The Newsweek cover says it pretty well: “The Boss Who Spied on Her Board.”
Patricia Dunn. Another one who falls into the category of, “What were you thinking?”
Some more follow-up on this story:
CNN: HP Chair: Lying, or Incompetent?
It is always a bad sign when choices are this limited.
A good timeline on the story here from Rob Hyndman.
This is the letter from Mark Hurd, CEO, to HP’s staff. My comments are interspersed.
Mark Hurd Message to Employees
September 8, 2006
Hi, before I begin, I want to be clear that I am speaking to you today as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, not on behalf of the HP board.
Wow! Aren’t you representing both? Is it possible to play this game? Is schizophrenic behavior now acceptable?
I know that many of you have read the media coverage and speculation regarding the recent actions of the HP Board. My belief is that this has nothing to do with the strategy or operations of Hewlett-Packard.
The HP board is just there to make us feel good about ourselves. They have no functional role really. No involvement in strategy or operations really. Really. They don’t do anything of substance.
Unfortunately there has been a long history of leaking company information within the HP board that clearly needs to be resolved, and it will be resolved.
Even if we have to break a few laws.
The HP Standards of Business Conduct are our foundation of ethical leadership, and encompass the basic principles that govern our ethical and legal obligations to HP.
The leaking of company confidential information violates our Standards of Business conduct which applies to all employees and Board members.
It is okay to spy on the press and the board members, but leaking information is a crime.
Clearly things have happened here that are unacceptable. But we will not react to speculation. Instead, we will continue to gather and review all the relevant facts. I can assure you we will get to the bottom of this and take appropriate action.
Unacceptable? Really? We are not going to react? What he is saying is that we are going to ignore this till it blows away. In the meantime, we are going to hide behind HP Standards of Business Conduct. The guy sure has chutzpah.
HP’s values are at the core of this company. These have not changed and will not change. HP’s shared values are a set of deeply held beliefs that govern and guide our behavior.
We are passionate about customers
We have trust and respect for individuals
We perform at a high level of achievement and contribution
We act with speed and agility
We deliver meaningful innovation
We achieve our results through teamwork and
We conduct our business with uncompromising integrity.
Does he realize how stupid these sound? When the Chair of your Board spies on your board members and the press, you should not, should never, use words “like uncompromising integrity.”
The company has made tremendous progress and I thank you again for that.
I have told you several times that building a successful company means we will have our ups and downs, and issues will come up. We are dealing with an issue now.
I am resolved that we will work through this and take the necessary action.
I compliment you for focusing on our business priorities and serving our customers.
I intend to do the same. I ask for your confidence that we will do what is needed and continue to move forward on our path to build the world’s leading technology company.
We have the right strategy, our performance is improving and I believe that’s due to the great performance of our people. We want to stay focused as a group as we continue to pursue our objectives.
Thank you
More blather. Meaningless blather. This is not an “issue.” This is criminal behavior. It was not an issue created by market conditions, it was an issue created by your own people at the top.
My advice: Fire Patricia Dunn and the whole board along with her. Start from scratch. By the way, keep a better crisis management team on retainer. You guys sure need help.
HP used to stand for an unique culture in the Valley. Try to do less damage to that perception.
Update: Newsweek has a good recap here.
Indro
Update: Patricia Dunn the HP Chairwoman is going to step down.
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