HP spinning off it's PC business is like Ford spinning off its car making business. Utter madness.
I hope HP do start up WebOS again. I think it had potential and was utterly amazed when they scrapped it. In a year or two it could have been something I had a look at. I find Android aesthetically vulgar and undesirable for many other reasons. WebOS looked nice.
When I first heard the rumors, I thought Carol Bartz would be a much better choice. Meg really doesn't have much going for her from a management capability.
What is the board thinking... that they want a return to the glory days of fellow political aspiree Carly's reign?! Shareholder revolt...
What has happened in the past five years is nothing short of stunning. I really did not see all this coming. I mean, Microsoft (yes, WinNT and Win2000 was pretty decent for its time, especially during Apple's dark days), HP and Intel are one of the iconic brands of my Generation Y, alongside Nintendo, Sega and Sony.
But Steve is proven to be yet the visionary again and some people will never understand how he did it. His Stanford speech is the clearest description of his stratagems. Something along the lines of "You can't connect the dots going forward... You have to follow something... your gut, destiny, life, karma... And believe that it will connect looking backwards. Because believing that it will connect will give you the confidence... even if it leads you off the well-worn path".
Steve didn't worry too much about corporate gamesmanship, what the competition was doing, how the economy would go, what bailouts would happen, what the Board would think and so on. He trusted that the dots would connect, even when life "hit him with a brick" with multiple health problems, leaks, "AntennaGate", whatever.
Looking backwards, the dots for Apple connect so well it's uncanny.
As for the most of the rest of the tech world, since they hadn't really believed in anything for the past decade, the dots are just poo thrown at a wall.
Quote:
Originally Posted by XamaX
About time! I was guessing this should/would happen.
But now I'm thinking: CEO = chief executive officer, the main man of ?executing? strategy.
So who defines strategy at HP? These board members are saying they're the ones, now. Uh so they were on holiday previously? Didn't they have to approve Leo's crazy strategy beforehand? If they didn't devise it, they at least approved it.
This is obvious - it is far easier to sack (someone else) the CEO than to (sack themselves) take responsibility!
This board is running on "looks like", "I hear" and other "olympic" management techniques.
Now the stock holders should just outright sack this board and ask Ellison who to appoint for HP's board and CEO - never someone from outside the IT industry! Pretty sure an old timer (in the IT industry) like him would have the heart to give good unbiased advise.
Such as setting WebOS as open source and run the tablet division as "a hobby" in the hopes of it growing and flowering up from the support of a WebOS community. And change HPs strategy to the only possible one - creating ecosystems, invest deeply and neither start copying nor doing same-sung stuff... Establish an HP "tribe", such as Apple's! Then the CEO must be an inspiring wizard such as Steve... Invest in quality not quantity. Etc. Even monkeys would know what to do...
I can't understand how come that for years companies have been hunting and hiring CEOs like if they were at a fruit shop. It's like that position is less well thought out than the company's concierge or phone operator... How can that be? $25 million (x700) trashed...
As someone said, out of these here boards they could get pretty decent CEOs for these companies, probably better than the ones they find at the fruit shops they go to... (not applying though)
Maybe Mr. Hewllet and Mr. Packard (hope I'm not misspelling) didn't make up a contingency plan for CEO succession like Steve Jobs'. They could have devised a set of criteria to pick a CEO for HP for example.
Lessons to be learned, all the time, everywhere...
Jobs, Gates, Zuck, Brin & Page, Buffet. I don't know it seems that the superstar CEOs or founders who we think of as visionary and innovative are all political liberals.
Seems to me the mindset and instincts that make one a conservative also prevent one from being a creative, inspiring and trailblazing business leader. So much for conservatives being good at business, eh?
The above sentence is not a joke this time around.
Meg Whitman was hired as a marketing expert to guide an already founded .com business to greater marketability. Bunk to the idea of her being a tech visionary.
HP spinning off it's PC business is like Ford spinning off its car making business. Utter madness.
HP spinning off Agilent was utter madness. Everything since then has been the consequences of that terrible mistake playing out.
Here's Agilent's CEO's bio:
"Sullivan, who was senior vice president and general manager of Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group (SPG) before being named COO, joined Hewlett-Packard Company in 1976 and during the course of his career, developed considerable expertise in telecommunications, data communications and computers. In 1995, he was promoted to general manager of the Optical Communication Division, and two years later was named general manager of the Communication Semiconductor Solutions Division. Sullivan became general manager and vice president of the Components Group, (renamed SPG), in 1998. In 1999, when Agilent was spun off from HP, he was named to the top position within SPG."
There's your real HP. Agilent's senior management is filled with people who joined HP in the 70s and 80s. Spinning off Agilent cut the heart out of HP.
The shareholders should get rid of the BoD and appoint someone from within HP as CEO. Hiring outside tells everyone in the company they are incompetent.
HP spinning off Agilent was utter madness. Everything since then has been the consequences of that terrible mistake playing out.
Here's Agilent's CEO's bio:
"Sullivan, who was senior vice president and general manager of Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group (SPG) before being named COO, joined Hewlett-Packard Company in 1976 and during the course of his career, developed considerable expertise in telecommunications, data communications and computers. In 1995, he was promoted to general manager of the Optical Communication Division, and two years later was named general manager of the Communication Semiconductor Solutions Division. Sullivan became general manager and vice president of the Components Group, (renamed SPG), in 1998. In 1999, when Agilent was spun off from HP, he was named to the top position within SPG."
There's your real HP. Agilent's senior management is filled with people who joined HP in the 70s and 80s. Spinning off Agilent cut the heart out of HP.
The shareholders should get rid of the BoD and appoint someone from within HP as CEO. Hiring outside tells everyone in the company they are incompetent.
- Jasen.
Well, maybe Whitman should cancel the acquisition of the SAP wannabe that Apotheker initiated and instead target Agilent for merger. Then to a brain transplant and replace HP senior management with Agilent.
Jobs, Gates, Zuck, Brin & Page, Buffet. I don't know it seems that the superstar CEOs or founders who we think of as visionary and innovative are all political liberals.
Seems to me the mindset and instincts that make one a conservative also prevent one from being a creative, inspiring and trailblazing business leader. So much for conservatives being good at business, eh?
HP is doomed.
Why pollute the thread with political crap? It's not like we have a forum just for that, right?
According to a report in Bloomberg, "Whitman, in her first interview as Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, said the company stands by plans to acquire U.K. software marker Autonomy Corp. for $10.3 billion. The company also will continue to explore whether to sell or spin off the personal-computer division, she said."
The board is simply hoping that Whitman will more positively execute their suicide strategy.
I just wondered, why would they hire Meg Whitman. It seems the board could pluck someone off the street and get him to "execute" their visionless strategy just as well. I hereby submit my name for consideration when they fire Meg next year. I require only a 1-5 million severance.
Comments
I just love the word OUST .....
Rhymes with 'HP is TOAST' (said with a Southern accent....)
I hope HP do start up WebOS again. I think it had potential and was utterly amazed when they scrapped it. In a year or two it could have been something I had a look at. I find Android aesthetically vulgar and undesirable for many other reasons. WebOS looked nice.
In addition, Whitman will last a few months, because she will run for some other political office before March 2012.
I just love the word OUST .....
I'm just happy they didn't *quietly* oust him.
What is the board thinking... that they want a return to the glory days of fellow political aspiree Carly's reign?! Shareholder revolt...
But Steve is proven to be yet the visionary again and some people will never understand how he did it. His Stanford speech is the clearest description of his stratagems. Something along the lines of "You can't connect the dots going forward... You have to follow something... your gut, destiny, life, karma... And believe that it will connect looking backwards. Because believing that it will connect will give you the confidence... even if it leads you off the well-worn path".
Steve didn't worry too much about corporate gamesmanship, what the competition was doing, how the economy would go, what bailouts would happen, what the Board would think and so on. He trusted that the dots would connect, even when life "hit him with a brick" with multiple health problems, leaks, "AntennaGate", whatever.
Looking backwards, the dots for Apple connect so well it's uncanny.
As for the most of the rest of the tech world, since they hadn't really believed in anything for the past decade, the dots are just poo thrown at a wall.
About time! I was guessing this should/would happen.
But now I'm thinking: CEO = chief executive officer, the main man of ?executing? strategy.
So who defines strategy at HP? These board members are saying they're the ones, now. Uh so they were on holiday previously? Didn't they have to approve Leo's crazy strategy beforehand? If they didn't devise it, they at least approved it.
This is obvious - it is far easier to sack (someone else) the CEO than to (sack themselves) take responsibility!
This board is running on "looks like", "I hear" and other "olympic" management techniques.
Now the stock holders should just outright sack this board and ask Ellison who to appoint for HP's board and CEO - never someone from outside the IT industry! Pretty sure an old timer (in the IT industry) like him would have the heart to give good unbiased advise.
Such as setting WebOS as open source and run the tablet division as "a hobby" in the hopes of it growing and flowering up from the support of a WebOS community. And change HPs strategy to the only possible one - creating ecosystems, invest deeply and neither start copying nor doing same-sung stuff... Establish an HP "tribe", such as Apple's! Then the CEO must be an inspiring wizard such as Steve... Invest in quality not quantity. Etc. Even monkeys would know what to do...
I can't understand how come that for years companies have been hunting and hiring CEOs like if they were at a fruit shop. It's like that position is less well thought out than the company's concierge or phone operator... How can that be? $25 million (x700) trashed...
As someone said, out of these here boards they could get pretty decent CEOs for these companies, probably better than the ones they find at the fruit shops they go to... (not applying though)
Maybe Mr. Hewllet and Mr. Packard (hope I'm not misspelling) didn't make up a contingency plan for CEO succession like Steve Jobs'. They could have devised a set of criteria to pick a CEO for HP for example.
Lessons to be learned, all the time, everywhere...
Seems to me the mindset and instincts that make one a conservative also prevent one from being a creative, inspiring and trailblazing business leader. So much for conservatives being good at business, eh?
HP is doomed.
all the events that have turned the recent history of HP into a corporate soap opera
In the UK they make really good brown sauce.
Congratulations to Léo Apotheker, his reward is a $25 million severance package. Not bad, huh?
Now the former head of Mr. Potato Head (when she was at Hasbro) takes over. I can't wait to see the new tablet designs that come out of HP.
Etch-A-Sketch springs to mind.
HP is doomed.
The above sentence is not a joke this time around.
Meg Whitman was hired as a marketing expert to guide an already founded .com business to greater marketability. Bunk to the idea of her being a tech visionary.
Unfortunately that hasn't been true for years - it's made in the Netherlands.
Yet another example of outsaucing...
That's the best one-liner EVER!
HP spinning off it's PC business is like Ford spinning off its car making business. Utter madness.
HP spinning off Agilent was utter madness. Everything since then has been the consequences of that terrible mistake playing out.
Here's Agilent's CEO's bio:
"Sullivan, who was senior vice president and general manager of Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group (SPG) before being named COO, joined Hewlett-Packard Company in 1976 and during the course of his career, developed considerable expertise in telecommunications, data communications and computers. In 1995, he was promoted to general manager of the Optical Communication Division, and two years later was named general manager of the Communication Semiconductor Solutions Division. Sullivan became general manager and vice president of the Components Group, (renamed SPG), in 1998. In 1999, when Agilent was spun off from HP, he was named to the top position within SPG."
There's your real HP. Agilent's senior management is filled with people who joined HP in the 70s and 80s. Spinning off Agilent cut the heart out of HP.
The shareholders should get rid of the BoD and appoint someone from within HP as CEO. Hiring outside tells everyone in the company they are incompetent.
- Jasen.
Hewlett Packard is to Apple as KAI is to BMW.
I am curious if you mean Kia to BMW.
HP spinning off Agilent was utter madness. Everything since then has been the consequences of that terrible mistake playing out.
Here's Agilent's CEO's bio:
"Sullivan, who was senior vice president and general manager of Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group (SPG) before being named COO, joined Hewlett-Packard Company in 1976 and during the course of his career, developed considerable expertise in telecommunications, data communications and computers. In 1995, he was promoted to general manager of the Optical Communication Division, and two years later was named general manager of the Communication Semiconductor Solutions Division. Sullivan became general manager and vice president of the Components Group, (renamed SPG), in 1998. In 1999, when Agilent was spun off from HP, he was named to the top position within SPG."
There's your real HP. Agilent's senior management is filled with people who joined HP in the 70s and 80s. Spinning off Agilent cut the heart out of HP.
The shareholders should get rid of the BoD and appoint someone from within HP as CEO. Hiring outside tells everyone in the company they are incompetent.
- Jasen.
Well, maybe Whitman should cancel the acquisition of the SAP wannabe that Apotheker initiated and instead target Agilent for merger. Then to a brain transplant and replace HP senior management with Agilent.
Jobs, Gates, Zuck, Brin & Page, Buffet. I don't know it seems that the superstar CEOs or founders who we think of as visionary and innovative are all political liberals.
Seems to me the mindset and instincts that make one a conservative also prevent one from being a creative, inspiring and trailblazing business leader. So much for conservatives being good at business, eh?
HP is doomed.
Why pollute the thread with political crap? It's not like we have a forum just for that, right?
The board is simply hoping that Whitman will more positively execute their suicide strategy.