A Look into Carly Fiorina's Past
After a discussion with a relative (who is a HUGE supporter of Trump) about CNN's GOP Presidential Debate and who questioned Fiorina's credentials and past record, I decided to look deeper into Fiorina's past. I especially wanted to get to the truth since I thought Carly did very well at the debate and was excited for her prospects.
What did I find?
To put it into a nutshell, Carly Fiorina's past is a huge mixed bag of success, doubt and failure. On the one hand she rose to the top or near the top while working at At&T, Lucent and then Hewlett Packard. On the other, there's no doubt that she made some 'not so good' business decisions that affected thousands in a negative way.
Having said the above, I want to note that I worked in the financial corporate world at publically held companies. I know all too well the non-stop pressure to perform financially. To report positive quarterly earnings and revenues that Wall Street will love and thus increase the price of stock, which in turn makes the board as well as their shareholders happy. Not to mention helps to keep your can from getting kicked out of a job. Everyone's happy and benefits when their stock does well.
However, this constant pressure can be a source and motivator to play financial games. Some companies who have lackluster growth will purchase other companies to gain product revenue which in turn boosts the stock and market capitalization. Other company's will play accounting tricks, all legal but possibly not totally ethical in order to make their quarterly earnings/revenues look good.
In relation to Carly Fiorina's record at Lucent and HP. Yes, Carly headed up the $2.5 billion dollar joint venture of Lucent & Royal Phillips. And yes, it didn't work out and dissolved a year later. Not to mention the casualty of thousands of layoffs as a result.
Yes, Carly was also responsible for the $25 billion dollar acquisition of Compaq Computer by Hewlett Packard. Compaq at the time was the 2nd largest manufacturer of personal computers next to Dell and it looked like a perfect fit. Of course revenues increased by substantial amounts due to the acquisition and it was declared at the time a success by all accounts.
During her stint at HP, in addition to the acquisition of Compaq, she had 'doubled the size of the company to more than $80 billion, tripled innovation, quadrupled cash flow and more than quadrupled growth to 6.5 percent. She did all of this while helping the company survive the dot-com bust and the 2001 recession that followed' according to various accounts. She also broke the glass ceiling in the corporate world in regards to a woman running a Fortune 20 company. No small or insignificant feat.
Down the road however, the price of HP stock eventually fell by 50% and there was no gain in net income and debt grew. Carly Fiorina was blamed. In contrast, just to give perspective, IBM & Dell's stock also fell quite a bit at 27.5% and 3% respectively. This was around the time of the tech bust where many other companies faltered also.
After being forced to resign from HP due to the poor financial performance at the above time, Carly was never offered another CEO position. She then wrote a book titled 'Tough Choices', signed onto FoxNews Business Network as a contributor, was on various non-profit and government boards where financial and technological expertise was valued and also created her own business & charitable foundation, Carly Fiorina Enterprises.
Of course there was the unsuccessful run to replace Barbara Boxer in the California Senate. In addition she was a consultant for John McCain's campaign and was partially responsible for his choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate.
There's much more about Carly but then I'd be writing her biography.
Bottom line is that Fiorina is a force to be reckoned with. She's smart, savvy and like I said earlier, ambitious. She's had incredible successes and of course, failures too. But she has guts and seems to be almost completely fearless. She has swum with the sharks and has done quite well. There's definitely something positive to be said for anyone who has worked hard, took risks and rose to the top of their game. Especially admirable, is anyone who in addition to those successes, has had failures in a very public way like she has, but gets back in the game and aspires to even higher callings. Add to all of this her fight with cancer and there's a lot to admire and respect.
Will I still put her at the top of my list for possible GOP presidential nomination? I think so. Of course, who knows what the future will hold and what dirt the opposition will try and smear her with now that she's more in the pubic eye due to her successful debate performance. But I'm still willing to keep an open mind about Fiorina just like I am with most of the other candidates. May the best man or woman win.
What did I find?
To put it into a nutshell, Carly Fiorina's past is a huge mixed bag of success, doubt and failure. On the one hand she rose to the top or near the top while working at At&T, Lucent and then Hewlett Packard. On the other, there's no doubt that she made some 'not so good' business decisions that affected thousands in a negative way.
Having said the above, I want to note that I worked in the financial corporate world at publically held companies. I know all too well the non-stop pressure to perform financially. To report positive quarterly earnings and revenues that Wall Street will love and thus increase the price of stock, which in turn makes the board as well as their shareholders happy. Not to mention helps to keep your can from getting kicked out of a job. Everyone's happy and benefits when their stock does well.
However, this constant pressure can be a source and motivator to play financial games. Some companies who have lackluster growth will purchase other companies to gain product revenue which in turn boosts the stock and market capitalization. Other company's will play accounting tricks, all legal but possibly not totally ethical in order to make their quarterly earnings/revenues look good.
In relation to Carly Fiorina's record at Lucent and HP. Yes, Carly headed up the $2.5 billion dollar joint venture of Lucent & Royal Phillips. And yes, it didn't work out and dissolved a year later. Not to mention the casualty of thousands of layoffs as a result.
Yes, Carly was also responsible for the $25 billion dollar acquisition of Compaq Computer by Hewlett Packard. Compaq at the time was the 2nd largest manufacturer of personal computers next to Dell and it looked like a perfect fit. Of course revenues increased by substantial amounts due to the acquisition and it was declared at the time a success by all accounts.
During her stint at HP, in addition to the acquisition of Compaq, she had 'doubled the size of the company to more than $80 billion, tripled innovation, quadrupled cash flow and more than quadrupled growth to 6.5 percent. She did all of this while helping the company survive the dot-com bust and the 2001 recession that followed' according to various accounts. She also broke the glass ceiling in the corporate world in regards to a woman running a Fortune 20 company. No small or insignificant feat.
Down the road however, the price of HP stock eventually fell by 50% and there was no gain in net income and debt grew. Carly Fiorina was blamed. In contrast, just to give perspective, IBM & Dell's stock also fell quite a bit at 27.5% and 3% respectively. This was around the time of the tech bust where many other companies faltered also.
After being forced to resign from HP due to the poor financial performance at the above time, Carly was never offered another CEO position. She then wrote a book titled 'Tough Choices', signed onto FoxNews Business Network as a contributor, was on various non-profit and government boards where financial and technological expertise was valued and also created her own business & charitable foundation, Carly Fiorina Enterprises.
Of course there was the unsuccessful run to replace Barbara Boxer in the California Senate. In addition she was a consultant for John McCain's campaign and was partially responsible for his choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate.
There's much more about Carly but then I'd be writing her biography.
Bottom line is that Fiorina is a force to be reckoned with. She's smart, savvy and like I said earlier, ambitious. She's had incredible successes and of course, failures too. But she has guts and seems to be almost completely fearless. She has swum with the sharks and has done quite well. There's definitely something positive to be said for anyone who has worked hard, took risks and rose to the top of their game. Especially admirable, is anyone who in addition to those successes, has had failures in a very public way like she has, but gets back in the game and aspires to even higher callings. Add to all of this her fight with cancer and there's a lot to admire and respect.
Will I still put her at the top of my list for possible GOP presidential nomination? I think so. Of course, who knows what the future will hold and what dirt the opposition will try and smear her with now that she's more in the pubic eye due to her successful debate performance. But I'm still willing to keep an open mind about Fiorina just like I am with most of the other candidates. May the best man or woman win.
posted by Candle in the Wind at
10:21 AM
4 Comments:
Didn't know she had a hand in choosing Sarah Palin - I thought that was a bad idea. McCain needed someone with moe gravitas. Palin was too inexperienced (Susan Martinez, Gov. of NM would have been better). But I like what Carly has been saying and she difuses the whole war on women meme the Dems have gotten away with!
Have you met far left feminists, Judy? It's considered sexist to hold open the door for them
http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/04/07/i-can-open-my-own-door-thanks.html
Any women who doesn't wilt at the first sign of... well pretty much anything men do at all, are accused of having 'internalized misogyny'.
Agree Judy and great point about her ability to defuse the war on women thing!
Thanks for your response Sines. Interesting point.
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