Fiorina Comments On Public Firing

Tells Lesley Stahl She Never Saw It Coming

(CBS) 

60 Minutes wanted to hear the board’s version of that story, but no one would talk to us. Looking back, Carly now believes that the leak investigation she ordered may have prompted some of the board members to turn against her.

"Perhaps, there were people who thought they would lose their job and they loved being part of the HP board," Fiorina wonders.

"You mean, lose their job as a board member?" Stahl asks.

"Yes, because of their own behavior. They loved being on the board," Fiorina says.

As she writes in her book, they may have thought it was them or her, so they decided to fire her first. She believes the ringleaders were Tom Perkins and his best friend, Jay Keyworth.

Asked if they colluded and forced this ouster, Fiorina says, "Clearly, both of them were aligned in how they thought I should reorganize the business. But these were also people who really for all their gifts and all their accomplishments didn't understand what running an $85 billion business was all about."

But there were industry analysts who said it was Carly who didn’t understand: that her merger was “failing” and that she had missed her own earnings projections.

"You missed a big quarter. But, you don't just miss it. You miss it by 20 percent. Some huge amount, right, percentage?" Stahl asks.

"Yeah, I'm not sure it was that. But, anyways, a big miss. There's no question," Fiorina acknowledges.

"As you admit, the stock price was down and down considerably. Aren't those enough reasons to fire a CEO?" Stahl asks.

"Well, they could be," Fiorina says.

"But, you would think, if those were the reasons, that after all this heavy lifting, and after all this work, at least the board would sit me down and say, 'You know, Carly, we think, unfortunately, that it's time to make a move because dot, dot, dot. Let's talk about these things.' That conversation didn't happen," Fiorina says.

In fact, Carly describes the firing as a last minute, seat-of-the pants decision.

"After I was fired, they put the CFO in charge. They paid him $3.5 million for 45 days of worth work, and then they hired my successor in apparently ten days. That’s not a very well thought-through succession plan for an $85 billion company," Fiorina says.

"A prominent Wall Street Journal reporter said to me very recently, 'It would never have happened if she weren’t a woman.' This is a male," Stahl remarks.

"I think somehow men understand other men's need for respect differently than they understand it for a woman. I'm disappointed to have to say that, but I think it's undeniably true," Fiorina says.

60 Minutes asked officials at HP to talk to on or off camera, but they decided against it. Today the company is thriving in financial terms: profits and stock value are up and Carly says she deserves the credit.

"Is it you or is it the new CEO? Because there’s a debate," Stahl asks. "He's changed several things that you put in place."

"The company was transformed under my leadership," Fiorina says. "The battleship was turned. And now, my successor will establish his own momentum and, in a couple of years, we'll know where he's taking the ship. But I know where I took the ship."

[kerigpope]

After watching your interview with former Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Carly Fiorina complain about how her firing was, in her opinion, so impersonal, all I can say is 'Boo-Hoo'. Finally a high-powered businessperson gets a taste of the tactics of indifference that most of Corporate America uses to make employment changes within their companies. Carly, welcome to our level. Maybe I should write a book too.

[hweiner]

She orchestrated the ouster of board member Walter Hewlett, the son of one of the founders of HP, because he opposed the merger of HP and Compaq. This was cruel and heartless and how she treated her opponents. Lucent, on her watch went downhill, and still is in that position. Investors in Lucent watched the stock plunge. After Carly was sacked, I bought HP stock again, after I sold it when it plunged, with the expectation that it would go up again--and it has!

Carly apparently lacks introspection and insight. She doesn't seem to examine her own behavior and flaws. She destroyed the wonderful culture of Hewlett Pack where workers had job security and high morale. In respect to her ruthless layoffs, it might be fair to say that she should have been the first one.

Like Chainsaw Al Dunlap, Carly is an example of the sickness of corporate America which has destroyed job security at the expense of CEO profits. It is high time that CEOs be called to account for their high salaries, misgovernance, incompetent performance, and spectacular lack of morality.

Just think of how many workers could have been hired with Carly's salary! Think how much of her salary could have gone to health benefits for the
workforce of HP. And if her salary couldn't cover this, her severance package could have!

[zafdor]

This piece was a real laugher. There's poor Carley with her head down. Clearly not qualified to run HP, she did a remarkable amount of damage to a great company. Hey Carley, I can tell you why you were fired, you cut the value of HP stock by 65%. You merged with a company that essentially is a boat anchor to HP. I work for a competitor and we had a feast when the merger was happening, so I guess I should be greatful to her. The board most certainly did thank you for your service, to the tune of $42M. In the world of unbelievable egos, she fits right in! I wonder if she ever called Walter Hewlett to apologise?

[fedora1958]

Corporate America throws countless thousands of people overboard. Why is this one supposed to be so interesting and important?

[jaygars]

"You know, Lesley, I wish I could answer the question: 'Why did the Board fire me?'

Could it be because she drove the stock price down from $156 to $16 a share. That she consistantly missed earnings by hitting only three quarters out of twenty-four (Mark Hurd has hit six quarters out of six). That Wall Street had no faith in her. Her best asset is marketing is self promotion with she does well.

Her stategic direction was all over the place. One year she tries the purchase PriceWaterHouse for $18B to have foothold in the consultanting business which IBM purchased the following year for $3.5B. The next year she buys COMPAQ. These directions are the opposite.

Carly should be happy with her $53M check the board gave her. What horrible why to be fired?

[jaygars]

"You know, Lesley, I wish I could answer the question: 'Why did the Board fire me?'

Could it be because she drove the stock price down from $156 to $16 a share. That she consistantly missed earnings by hitting only three quarters out of twenty-four (Mark Hurd has hit six quarters out of six). That Wall Street had no faith in her. Her best asset is marketing is self promotion with she does well.

Her stategic direction was all over the place. One year she tries the purchase PriceWaterHouse for $18B to have foothold in the consultanting business which IBM purchased the following year for $3.5B. The next year she buys COMPAQ. These directions are the opposite.

Carly should be happy with her $53M check the board gave her. What horrible why to be fired?

[md20062]

I am throughly disgusted with Ms. Fiorina's recent interview. Her EGO is simply more than I can take which is exalty why she was ousted. The fact that her firing was cold and callace should come as no surprise to her as she set the precendent in HP for laying off and firing employees in that such manner. How does she feel getting a dose of her own medicine. As an HP employee and I can tell you that the stirdes the company has made are due soley to Mark Hurd and his leadership. ALL the executives and leaders Carly brought over from Compaq have been replaced and as a company we are still struggling with the impact of a poorly executed and thought out aqusition. I can also state strongly that Carly WAS NOT running this company from an operational perspective and that is why she failed to lead HP on this journey. I will give her this, she is a dynamic speaker and can absolutely sell anything, but once you buy her pitch your on your own to figure out exaclty what it is you've been sold.

As an HP employee I am embarressed by the recent events of our board and am also appauled at the blatent disrespect from the board for the company and all it's employees. This situation was 100% preventable given board memebers had any care for their position and were not hell bent on taking each other down due to personality conflicts. Watching the congressional hearings and watching your recent HP piece has truly been an education in politics and egos for me.

[lkd711]

Ms. Fiorino's description of her firing is all too familiar to anyone who has been fired at HP and other corporations. Firings are taken personally regardless of how they are handled. What makes Ms. Fiorino so special? At least she was paid a generous severance package instead of having to take whatever the company offers, if anything.

[lifercbs]

This poor lady was terminated from a multimillion dollar yearly salary with only a 42 million dollar termination payoff. No wonder she is pouty. But she was really qualified to lead an 82 billion dollar electronics company. Here's her background from Wikipedia:
"Fiorina attended Stanford University as an undergraduate and studied medieval history and philosophy. Later, she attended law school at University of California, Los Angeles but dropped out to pursue a career in business. She earned an MBA at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park and a Master's degree in Management (M.S.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management under the Sloan Fellows program.
In 1985, she married AT&T executive Frank Fiorina (he opted for early retirement in 1998)."
So thats how she got into management at Lucent. To an outsider, it appears she was "helped" up the corporate ladder by men she knew. Where is the surprise in the board dismissing her after 6 years of running the company into the ground? What has she done lately? Suck up more corporate gravy on other boards. Let's let this bad apple go quietly into anominity and not drag her pouting into the publics view again.