Mark Hurd’s letter to the troops
SV Watcher posted the text of a message that went out to HP employees from Mark Hurd today. Looks like the official corporate values are pretty much the way I remember:
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.
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.
He also mentions that he believes the current board flap has nothing to do with the strategy or operations of Hewlett-Packard. I agree, provided it gets resolved promptly and fairly.
Gene Becker, who’s still at HP, is starting to think about what the HP Way 2.0 might look like. But a set of values or ideals is just words on paper until people begin to live and breathe by them, and people will learn them by their shared experience. The board affair is a great “teachable moment” in progress, the question is - what lesson gets taught?
The HP board is holding an unscheduled meeting over the weekend. Patricia Dunn has apparently offered to resign if they ask, but isn’t volunteering to step aside. Perhaps there are more facts here in her support, but let’s see what lessons we learn. So far it looks like “Don’t get caught”.
See also: What would Bill and Dave do?
Tags: hp, hpq, hwp, corporate, governance, business, ethics, management, leadership, siliconvalley, culture
