Same Old, Same Old at HP?

theodp writes "Computerworld Editor-in-Chief Don Tenant expresses astonishment at HP's cluelessness in the wake of its boardroom leak investigation fiasco, noting that HP CEO Mark Hurd's choice for a new Chief Ethics Officer was Hurd's go-to guy at NCR when the boss wanted internal leaks investigated." From the article: "It seems incomprehensible that no one at HP could foresee that appointing a former Hurd colleague to the ethics oversight position might be perceived as a shameless attempt by Hurd to keep from being further sullied by the scandal. But there's another dimension to all this that's even more baffling. Nearly two weeks before HP announced Hoak's appointment, BusinessWeek ran a story that recounted how Hurd had to deal with a number of internal investigations at NCR, including probes of leaks of sensitive information on Yahoo message boards."

Comments

Re:Is his decision so bad?

[maxume]

Um. The problem is that Hurd might have been involved in the scandal. If he was involved, bringing in his good buddy isn't going to do anything to help the shareholders. If he wasn't involved, an unquestionably impartial(notice the unquestionably) party would still be better for the shareholders.

How these peope came to run HP

[viking80]

You may think the leaders of the great companies are exceptional and unique people. You are very wrong. They are just like you, for good and bad. The insight into HP has revealed this quite well. They are probably a little arrogant and eloquent, but you will quickly get that in a matter of a year.

So why do they have millions of $$ and all the perks and you little? A large part is chance.

Assuming you are reasonably competent with a good attitude, you will surely be a project manager. With success, you will oversee all projects in your division, and then probably become division manager. Now, if your division is successfull, you will be promoted fast to corporate leadership, and again, now you need success of the whole corporation to get further, and with that you will quickly run the company.

You can at any time, and you should, jump ship, and continue the career for a new company, just like playing frogs.

The catch in all this is simple: Luck and Selection. If your first project is a failure, your career stops. It does not matter what the reason was. This is true all the way, so:

1. Only work for a company that sells what you do. Only than can you reach the top. An IT guy in a hospital will never run the hospital. Physicians will.
2. Only pick sure successes.
3. Jump ship if neccessary, and do it early. Dont ride a failure to the bottom.

The HP managers just lucked out on the above due to good times or other random global events, and managed not to screw up early on.

Just go for it.

Re:How these peope came to run HP

[sunspot42]

Carl Sagan had a great story related to this very subject, in his book The Demon Haunted World. I found a copy of the story at this website. Here's the story Sagan relates:

Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, newly arrived on American shores, enlisted in the Manhattan nuclear weapons Project, and brought face-to-face in the midst of World War II with U.S. flag officers.

        So-and-so is a great general, he was told.

        "What is the definition of a great general?" Fermi characteristically asked.

        I guess it's a general who's won many consecutive battles.

        "How many?"

        After some back and forth, they settled on five.

        "What fraction of American generals are great?"

        After some more back and forth, they settled on a few percent.

        "But imagine," Fermi rejoined, "that there is no such thing as a great general, that all armies are equally matched, and that winning a battle is purely a matter of chance. Then the chance of winning one battle is one out of two, or 1/2; two battles 1/4, three 1/8, four 1/16, and five consecutive battles 1/32 - which is about 3 percent. You would expect a few percent of American generals to win five consecutive battles - purely by chance. Now, has any of them won ten consecutive battles... ?"

The problem with the business world - especially in America these days - is that it's absolutely filled with climbers, idiots with loads of ambition and not a lot else. A few of these baboons get promoted to the executive ranks based largely upon politicking and thanks to random chance - as Fermi correctly observed 60 years ago - and then promptly go about looting the entire organization they run.

HP, having been hijacked by Carly Fiorina and her ilk, is a prime example. They've surrendered HP's position as an industry and technology leader and are now simply cashing in on decades worth of work by engineers and more competent managers. They're eating the seed corn. Look to Detroit if you want to know where this folly will leave America's technology industry.

Re:I've always wondered about this.

[maxume]

Actually, they make plenty of good decisions. Th bad ones recieve an inordinate amount of attention.