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Joe Nocera on Hurd & HP
- skmurphy 16y agoKey graf: One thing I found surprising this week was learning that to many H.P. observers Ms. Fiorina no longer seemed quite so bad. It was actually her strategic vision that Mr. Hurd had executed, I heard again and again. Her problem was that while she talked a good game, she lacked the skill to get that big, hulking, aircraft carrier of a company moving in the direction she pointed. Mr. Hurd was a brilliant operational executive, but had the strategic sense of a gnat, and knew only how to cut costs.
- andrewmlevy 16y agoI used to work at HP -- it was a very depressing work environment. As the article mentions, Hurd was absolutely despised and his "cost cutting" was very much ridiculous. The employees were left with nothing, salaries/jobs were cut, even seemingly cheap luxuries like tea and water. We moved buildings twice during my tenure there, each time to a smaller workspace. As an outsider before I joined, I can say its reputation far exceeds reality. Leaving for YC was a no-brainer. On a sidenote it seems the only ones left are the "lifers," all of the younger engineers have moved on. Short the stock.
- ajg1977 16y ago"In his five years at H.P., every metric Wall Street uses to judge companies had gone in only one direction: up." And this is the problem. Cutting jobs/salaries/benefits/projects leads to the type of share-bumping profit and cost-cutting figures that Wall Street types love, all while destroying the culture of a company and its chance of long term success.