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Carla Fiorina Carla Fiorina was the first CEO and Chairman of the Board of Hewlett-Packard (HP) from 1999 - 2005. Before joining Hewlett-Packard Carla was working at Lucent Technologies and AT&T. she was told to be the most powerful women in business till 2004. In the 2005 she was listed as the tenth most powerful women in the whole world. Fiorina worked in the company not for a very long time because of constant critics and controversy. She was not welcomed and popular in the company, because many of her important decisions were mentioned to be rather provoking and dubious.
For example, when she started working she decided to get rid of all portraits of company founders including David Packard and William Hewlett. As the result the portraits were replaced by her portrait. Companys no-layoff policy she considers old-school and accelerated lay-off with the purpose to increase profits and revenue. When there were massive layoffs in the HP, she decided to lease two new jets and to move her new yacht to the West coast.
She took many trips in order to set social contacts with Hollywood celebrities and politicians. These tours were considered to fortify the benefits of her developing political carrier, not the welfare of companys shareholders and employees of HP. There were suggestions that she was going to become California governor or even Senator. What is more interesting is that she has never denied such rumors. She tried to get government appointments of high-level, but she was too abrasive and harsh. All these facts are the evidence that she was criticized.
In 2002 Fiorina pushed through a controversial merger with rival company Compaq. As the result the expected benefits failed to materialize. Many critics and analysts stated that Fiorina failed to execute and to lead the company. Because of the failure the services of the company have lost significant market share.
In 2005 the stock price of the company was considerably lower if to compare with 2000. Many top managers left company. And Carla Fiorina was considered guilty for such consequences. It was her downfall as the leader. In February 2005 she was ousted as chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard. The Board of directors was threatening to reduce her responsibilities for several times.
Fiorina admitted that the Board and she had different suggestions how to execute companys strategy, but she has never criticized their decision. She could have been a good leader. She had inclinations. She was strong, confident, independent and clever. But she had to be more flexible and compliant.
She thought that only her decisions and ideas were right. She was maybe too self-confident. But some analysts claimed that she had the full potential to become a leader in the world of male business. It is known that Clara's failure to lead the company surprised many observers who thought about her as a charm and savvy woman. But it was stated that she turned out to be unable to execute the strategy of the company and to satisfy the Board of Directors. One more reason is that she misjudged key people.
But it is a matter of fact that she is a really talented woman. Her gender played no role in her career success or her failure. She was told to be a great role model for women. In March 2005 Fiorina became the President of the World Bank. Fiorina held leading positions on the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum. Nowadays Carla Fiorina is an Honorable Fellow of the London Business School.
In the beginning of September 2005 she became a director at Revolution Health Group. In October 2005 she joined the board of a Virginia-based computer security company. It is seen that inspite her failure to run Hewlett-Packard Carla Fiorina made an excellent career in the could male world. She has proved that women are worth of respecting and they are able to hold the same positions as men do. And the results will be excellent as well.
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