After the Hurd
The following is a guest post by Kerry Sulkowicz, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who is the managing principal of Boswell Group LLC. He advises CEOs, investors and politicians on the dynamics of leadership, corporate culture and governance. The opinions expressed are his own.
About the only thing that’s clear in the story of Mark Hurd’s downfall last week as CEO of HP is how much we don’t know. Statements issued by HP, by Hurd, and by Hurd’s accuser reveal remarkably little about what was unquestionably a bad week for everyone involved.
Yet there are some meaningful clues if we read between the lines.
Mark Hurd
HP has to look beyond cost cuts soon
– Eric Auchard is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own —
The stock price seems to be the only thing growing at Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest computer company. HP shares have risen 75 percent this year, despite few signs of a revival in technology spending.
The company, best known as a supplier of computer printers, has suffered a 19 percent drop in sales of hardware and ink supplies. In good times, this produced the bulk of HP’s profits, but it’s the financial engineering under Mark Hurd, the company’s chairman and chief executive, that seems to be the main driver now.
So far, he has cut 16,000 of the planned 25,000 redundancies. It has taken roughly $3 billion in restructuring charges. This has masked underlying sales and profit weakness in its personal and corporate computer divisions.
Excluding the impact of the acquisition of computer services company EDS nearly a year ago, the company’s remaining businesses declined nearly 20 percent during the fiscal third quarter ending in July.
Hurd remains vague about when the recession may hit bottom.
“We’re encouraged by the stability that we’re beginning to see in the market but not yet at a point that we’re ready to call it a turn,” Hurd told investors on a conference call following HP’s quarterly report.
For a company who’s motto is ‘Invent” I don’t see any Inventions going on worthy of note, only acquisitions. HPQ and Mark Herd are just a HERD of sheep quietly being led off the cliff they have created themselves. “INVENT” NOT !!! Heck, I have an invention for them that would sell at least a $$$Billion… Yet they do not let Outside Inventions in because their R&D didn’t think it up first ??? HP and Mark Please Note, Sometimes you have to think OUTSIDE your box and Let Inventions in from the outside. The problem with current R&D departments is they are a closed loop Old Boys and Girls Club. Yes it is possible those of us toiling out here in our GARAGES ( where HP began) do have INVENTions worthy of note.
You seem to slight the board’s decision and this may due to the fact that neither you nor any of us know enough of the details on Hurd’s systematic and intentional misconduct.
With due respect to your psychic abilities – one thing is evident from this and history that the only thing “scientific” about business is – financial accounting. This is what got AlCapone in trouble and so did Mark Hurd.