Audio for this transcript available
Russ: I'm Russ Capper and my guest for this segment is Carly Fiorina. Carly, welcome to the BusinessMakers Show.
Carly: It's great to be with you Russ.
Russ: Let's start with today. How do you spend your days here in January 2007?
Carly: Laughs... Well you know one of the great gifts I have right now is the gift of freedom. And so I spend my days doing things that are interesting to me. Just for example today I was in Syracuse NY giving a speech, a then I'm talking with you and later this afternoon I'm going to board meeting of a technology company that I'm on the board of. I'm engaged with a lot of causes that are important to me - so for example the initiative for Global Development which is about focusing business people and policy makers on the alleviation of extreme poverty around the world. Vital Voices which is an organization focused on empowering women in developing economies around the world. Freedom House which is a long standing organization that tracks the progress of democracy around the world. These are just examples of things that I spend my time doing. Causes that I feel are important to me that I can learn something and can make a positive difference at the same time.
Russ: Sounds like it's a fulfilling day. You are the first woman to be a CEO of a Fortune 20 company, is that correct?
Carly: That is correct yes.
Russ: OK, and you mentioned your interest in women's business initiatives what would you recommend to a young lady in 2007 to prepare for the future.
Carly: Well you know my history is perhaps not all that helpful. I studied medieval history and philosophy in college. I went to law school and dropped out and my first exposure to business was as a secretary receptionist. I had no plan to become an entrepreneur or business woman but what I would say is this - I think people need to find what they love. Success requires passion Success requires courage and risk-taking and tons of hard work. But I guess I didn't have a plan to become a CEO. I did throw myself into every challenge that came my way. And I wasn't afraid to answer the door when opportunity knocked. But the first and toughest choice for me as an adult was to figure out that I hated law school and to spend the time to find what I really loved which turned out to be business. And by the time I had come to HP I had been considered and had considered myself other CEO opportunities. So by that time I knew that it was certainly possible if not probable that I would be a CEO one day. The HP opportunity was so challenging and I happen to be a person that loves challenge. I run to challenge. I spent a lot of time talking with the HP board before they and I made the decision. So by the time that I arrived there I felt like I had done my homework. I knew why I said yes and I knew I was ready to jump in with both feet.
Russ: Well I know that a lot of that story ends with the story in your book. So tell us about your book - Tough Choices.
Carly: Well I wrote the book because I wanted to tell the story of business as I see it which is really the story of people. A business is all about people. Of course it's about products and profit, but if you want to change products and profits you have to understand what people are doing and then you have to change what they're doing to something different to produce different results.
Russ: Makes sense
Carly: Because perhaps of my unique experiences in my unique life a I think I know a lot about people. When you start as a secretary and go all the way up you see a lot of stuff. I think I know a lot about change and I wanted to write a book about all of that. And finally I guess I would say I wanted to write an authentic book. It is why I wrote it myself. There is no ghost writer there was no collaborator and I wanted to tell authentic stories in an authentic way. Whether that was a story of my getting fired - which I tell in the first 2 pages or whether that is the story of how I learn some of my most important lessons in life from my mother and father or whether that's the story of what it took to transform a tradition bound company like HP into a leader in the 21st century.
Russ: Well I think it's a great.
Carly: Well thank you very much Russ.
Russ: About a month and a half ago, we interviewed Web Golinkin who is the CEO of RediClinic and I know for a fact that one of RediClinic's large investors is the Revolution Health Group of which you are part of correct?
Carly: Yes I am a Board member.
Russ: Tell us about the Revolution Health Group
Carly: Well Revolution Health starts with 2 fundamental premises the first is the healthcare industry desperately needs transformation. That the healthcare industry is beset by problems of cost and quality. And I think we all are familiar with some of those problems. And the 2nd fundamental premise is that consumers are part of that transformation. And in particular if you can give consumers more control over their own health and their healthcare through information through convenience through access to technology. Then the consumer can not only have a better healthcare experience, a healthier life but they can also be a change agent in the industry. And that's really the strategic logic behind the formation of Revolution Health Group.
Russ: Great - we're talking to Carly Fiorina
[Aflac Commercial]
Russ: I'm Russ Capper and I'm in the middle of a discussion with Carly Fiorina, the former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard. As you know, on the BusinessMaker Show we champion entrepreneurship what is your perspective on American Entrepreneurship in 2007.
Carly: Well first I would say that entrepreneurship is of course the driving force behind our economy and it is not simply about maintaining a standard of living. Economic power is at the foundation of political power. And so if we want the USA to continue to be the leading political power we have to do what is necessary to continue to be an economical power and that's all about entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship at its core is about risk-taking. It's about taking a chance on a new idea on an innovation and I think it's really important that as a nation we continue to celebrate risk-taking. Some times we discourage risk-taking in this country I worry a bit. We need to focus on and invest in innovation and risk-taking. I think as well that 2007 like a couple of years before it is a year in which things are being changes so rapidly by technology and so rapidly by globalization that the courage to start a new business is to be celebrated and supported. Risk taking is an easy thing to talk about but it's a much tougher thing to do. And so I hope that in our communities as well as in our policies we celebrate those people who take risk, we support those people who take risk. And we make heroes out of those people who take risks.
Russ: Cool, well you pass the BusinessMakers test....that's for sure. You have obviously had a very successful career and I want you to share with our audience what you attribute your success to - and there's one rule, no modesty allowed with this answer.
Carly: Well, I will start as I do in my book with my mother and father. Because it was my mother and father who taught me that value comes from the inside. That value is all about character, integrity, authenticity and it's not about position or power or title. That fundamental lesson about authenticity and character. It's allowed me to keep my feet on the ground. It's allowed me to make tough choices. Its allowed me to keep my soul during difficult times. My parents also taught me the value of hard work. There is no substitute for hard work. The truth is success requires you to work as hard as necessary to achieve the goal. I think other things that have been important in my success is the willingness to set high goals, aspirational goals, goals that require you to try something new. Think differently about an old problem. A lot of team work a lot of collaboration. Some of my best ideas have come from other people. And I think I have always learned to seek out other people and other ideas. So teamwork. And collaboration are just as important as hard work. The willingness to take risks the ability to run to a problem instead of running away from a problem. The willingness to always learn something new to never rest on your laurels to think I've done it all, learned it all, know it all. To always be trying some thing new, thinking of new things all those things I think have been important....
Russ: OK, Well when you talked about hard work and risks I couldn't help but think that many of the guests that we've had on The BusinessMakers Show in talking about how they built their company and achieved success would always sort of home in on this perseverance, determination thing, this relentless effort to never never never give up, even when there are just tough tough times when everything looks pretty bleak, in your career do you have any of those instances that you could share with us that you were up against a real tough situation and through sheer determination you made it through.
Carly: Well sure, I mean Compaq in Houston and you know the merger, it's hard for people to remember now because the merger is sort of universally acclaimed as a resounding success now but the truth is when we announced that merger it was incredibly controversial and there were many many many people who advised me to give it up. And so I certainly do not want to suggest that I was the only person who persevered and who was determined. Many many many others did as well. A lot of them in Houston. But I also had to persevere. And in fact, most of the burden to sell the merger a fell on me, rightfully so, I was the Chief Executive. I had to ignore a lot of advice to give it up, and I knew we were doing the right thing. I knew we could execute it, but there were days when I would tell employees as well as tell myself, that famous quote of Winston Churchill's that you just mentioned which was never ever ever ever give up.
Russ: Thank you very much...
[Aflac Commercial]
Russ: I'm Russ Capper and I'm in the middle of a conversation with Carly Fiorina, the former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard. What is in the future for you Carly, I mean there has always been speculation - there was speculation years ago that you would leave HP and to go into public office. There's lots of speculation since you left - tell us what the perfect future is for you.
Carly: Well, I can't paint the perfect future. I never have done that in my life. But I've always known the opportunities that appeal to me when they come along. So I guess what I'd say is that today I'm spending my time on a wide variety of activities I think that matter. Let me give you and example making government work better is one of my passions. So there was a story recently in USA Today that I am advising the CIA as an example. Political office I wouldn't rule it out. I feel very passionately on some issues - particularly the competitiveness of this nation and how it relates to our political power around the world. But I'm not here making an announcement. I'm not trying to be coy. I would say that today I spend my time working with policy makers working with government administrations as well as working with businesses.
Russ: Speaking of businesses, talk to us a little bit about Compaq, about what you saw there about what you liked and how that sort of fit in your vision.
Carly: Well first a Houston is a great city. I was born in Texas so I feel some native pride. And Compaq was a great company and the addition of Compaq to the traditional HP is a huge reason why HP today is the leading technology company in the world. A goal we established way back in 2002 and people laughed at me and told me I was crazy. But it was clear it could happen and Compaq was a big part of that. What Compaq brought to HP way back in 2001 when we first announced that merger to great controversy at the time, was a high end systems and service business, a PC business that was very strong in the commercial space and it gave us lots of volume and gave us the ability to build a competitive cost structure. It gave us greater global presence. All of that was important, it strengthened businesses we were already in. It strengthened markets we were already in. It gave us a customer set that the traditional HP really hadn't been very strong in. So for example, Compaq was very strong in the education market. Compaq was very strong in the government market. So when you put those 2 companies together, successfully integrating them which was a very heavy lift and 10's of thousands people worked incredibly hard to get that done, you ended up with a company that is clearly leading in its product lines its markets and is now the largest technology company in the world. I take great pride in that and thank all the many employees that are in Houston Texas for the work they did then and that they continue to do.
Russ: Carly thank you so much for giving us some of your time.
Carly: It's my great pleasure. Great to see you again.
Russ: Hear more from Carly Fiorina at thebusinessmakers.com in our Businessmakers WebXtra piece, where she shares her view on the present political climate in the USA, on off shore outsourcing, on immigration and even more on Carly Fiorina potentially running for office some day.