Carly Fiorina Ousted as HP Chief
The news item that caught my eyes today was the ouster of HP Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina. For women in Corporate America Fiorina has been something close to a Hollywood Superstar. Fiorina came to HP as CEO in 1999. It was the time of "irrational exuberance" as Fed Chairman Allen Greenspan described it. It was also the time when I was working for a small corporation in Michigan. That year was one of the highlights of my career at this company. I had a very visible and difficult assignment, something like a turn-around, for which I reported to the Chairman of the company.
Fiorina's appointment as the top woman in Corporate America seemed to usher in a new era when women were starting to count in the way men had always counted in the business world; not as the worker bees but as equal partners and decision makers. At that time I was drunk on success and was on the pursuit of climbing the corporate ladder and I looked at these appointments with delight. How my aspirations changed is another story for another time. In recent years, HP stocks have plunged and along with it Fiorina's star.
I saw her at the Business for Social Responsibility conference in LA, in 2003. She was the opening key note speaker. She dazzled the audience with her speech on HP's commitment to the environment and also it's commitment to responsible business practices in emerging markets like India. She was calm and looked great in a stylish black dress. Her whole demeanor was that of a leader.
No doubt great things are still in store for her. As they say, you win some you lose some.....
For more on the story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10295-2005Feb9.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4250597.stm
The news item that caught my eyes today was the ouster of HP Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina. For women in Corporate America Fiorina has been something close to a Hollywood Superstar. Fiorina came to HP as CEO in 1999. It was the time of "irrational exuberance" as Fed Chairman Allen Greenspan described it. It was also the time when I was working for a small corporation in Michigan. That year was one of the highlights of my career at this company. I had a very visible and difficult assignment, something like a turn-around, for which I reported to the Chairman of the company.
Fiorina's appointment as the top woman in Corporate America seemed to usher in a new era when women were starting to count in the way men had always counted in the business world; not as the worker bees but as equal partners and decision makers. At that time I was drunk on success and was on the pursuit of climbing the corporate ladder and I looked at these appointments with delight. How my aspirations changed is another story for another time. In recent years, HP stocks have plunged and along with it Fiorina's star.
I saw her at the Business for Social Responsibility conference in LA, in 2003. She was the opening key note speaker. She dazzled the audience with her speech on HP's commitment to the environment and also it's commitment to responsible business practices in emerging markets like India. She was calm and looked great in a stylish black dress. Her whole demeanor was that of a leader.
No doubt great things are still in store for her. As they say, you win some you lose some.....
For more on the story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10295-2005Feb9.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4250597.stm
posted by Tara Jayaratnam at 1:01 PM
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