david packard

The HP Way was not gentle. The principles that Bill Hewlett and David Packard set down to run Hewlett-Packard, HP, are not always accurately reported. For example, recently I heard a seminar where the speaker waxed on about corporate values. The speakers cited the HP Way, and nowhere is there a mention of a bottom line. I beg to differ. It’s rule number one. Packard writes, profit, [is] a measure of success, a source of strength; maximize it so long as you do so in ways consistent with the other objectives;...

The HP Way is legend. It was Hewlett-Packard’s set of guiding principles - a sort of yardstick - a road map. I had not been with the firm very long when I first heard the words HP Way. At an HP staff meeting, a manager berated one of the team. The subordinate responded without blinking, “that’s not the HP Way.” The manager changed tone immediately. At that moment the founders’ principles were in the room even though Hewlett and Packard where elsewhere....