One on One with Carly Fiorina, Fmr. Chairman of HP
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
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JEFF YASTINE: Hewlett-Packard has been engulfed in a scandal recently involving its board of directors. That same board fired Carly Fiorina, HP's high-profile chairman and CEO last year. Now she's telling her side of the story in a book titled "Tough Choices." Earlier today Susie Gharib sat down with Fiorina and asked her what she would have done differently at HP.
CARLY FIORINA, FORMER CHAIRMAN, HEWLETT-PACKARD: I made mistakes in people in some cases. And by the way, people choices are very important for leaders. In some cases, I put the wrong people in the wrong jobs. I perhaps left them there too long. I wish I had been able to deal with the dysfunction in the board room sooner. I should not have agreed to bring Tom Perkins back on the board. And I probably in some ways underestimated how difficult change would be for a company like Hewlett-Packard. It was tough and painful for everyone. But it was accomplished and it needed to be done.
SUSIE GHARIB, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Carly, you say in your book that you deserve some credit for Hewlett-Packard's current sSuccess but I talked to some Wall Street analysts this week and they disagree.
FIORINA: A transformation takes a lot of time and a lot of work and the success that HP enjoys today is in no small measure due to the work of tens of thousands of employees that were working hard as well as myself, head down under the hood for 5 1/2 years.
GHARIB: You characterize the Hewlett-Packard board as dysfunctional, amateurish and immature. So what is your reaction today now to the Hewlett-Packard board being engulfed in this high profile controversy?
FIORINA: I am not completely surprised to see that dysfunction in some ways intensify and spill out on to the public's stage. On the other hand, I must say I am shocked by what apparently was going on in there in terms of people's, lots of people's lots of perspective and judgment about what was going on and what they should be doing about it.
GHARIB: So what's your take on this whole pretexting scandal at HP?
FIORINA: I've read a report where with my name and my telephone number and it's chilling. I also believe that any group of people, including the board, becomes dysfunctional when personal agendas overwhelm responsibilities to a bigger issue, a public company, and I also believe dysfunction occurs when people stop talking about the real issues face toface.
GHARIB: Do you think that Patricia Dunn's actions warranted her dismissal as chairman of HP and the filing of criminal charges against her?
FIORINA: I think the leaks were to further a personal agenda. I think the investigation into the leaks were part of personal agendas that were playing out.
GHARIB: It sounds like you are saying that the problems at HP go beyond Patricia Dunn's dismissal. Do you think the whole board should be dismissed?
FIORINA: I don't know what the right next step is. It isn't for me to say.
GHARIB: In your book, you are critical of how you were portrayed in the media. You say that from the very first story of your hiring until your firing at HP, that the language and intensity of the coverage were different for me than for any other CEO. Why do you think that you were treated differently by the media?
FIORINA: I was the first outsider. I wasn't an engineer. I came from big east coast companies, not small Silicon Valley startups. I didn't come from the computer industry and I was a woman. You put all of that together and it creates inevitably a lot of attention and inevitably, it created a lot of adjectives.
GHARIB: Do you think that the Hewlett-Packard board would have given you more leeway if you were a man?
FIORINA: Men and women get fired as CEOs all the time. I think the way it was handled with me was quite personal, and I think that had to do a lot with the dysfunction that was playing out in the boardroom.
GHARIB: So what's next for you? You have been quoted as saying that you might be interested in politics?
FIORINA: You know, one of the things that I decided after I left HP is that I wasn't going to make a decision about what to do next full-time until I had taken a step back, written a book and let the book play out.
GHARIB: Can you picture yourself running a big public company again and beiing CEO?
FIORINA: Sure. Sure. I would do it all again. It was a wonderful opportunity. I am proud of the choices and the impact that I made andHewlett-Packard is a great company.
GHARIB: Carly, thank you so much.
FIORINA: You are so welcome.
