writers' Conference.  This year's theme was "Does Truth Matter?"

In fact, two of my kids worked at the conference's bookstore as
part of their college-money long-term projects (which start when
they enter 9th grade).  Everyone in the relatively small audience
had the pleasure of interacting with writers such as David
McCullough, David Halberstam, Ryszard Kapuscinski (who speaks
great Spanish and chatted with us about his adventures in
Guatemala), Jean Strouse, Jane Hamilton, Anne Lamott, John Burnham
Schwartz, Roger Wilkins, Frank McCourt, Ridley Pearson (who lives
in the Sun Valley area), Dave Barry (who enjoys playing music in a
"band of writers" with Ridley), and so on.

Not a shabby crowd, by any means.  I mentioned the sad MPE story
as an interesting "historical case" to a few of them and I asked
them to consider the whole MPE saga from their Pulitzer-Prize
perspectives.  As you may remember, Dave Barry gave the opening
speech at Interex's Conference in San Diego (1998).  So, he knows
about MPE :-)

There were several interesting parallels between HP's very own MPE
and some historical events related to leadership (or lack thereof).

Dave Barry's final answer to the conference's theme was uncanny:

      Does Truth Matter?  Not if you have a good lawyer.



Yet another report from the field by your man in the street,

   _______________
  |               |
  |               |
  |            r  |  Alfredo                     [log in to unmask]
  |          e    |                           http://www.adager.com
  |        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego
  |      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs
  |    d          |  Adager Corporation
  |  A            |  Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000            U.S.A.
  |               |
  |_______________|

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