Book Review, by Therese Padilla

I eagerly awaited the delivery of my pre-ordered copy of "Tough Choices” by Carly Fiorina. Within moments of its arrival, I was reading the memoir of what will arguably be a very hot topic in the coming weeks. I wasn't disappointed. This book is her turn to talk, and from my perspective she does a fine job of framing the past and the effect she had on HP. Even more importantly she shows the importance of being earnest.

To many readers, this book will be dismissed as simply an opportunity for Fiorina to take undue credit for the positive financial results at HP since her firing. In baseball, the relief pitcher gets credited with the save if, by the prescribed ending of the game, they erased the deficit. In business, there isn't a prescribed ending. Companies, if they manage to avoid bankruptcy, don't have endings. They have curves, ups and downs mixed with flat line steady years. When Fiorina, the relief pitcher, came in the team was in a deficit. Under Fiorina, a number of initiatives drove the steady rise of HP stock since mid-2004. It’s been up to Mark Hurd, current CEO to continue the winning streak.

The press and investors like to talk about leadership but in reality many don't like what it really means. Leadership means saying no as well as yes. Critics can remember every time a leader said no to an idea. Fiorina recounts a number of instances where she was told, not asked, to make a choice she didn't agree with, but she held her ground and said no. The real lesson in her book is how people reacted to her saying no. And I think it was all her "nos" that ultimately got her fired. But she also said yes. For example, the Compaq acquisition which interestingly was not her idea. She embraced it only after much discussion with the board.

In her own words (she insisted on no editing of her memoir) the values that comprise Carly Fiorina are revealed. Her recollections of college paint the picture of an over-achiever who was always unsure of herself. - directionless at first then a moment of sheer clarity in the midst of angst. In one particular instance, while in the shower, Fiorina made the decision to drop out of law school. She felt that a career in law was too confining because it always relied on the past for decisions. A prophetic sign of her actions to come at HP.

Fiorina and I are the same age. We both read Camus' “The Stranger” in High School and were affected by it. However, we both came away with different meanings. Fiorina’s interpretation was that it was “about a big idea and how a philosophy can motivate action”. And I understood it to be about the absurd -that life, science and religion have no meaning and that meaning is assigned by the assignor.

One of the reasons for this disparity of understanding between Fiorina and I might be the fact that she read the book in French, and I read the English translation. But I don't think that is the reason. What I think it is that it reveals Fiorina is clearly an optimist. How else can you explain that she found this quintessential book on the meaninglessness of life to be "difficult, absorbing and rewarding" especially when the Stranger ends like this:

"As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself - so like a brother, really - I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." (Excerpt from Matthew Ward's translation)

Again, oddly prophetic. Weren't the cries after her departure from HP cries of hate? Weren't the actions of the board to decide to fire her a blind-sided execution? But just as Fiorina chooses to revere Camus, she ultimately reveres the actions of everyone at HP. She looks at the entire process of the rise to being CEO of HP as a series of choices. Tough ones. Smart ones. Bad ones. Easy ones. And ultimately a gift.

Speaking of choices, it’s apparent that Fiorina chose the role of CEO of HP despite some serious warning signals in order to ultimately fulfill the prophecy of her dying mother. This turns out to be one of the more touching parts of the book, actually. Her mother was a couple of months away from death and casually mentioned the idea that Carly might move back to California and assume the helm of HP. It was an idea that came from nowhere because they had never spoken of the company and Fiorina was firmly entrenched at Lucent in New Jersey.

The chapter on the HP hiring process points to a number of the "dysfunctional" aspects of the HP Board of Directors. The story of her CEO candidacy interview with board member, Richard Hackborn, sheds the first light on the ultimate insight into the problems at HP. In that interview, Richard admits that the board was willing to go along with ousted CEO, Lew Platt's restructuring plan out of sheer exhaustion. They were tired of trying to “out-argue” Platt on the matter. They figured, he would be gone soon anyway, so let him do it. "..If we have to, we will fix it later," Hackborn told her. Interesting corporate strategy, and in a manner, the new HP Way. Rather than allow leaders to lead, the board of directors often second guess from the cheap seats. Hindsight is the only measure here.

Besides the personal story of the book, this is a business advice book. Fiorina doesn't directly give advice, but the stories of colleagues and events certainly left my book with yellow highlighted one-liners. The rise through AT&T then Lucent and ultimately HP are filled with conversations and specific insight into the strategy behind several key decisions at these companies.

The biggest impression I got from this book was that product managers have to work like CEOs. It isn’t new to say product managers are the CEOs of their products, but it is a tough job for product managers to have to work with so many conflicting departments. Even if the CEO can fire everyone who drags their feet when given direction, it isn’t going to happen. Despite being called “Chainsaw Carly”, Fiorina outlines some of the agonizing she did when trying to figure out how to motivate people to get things done. The product manager’s bane in life.

This book is timely in regards to the criminal charges that have been levied against Patricia Dunn and the other three involved in the HP scandal. It is clear in Fiorina’s book that the Boardroom meeting leakers were known at the time of her firing, and the leakers used the press to usurp Fiorina's authority. It's as much a business advice book as it is a primer on corporate espionage and tale of modern day Machiavellianism.