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Thud.
Some combination of American and America West lost my luggage between Puerto Rico and Phoenix. Two days later it's still M.I.A. That may be why I'm cranky. But it's not why I literally teared up Friday afternoon (0929) as I began to speak to a techie customer gathering sponsored by Hexaware.
My raw emotions erupted because of one sentence I had just read in USA Today:
"I do not accept personal responsibility for what happened."—Patricia Dunn, former Chairman, Hewlett-Packard, sworn testimony before the United States House of Representatives on 28 September 2006.
Forty autumns ago in Vietnam, a careless enlisted surveyor in my detachment was badly injured while we were out in bad-guy land trying to site a prospective landing strip. The sailor was in the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reason. Frankly, what he did was stupid. But as we Navy sorts with legal command responsibility say, "It happened on my watch. Therefore it's my problem." The rumor spread throughout the battalion that the kid was careless. I proactively went to my Commanding Officer's hut, entered unbidden, stood at attention, and told him bluntly, "I f^&*ed up, Captain." It was not a noble gesture on my part. It was as it should be: The preventable, as I saw it, accident had "happened on my watch." It was therefore & unequivocally my responsibility. Period. No question. Why the hell else would my Marine Corps uncle, Lieutenant General H.W. Buse, Jr, bemedaled survivor of Guadalcanal and Korea, have sworn me in as Ensign T.J. Peters, USN, 5 months before?
I moved to a youthful Silicon Valley in 1970, and stayed 30 years. I was around for the founding, among others, of Apple and Sun. On one or more occasions I heard Steve Jobs or Scott McNealy say, in effect or precisely, "When we grow up we want to be like Hewlett-Packard." Insanely competitive Scott was still saying it when HP became his principal rival. He was dismissive of HP's technology compared to Sun's—but still in awe of this seminal, defining Silicon Valley institution.
HP, in an ever crazier industry, made its full share of marketplace slips. But its character (HP's true "core competence") was our collective bellwether and fog-cutting lighthouse in a raging sea.
On September 28th that glorious era ended.
"I do not accept personal responsibility for what happened." —Patricia Dunn, chairman.
Some are comparing the HP leaks investigation to Enron and Worldcom. On the one hand, that's ridiculous. Tens of thousands of loyal employees were not left pension-free, for one thing. But on the other hand, the HP fiasco is worse. Enron and Worldcom were Johnnies-come-lately. While many of us admired their daring do, we sure as hell never thought of them as models of rectitude. That honor was left to HP and a tiny handful of others—e.g. Johnson & Johnson, UPS, Medtronics.
Bernie Ebbers reported to the Big House last week to pay for the Worldcom mess. He'll probably die behind bars. Also last week, Andy Fastow was formally handed his sentence for masterminding the Enron crookedness. And with a resounding thud, HP fell from grace—departed the thin ranks of Big Business at its best.
Accuse me of histrionics if you will. HP hasn't been "iconic" for a while now, I suppose. But, I contend, until last week, when the former Chairman denied responsibility and several others "took the Fifth," the certifiable end to a Dynasty of Character & Excellence had not occurred.
Thud.
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AND CEO Mr. Hurd in the same article " ... the buck stops with ME ... I should have known ..." [even though he is NEW enough he probably DID NOT]
Posted by sean at October 2, 2006 10:13 AM
My first boss told me 'If I know then I am responsible - if I don’t know I should know.' That stuck with me and when 'secretaries' existed I never used the excuse - 'It was a typing error by the secretary.' If there was a mistake in the letter I signed then it was my fault, not the secretary. I am saddened but not surprised by the case you highlight. Where does integrity fit with this and what example does this set to front line workers?
Posted by Trevor Gay at October 2, 2006 10:39 AM
Sean, I have no inside knowledge, but what I'm reading suggests that Hurd was cognizant enough that he should have been on Red Alert. "Hear no evil ..." doesn't cut it.
Posted by tom peters at October 2, 2006 11:02 AM
Couldn't agree with you more, Tom. It's completely appalling to see how the senior team at former industry icon (and my former employer) HP has this terrible attitude. It's really the Fiorina fiasco all over again, isn't it?
What's worse is that if the current executive team would have just followed Bill and Dave [Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard]'s original company-forming dictum of "The Next Bench", they would never have approved any investigation as they would surely not have been investigated by these fly-by-night companies out of Florida either.
A sad, sad day.
Posted by Dave Taylor at October 2, 2006 11:43 AM
Fully agree, and what makes me even more sad is that it illustrates how endemic the problem is...children, politicians, business, customer service, no one wants to accept responsibility it seems. Mind you our propensity for legal cases has probably hindered the desire for truth. Truth now can be more painful to the pocket than hiding it. Society has a lot to answer....or am I just getting old!
Posted by Anna Farmery at October 2, 2006 12:11 PM
Reminds me of a line one boss said to me once, "I remember things the way they should have been." THUD.
Posted by Randy Cantrell at October 2, 2006 12:14 PM
Well said Anna – Nope … you are not getting old your just getting correct. I too am saddened about lack of ethics and integrity among many business leaders. That's why I have developed 'The Nine Fruits of Leadership' a framework for leaders using these competencies; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Of course the ‘macho’ managers will have us believe these are 'soft' aspects of management and leadership - I happen to believe they are not only the 'right' competencies they are also the 'hardest' to live by, but ultimately the most rewarding. Happy to share my article on this with you if you wish.
Posted by Trevor Gay at October 2, 2006 1:27 PM
A sad day to be sure.
My first ‘big’ job was with HP and I’m so grateful. HP shaped who I am as an employee and corporate citizen. I value my training directly from Bill and Dave’s founding principles that business integrity ALWAYS comes first. Patricia Dunn is an embarrassment to all who ever proudly ‘carried the HP flag’ and still consider themselves part of the greater HP family.
Did you learn nothing during your tenure Ms. Dunn?!
Posted by Rachel at October 2, 2006 1:30 PM
"Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth." Emerson
At the end of the day we all get to look at ourselves in the mirror. I wonder what Patricia sees or if she cares. Perhaps, like other recent examples before her, she just figured that she'd get away with it.
Posted by Kate at October 2, 2006 1:46 PM
The underlying problem is that everyone truly believes themselves to be honest.
Read why: http://www.sandboxwisdom.com/sandbox_wisdom/2006/07/truth_eight_fro.html
Posted by Tom Asacker at October 2, 2006 3:09 PM
If the HP board has any guts or leadership, they will throw Hurd out with Dunn.
You are CEO, and you hear your underlings are conducting investigations of your board of directors, and you don't try to understand the details and how far it plans to go?
and then beg ignorance?
If you told me before I read about Hurd's and Dunn's testimony, I wouldn't have believed you.
Posted by Jeff at October 2, 2006 4:23 PM
You are so right Tom! What amazes me though is the stock price has been steadily increasing.
With the obvious leadership and management issues, it will be interesting to watch the share price over the next 6 month to 1 year.
Posted by Steve at October 2, 2006 4:58 PM
Reminds me of another 'leader' ... who said:
"I stated in very specific terms—and I state again to every one of you listening tonight these facts—I had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in; I neither took part in nor knew about any of the subsequent coverup activities; I neither authorized nor encouraged subordinates to engage in illegal or improper campaign tactics." 8-13-73
Sad. Imagine what it must feel like to work for HP and to have actually looked up to these people.
Thud--Thud
...
Posted by Jeff Pasquale at October 2, 2006 9:03 PM
Patricia Dunn needs to be turned over sombody's knee and spanked like the brat that she is.
Lack of character.
Nonsense like that turned me away from the corporate world many years ago, and inspired me to launch my own company.
Posted by Erick Blackwelder at October 2, 2006 10:23 PM
Tom
Here is a question for you... If, as I truly believe to be the case, there have been (and there still are) millions upon millions of well meaning, ethical, moral, god fearing, honest, and simply "good" people working in corporate America - Why do so many evil rascals make it to the top of the ladder?
Richard
Posted by Richard Lipscombe at October 2, 2006 10:34 PM
I have to disagree! The saddest day for HP was when Ms Fiorina manipulated HP shareholders into approving the destructive merge with Compaq.
Patricia Dunn saved HP, she did not destroy HP, since Patricia showed Carly the door and Patricia brought in Mark Hurd.
The investigation into directors was specifically for the good of HP, and Patricia appropriately did not specify the details of that investigation because she was a potential subject of same. Indeed, Patricia herself was pretexted by the investigators.
The sound bite quoted by Tom Peters was just that, a sound bite. It was forcefully extracted from Patricia during the hearing by a questioner requiring a simplistic "yes" or "no" answer from Patricia, clearly for the purpose of getting a quotable sound bite for the media. And it worked well, unfortunately.
Posted by Gary Quakenbush at October 3, 2006 12:54 AM
I am a career Navy officer and I'm with you-if you are in charge and some happens-you're responsible. End of story.
As part of that, you need to make sure your people know that they HAVE TO keep you informed and what behavior you expect of them. This goes along way to keeping things on track.
Sometimes a leader will be punished for something they didn't know about/couldn't do anything about. That's life in the big city and why the compensation package is more substantial.
As far as I'm concerned, misbehaving CEOs need to continue to be sent to prison like the common criminals that they are.
Posted by kurt w at October 3, 2006 2:33 AM
As an avowed contrarian who'd love to take issue with this, and as one who believes that "It happened on my watch" is a very good rule of thumb but not a binding rule, I'm trying to find somewhere to disagree with Tom's post. I can't!
What sickens me about this case is the way blame is now being moved down the chain. Ms. Dunn says she was assured it was legal; Counsel says she got one of her people to check it out and he said it was legal; 3rd parties are quoted and blamed. No-one admits that this was an ultra-sensitive, barely legal project that relied on judgement calls that they have to accept responsibility for. Before you know it, the blame will have moved even further down the line and the janitor will be in court and taking the rap. I try hard to be closer to the sceptical end of the scale than the cynical but I cannot resist this quote from Ambrose Bierce:
"Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility."
Posted by Mark JF at October 3, 2006 3:27 AM
Perhaps the slide began for a younger generation when a President proclaimed, "It depends what the meaning of 'is' is." The bar keeps getting set lower for integrity. Thanks Patricia.
Posted by David Porter at October 3, 2006 7:32 AM
OUTRAGEOUS! Imagine Ms. Dunn actually took the advice of her law firm and stayed silent - the nerve to NOT attract shareholder lawsuits by the score!
LITIGATION "rules" USA [liberalism] - Zero Cap on frivolity = M.D.'s dearth in Washington state for example - why practice in WA and get sued to the max?
Posted by sean at October 3, 2006 8:05 AM
I have to take issue with Richard's post. I haven't found the folks at the top of corporate ladders to be any more likely to be rascals than the folks further down. They may be smarter and they may get bigger headlines when they're exposed, but rascality seems to me evenly distributed through the population.
Richard also uses the word "evil." Whatever Patricia Dunn might be, I don't see evil there. I DO see bad judgment. I do see "target fixation" as I wrote in my blog last week (http://blog.threestarleadership.com/2006/09/26/target-fixation-at-hp.asp).
As others have said, none of that lifts the responsibility from Ms Dunn or Mr. Hurd. I'm a former Marine, if you're in charge, you're responsible.
What is also dreadfully sad about all of this, is that the HP Way now seems to be only referenced in the past tense.
Posted by Wally Bock at October 3, 2006 8:11 AM
As a former HP team member, my perspective is that the "improprieties" at HP are only the tip of the iceberg - for ALL American companies. The depth of "situational ethics" that pervades our corporations is simply a reflection of the change in character-at-large in America today. Most people don't think in terms of absolute 'right' and 'wrong,' only in terms of what's 'appropriate' for the situation. Ethics, laws, and regulations are all only as meaningful as the person's current desire to follow them. Until we begin teaching, and believing, that there can be a truly absolute level of right and wrong, this moral quagmire is bound to continue, perhaps even become worse.
Posted by David Vugteveen at October 3, 2006 8:49 AM
Sean - we may have a "chicken and egg" situation here. If shareholders (and others) have a presumption that the truth will not be told - for whatever reason - how else to get at it than to sue?
My first serious job was at DEC, so in a way I'm now a former HPer by corporate geneology. There was a story told in the company in my time that a senior mananger in a presentation to Ken Olson turned to a subordinate for an answer to a question Ken had posed. Ken insisted that either the senior manager answer the question or that the presentation would have to stop - "if you don't know what's going on in your own organization how can I take your proposal seriously" it was said that Ken asked. The story may be apocryphal, but the sentiment was part of our daily routine.
Posted by Tom Maloney at October 3, 2006 9:47 AM
Robin Williams put it nicely, "If you're violating your standards faster than you can lower them, time to go away." Of course, for him that meant rehab. For corporate leaders, the meaning is different.
http://leaningtowardwisdom.blogspot.com/2006/09/if-youre-violating-your-standards.html
Posted by Randy Cantrell at October 3, 2006 10:51 AM
Helllo
I was following your blog from quite a long time. Now i and friends have started a new blog. I would be happy if you and your readers take take a chance to visit and comment about us -
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Posted by Aditya at October 3, 2006 12:56 PM
For a leader to stand up and say that they take full responsibility seems necessary but not sufficient. Several instances come to mind where political or business leaders have used the right words, but then followed them up with reasons why they were not actually at fault. This seems a greater lack of integrity: to 'take responsibility' without admitting any fault, accepting any consequences, or instigating any change.
discount viagra onlineMs. Dunn was at least honest - she didn't believe that it was her responsibility.
Posted by Larry at October 3, 2006 2:49 PM
I have to wonder what she was thinking, if she was doing the thinking. Could it really mean so little for Ms. Dunn to utter such words? viagra generic paypal
http://www.hw2live.squarespace.com/hw2live/2006/10/3/not-responsible.html
Posted by Umoja at October 3, 2006 10:50 PM
The person in charge is responsible - period
Having said that I think it's worth digging a little deeper - is running a large company simply too complex for companies to get it right all the time?
Posted by PaulH at October 4, 2006 2:19 AM
Hi Paul - I think your suggestion is probably the right answer. The obsession with becoming 'larger' means the person at the top is removed from reality through unnecessary layers of complexity. The person at the top however is still the one responsible - there is excuse - no hiding place and they have to carry the can. 'I didn’t know' is notan acceptable defence. viagra with mastercard buy
As a life long supporter of Tony Benn I am attracted to his 5 questions to anyone with power:
1 What power have you got?
2 Where did you get it from?
3 How did you get it?
4 To whom are you accountable?
5 How can we get rid of you?
Posted by Trevor Gay at October 4, 2006 5:51 AM
I am reminded of;
Excellence & Do the Right Thing
I believe HP's customers will do both of these things in time, when contracts and relationships permit
Posted by Patrick Stapleton at October 4, 2006 7:10 AM
In a mid-term election year this won't be pretty for Dunn or HP. Expect to see Hurd testify - this time under oath in a criminal proceeding - again.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2006/tc20061004_193271.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily
Posted by John Minnihan at October 4, 2006 11:22 AM
I've been thinking about this issue of accountability and responsibility a lot in recent years, as I specialize in regulatory work in the pharmaceutical industry. And I have come to a conclusion: "due diligence" is not a goal or an accomplishment anymore -- it's a fig leaf to cover a person/department/company for the absolute bare minimum job performance.
I have lost count of the number of times I have pointed out that a project is violating the spirit if not the letter of a federal regulation only to be told that the issue need not be addressed. We filled out a form and the client signed it. We had done our due diligence. That the violation still exists is irrelevant. Move along, nothing more to see here.
I can't help but think of the Vioxx case. I wonder how many times those words were spoken at Merck -- we didn't throw away those pieces of paper, we've done our due diligence. We notified management once with no response, but we've done our due diligence. We submitted the required forms for all the heart attacks, we've done our due diligence.
So I guess that helps crystallize the question: exactly how much diligence is really due? Obviously, not enough.
Posted by Constance Reader at October 4, 2006 11:48 AM
And perhaps the explanation of why Patricia Dunn said what she did ... this just popped up on my WSJ alerts: "California's attorney general plans to seek indictments against former H-P Chairman Dunn and others involved in the company's controversial leak investigation."
It's not an excuse for her, but maybe she was looking ahead to such an eventuality.
Posted by cathy mosca at October 4, 2006 2:34 PM
Wally
Thanks for "your answer" to my question: it is an interesting answer because it prompts me to ask at least one more question... What happened to "the HP way" which was a corporate culture that so many people around the globe wished to emulate? Remember the "HP way" was actually a "culture of discipline" built over many years by two outstanding Americans both of who [it is said by people fortunate enough to know them] were impeccable in their constant pursuit of inspirational leadership, sound management, true friendship, and colleagial bonding.
Stay well and have fun!
Richard
Posted by Richard Lipscombe at October 4, 2006 4:49 PM
What happened to the HP way?
Beats me. This isn't something I analyzed or was even aware of until this last week. I just noticed that the only people who were even mentioning the HP Way were people outside the company, folks like you and me.
I suspect that the HP Way died at the hands of quarterly profit demands and the pressure for growth and more growth. There was no funeral for the HP Way. The company just re-assigned the old fellow to the historical interest department because it was unsightly to have HP Way around when you were trying to devour Compaq and be like all the other companies.
Posted by Wally Bock at October 5, 2006 7:21 AM
It just occurred to me that I wonder if Bob Tomasko has any insight on this.
Posted by Wally Bock at October 5, 2006 7:26 AM
Compare the comments of Patricia Dunn with that of Steve Job's.
Patricia - "I do not accept personal responsibility for what happened."
Steve Jobs - "I apologize to Apple's shareholders and employees for these problems, which happened on my watch." "We will now work to resolve the remaining issues as quickly as possible and to put the proper remedial measures in place to ensure that this never happens again." Yahoo Finance 10/05/06
Hate him or love him he gets a BRAVO! this morning.
Posted by Johnny B. at October 5, 2006 8:46 AM
Managers claim to be entrepreneurs, although the financial conditions of their contracts have a very limited downside risk, it normally ends with 0 (zero). Therefore companies should require a capital commitment of their managers. They should buy in with a high cash equity-investment, at least the double of their annual compensation, as a kind of personal entrepreneurial liability. This could improve their behaviour towards a broad corporate responsibility significantly.
Posted by Horst Schueberl at October 5, 2006 11:20 AM
Dear Tom:
Unbelievable.
Just unbelievable.
The problem of ethics and irresponsibility is growing. However companies and people don't accept it.
This problem will grow until people once again understand that ethics (and MORAL) is necessary not only for business but also for everything we do.
A person that don't understand that is responsible for his actions and others he have in charge, will never understand the difference between doing things good or doing them bad.
With best regards
Juan Miguel Robles Vargas
General Manager
Deisa
Guadalajara, Mexico
Posted by Juan Miguel Robles Vargas at October 5, 2006 2:22 PM
You have all declared Ms. Dunn guilty before she was even indicted. Now that formal charges have been brought, you use that as some kind of "evidence" of her misdeeds.
You want to talk about ethics? You want to talk about responsibility? You owe Ms. Dunn (at least) your silence on the issue until such time as she is formally convicted or her hirelings are convicted. You have all but hanged her with no more evidence than a newspaper story. Where are your ethics, responsibility, and sense of fair play? She may very well be guilty of something, but that's for a jury to decide, not bloggers.
The ethics question I have about this situation is whether Ms. Dunn should have taken the position in the first place considering her precarious health. Can someone in this condition exercise sound judgement? Do the medications effect decision-making? She surely has a "right" to take the job despite her health problems, but doesn't she have a "responsibility" not to take it because she may not be able to perform at the proper level?
There's more to this story than meets the eye, but you all need to climb down off the mountain top and give her the benefit of the doubt. The law says you have to, not me--innocent until PROVEN guilty.
Posted by Mike at October 5, 2006 3:24 PM
Let's put ethics and prejudgement aside. Let's go to just the concept of human factors. Human factors are used in aircraft accident investigations and I use it in decision-making and management seminars. When a mistake or error occurs it takes at least 4 failed Judgment Interference Factors. If any one of the 4 did not exist (avoided or caught) the error would not have occurred. Four chance to make something right and prevent a mistake! The Blue Angels use the concept in debriefings to catch the small lapses in judgement that can lead to catastrophic mistakes. Dunn had at least 4 chances to avoid this mess. She ignored them, didn't listen to others, or wasn't in touch. It shouldn't take a court to make it right. She should be gone.
Posted by Phil Clark at October 6, 2006 9:17 AM
I am also a former HPer, "downsized" in 2001 after 19+ years. I've ended up back in school and ironically enough am currently taking a course on Business Ethics. I consider it very unfortunate that HP is providing such an easy topic for me to write about for this course.
The problem at HP started in the mid-1990's, when the board of directors and company management allowed themselves to be caught up in the High-Tech mania that was passing for sound business judgement back then, driven by irrational stock market gamblers... I mean analysts. I thought that under Mr. Hurd they may have regained some of their sanity, but his half-hearted performance these last few weeks does not inspire confidence.
That the stock hasn't been negatively affected isn't surprising - the market is so far removed from reality today that I'm just waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under it. I wish the "correction" would be gentle, but I'm afraid it will be "really" nasty. You can only reward short-term thinking for so long before the piper demands his due -- and that time is soon.
Posted by Erwin Bush at October 6, 2006 1:12 PM
Re Wally Bock's invitation to comment on what happened to the HP Way:
How a "Way" is used is seldom built to last. A "Way" is a path to get an organization somewhere. "Ways" follow a life cycle.
Seems like HP got to where it wanted to go, and moved on to another path.
Posted by Bob Tomasko at October 8, 2006 6:17 PM
I think there is a lot of blame to go around starting with the leaker and anyone who conspired with him or protected him on the board. This extends to busy executives whose ego is too big or fragile to give up any power and I hope HP does not make that mistake again long term. Those that have responsibility should accept it and make their apologies and move on. Absolute power does corrupt and good corporate governance needs checks and balances.
Posted by Ron Carelli at October 10, 2006 1:26 AM