Ducks in a Row: Trusting the Board
by Miki Saxon
An old saw says that in Washington DC politics is in the water; if that’s true, than technology is in the water in and around Silicon Valley. I lived there from 1977 to 2003 and just as DC media focuses exhaustively on Federal politics our media delved into the technology world, especially at two ends of the spectrum—startups and iconic brands.
Hewlett Packard is beyond iconic—it’s legendary—and dissecting what was happening and why was a media constant.
That hasn’t changed since I left; the latest being the Hurd fiasco. I followed the stories from the original news flash, not all of them but enough to understand what happened and some analysis, but I still felt something was missing.
I kept thinking that if Hurd was really terminated for the reasons stated then he was terminated for cause, which would mean no 40-50 million dollar severance package, but instead he was allowed to resign.
Something didn’t smell right or maybe I was just suspicious because the little I knew about Hurd didn’t impress me, but, then, who am I to disagree with all the experts who raved about his turn around of HP.
A Joe Nocera’s column Friday in the NY Times offered up a more logical reason for his ouster; one that makes far more sense to me.
According to Anthony Bianco, author of The Big Lie: Spying, Scandal and Ethical Collapse at Hewlett-Packard, “There was a residue of mistrust because of the pretexting scandal. I conclude in the book that he lacks the moral character to be C.E.O.”
Then there were the company’s employees. The consensus in Silicon Valley is that Mr. Hurd was despised at H.P., not just by the rank and file, but even by H.P.’s top executives.
Worse, Hurd gutted R&D, selling HP’s future for the short-term gains that Wall Street loves.
In the final look, the people who must be trusted to do the right thing in the running of large companies is the Board, but HP’s Board has proven over and over that it lacks what it takes.
On the other hand, putting up dazzling short-term numbers that have the effect of enriching himself while robbing H.P.’s future — isn’t that what a C.E.O. should be fired for? Firing Mr. Hurd for that reason, however, would have taken courage, something that has always been in short supply on the H.P. board.
What do you think? Read the column, come back and share your thoughts.
Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/
