HP's Dunn as Newsweek Cover Girl 198
theodp writes "In The Boss Who Spied on Her Board, Newsweek likens HP Chairwoman Pattie Dunn's attempts to escape culpability with her I-knew-nothing defense to both a head of state, who wants 'plausible deniability' while ordering an assassination plot, and to Henry II, who had the Archbishop of Canterbury removed by simply muttering 'Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?' in front of his knights."
Nothing new here. (Score:3, Interesting)
Powerful people got where they are by knowing what is going on around them. There are other powerful people trying to subvert them and get their jobs. Machiavelli described the process and nothing has changed since then. They used to use spies. Now they use wiretaps.
Re:But interested enough to post? (Score:1, Interesting)
So did Google.
So did Apple.
Need I continue?
It doesn't matter what you call it, the rotten stink of corruption is ubiquitous and certain to touch all our tech and media companies
eventually. The only solution is not to build attachments or loyalties in the first place. Reject all forms of brand identification and
have the courage to try new products and tools. When they start out with promises of "Do no evil" and "We are your friends" then sure, use their
services and products. As soon as they make the first mistake show no mercy. Dump them, move on and tell all your freinds to avoid them too.
It's like an unfaithful bitch, only a stupid or insecure person makes excuses for them and gives another chance. There is no room for sentimentality
or loyalty in todays business world. HP now are just another name on the scrapheap of old "tried but failed" companies along with Sony, Apple, Google, SCO, AT&T... these companies can never mend their corrupted reputations, they are walking dead, but there are always new players and fresh blood to put your money behind.
I'm dubious about the press coverage (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not defending Dunn here. I'm just saying to take any of this "news" which is so glowing about Perkins with a large grain of salt. Perkins is quite powerful in Silicon Valley. And all of this just smells of his propaganda, designed to paint him in the best light possible.
this is just sad (Score:5, Interesting)
And so it's just sad to see their legacy trashed. I can't say why, but from the moment the board picked Carly Fiorina, things just went south. I am not an HP shareholder. I don't think I could be one until everyone on the current board was gone. If you are a shareholder, that should bother you, because I'm sure I'm not alone.
Were I a shareholder, I would propose that not a single member of the board stand for re-election, so that after some period of time a new board would run the company.
Re:Wow. (Score:3, Interesting)
We all say people like Apple should "clean their house" and stop threatening reporters and such. Well that's exactly what she did. Just like the rough slashdotter hacks to get a mailing/email address of a spammer, RIAA member, etc... It wasn't even Dunn that offically authorized it... I'm sure she just said "dig up dirt" The goal's not to bring a lawsuit against this guy, it's to get him kicked off every board he serves on! Fact of the matter is that most of the board didn't object to the investigation. The spying would have been fine for an employee alleged to do the same things.. the one resigning board member was only upset that he was not allowed to "spin" the investigation because the CEO went over the board's head because THEY weren't faithful.
This whole thing is really blown out of proportion. It's really more of a "cheating husband" thing.... people with power, position, and money, couldn't be bothered to keep the privacy of fellow board members and employees.
Re:Wow. (Score:1, Interesting)
In short this matters to the media, so they want it to matter to everyone else.
Gather round little children (Score:3, Interesting)
not sad, just inevitable w/ the corporate system (Score:4, Interesting)
But isn't that the nature of the corporate system? The officers of the corporation are legally required to maximize profits for shareholders, right? Let's see what Google says...
It is a group of people who usually lack the passion to drive the company for its business model.
The successor managers usually aren't able to execute the founder's vision, and this is especially the case if the successors are not family. Didn't the Hewlett (or was it Packard?) family fight the Compaq merger? As the founders of the company, Hewlett and Packard had the influence to graft principles onto their corporation. But once their shares were dispersed at their deaths, the family lost the power (and perhaps the will) to stand up to the state mandate to maximize profits.
Also witness the long, slow decline of General Motors [thetruthaboutcars.com] following the parting of founder Billy Durant.
This is, incidentally, why China is going to win. They make plans for the future based on their sense of several thousand years of history, whereas we in the west only have a couple hundred years, and anything older than two or three generations is largely forgotten.
Re:When in Rome, etc. (Score:2, Interesting)
>Well said, in fact under the UCMJ a soldier MUST disobey an illegal order (aka shoot the prisoners).
I've known former soldiers who have reported different experiences with this. Some, including an officer who had graduated from the US Military Academy, told me about drills that were more-or-less routine, where illegal orders would be given (with relatively mundane consequences) and if the cadet followed the order, he would have faile the test and would be disciplined for it.
Others have told me that the actual situation is that you follow orders, period, without question.
So I basically have an artillery man in one ear with one story, and a commissioned officer in the other ear, with a completely different story.
I would expect the latter to be the more common case. The idea of refusing to follow an order certainly does not occur to the typical enlisted man, who would consider the consequences to be too severe to even entertain the notion, but then, it's not a situation the average enlisted man encounters anyway, My Lai's and Hadithas being vanishingly rare.
Re:Will no one rid me of this troublesome presiden (Score:1, Interesting)