The old HP way is still alive at least in Bill & Dave's children. The
following is from the November 6th San Jose Mercury News:

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Packard says he's displeased with the direction of HP
He doesn't like the new culture
BY TRACY SEIPEL
Mercury News

David W. Packard, the only son of Hewlett-Packard co-founder Dave Packard,
said Tuesday he decided to join Walter Hewlett in opposing HP's proposed
acquisition of Compaq Computer for more than just financial reasons.

Packard doesn't like the direction the company has taken, and in 1999 --
before current CEO Carly Fiorina was hired -- made it known when he resigned
from the HP board after it decided to spin off Agilent Technologies.

He doesn't like the merger -- which he said ``depends on massive employment
layoffs -- at least 15,000, probably more.''

``I agree with Walter's statement that gave a lot of business reasons this
merger is a bad deal and I share all of those reasons,'' Packard said.

And he definitely doesn't like the new culture implemented by Fiorina.

``For some time I have been skeptical about management's confidence that it
can aggressively reinvent HP culture overnight -- a culture that developed
over many years and was thoroughly tested under all kinds of business
conditions. . . .'' he told the Mercury News on Tuesday afternoon.

``. . . I am perfectly aware that HP has never guaranteed absolute tenure
status to its employees; but I also know that Bill and Dave never developed a
premeditated business strategy that treated HP employees as expendable. This
new approach seems likely to affect the confidence and loyalty or the
remaining employees. For over 50 years, one of HP's fundamental corporate
objectives has been to provide long-term employment for its people.''

Packard also said The Packard Humanities Institute, which he founded and
which owns more than 25 million HP shares, would not vote its shares to
support the proposed merger.

He was careful to say that he was not speaking for other Packard family
members or for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, chaired by his
sister, Susan Packard Orr. That foundation, started by his parents in 1964,
controls 10.4 percent of HP stock, making it the company's largest single
shareholder.

How the Foundation's 12 board members vote could make or break the deal,
observers say. George Vera, the Foundation's chief financial officer, on
Tuesday said the board is hiring its own independent consultant to analyze
the proposed acquisition. He said the board will make its own decision, which
would probably be voted on after the New Year.

In an interview, the 61-year-old Packard -- a former professor of Ancient
Greek and Latin studies, and chairman and president of the Packard Humanities
Institute and Stanford Theatre Foundation -- explained his reasoning.

``I sort of care more about some of the old-fashioned cultural values than I
really should,'' Packard said. He is ``quite unhappy,'' for example, about
the so-called ``5 percent rule'' -- performance evaluations that mandate
identifying a bottom 5 percent of the company's performers.

``HP never did that, it never happened before. HP almost never laid anybody
off, but HP was very careful to say that it's not like they're schoolteachers
-- they did not have tenure,'' said Packard.

``But they (his father and Bill Hewlett) managed a company in a way that it
was never necessary to tell people `Sorry, business is not very good, so
goodbye.' ''

Packard, who has known Walter Hewlett since the two were young children, said
he also wanted to show solidarity and offer his moral support.

``Walter is sticking his neck out here,'' said Packard. ``Some people will
praise him and some people will publicly criticize him, but I do share his
views. And I thought I might as well go on the record,'' he said.

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Wirt Atmar

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