Getting To Know Carly Fiorina


I just finished the new book by Carly Fiorina. It's fascinating on many levels. Not because it's well-written, because we all knew Fiorina was smart, or because she lives an interesting life. We knew that, too.

What struck me the most, start to finish, was how open Fiorina was about details, both business and personal.

When the firestorm of the Compaq merger was at its worst, and when we all knew the Hewlett-Packard board was trying to get rid of her, Fiorina was tight-lipped, and few of us in the press knew what she would do to protect her company, and her job.

If you read the book, you'll know. It's a detailed look not only into what was going on with the company, but what was going on with Carly Fiorina herself. Not that we needed to know everything about her life, but I remember many of her critics at the time said Fiorina wasn't talking enough .. talking about company guidance, talking about how she'd make the merger work, taking about why she was doing what she was doing. That silence, I felt, allowed Walter Hewlett to seem evern more like everyman that maybe he should have. Either way, there were dozens of questions surrounding Fiorina at the end. Years later, she answers them.

It's hard to feel sorry for Fiorina. Yes, she lost her job, but she made a ton of money. She describes her life since the big blow-up as happy, and that's nice to know. But if you were a fan of Fiorina, it's hard not to play the "what-if" game. What if she had remained at HP, earned the trust of the board and shareholders, and seen the stock price rise under her watch?

I remember her first day on the job. The first few questions were about being a woman at a major company, and she made it clear right away she didn't want to discuss that. I had done a tiny bit of research about her tenure at Lucent, and asked something about the internet. She said "thank you," answered the question, and directed the next few answers right at me. I though, this is a good start, and will lead to many future interview opportunities.

I was turned down every single time during the rest of her tenure.

After the Compaq merger was completed, Fiorina once spoke to a trade group that allowed us to bring a camera to film the talk. Fiorina came off as friendly, personable, and funny .. exactly the opposite of how she was being protrayed in the press. It was like Bob Dole and Al Gore - after their election losses. All of the suddden, we learned how charming these people could be, and all I could think of was, why didn't we see this earlier?

Well, ultimately, Fiorina says she's happy. That's all that counts, I guess. But, again, what if?
A good book always gets me thinking ..