How much did Carly Fiorina make at HP and was it worth it?

[mrstickball]

richardhutnik said:

mrstickball said:

richardhutnik said:

mrstickball said:
....And people say we need more women CEOs :-p

Maybe companies need to stop thinking that a single person is their salvation.  The moment a company goes begging after someone, they are asking for trouble.  But I guess they myth of a single person as savior of the corporation still lingers on, particularly that mythical knight on a white horse that had nothing to do with the company, but is seen as so awesome and will save everything.  I can't believe what they threw the way of Carly to get her to sign on.

I agree. I am just joking. The persona of certain CEOs and people can be a major detriment to any company. If I were HP, there were many other things I would have done.

The reality is that their other candidate - internally-driven Ann Livermore has had a much better impact at the company, it seems.

It seems that a CEO is more likely to damage a company than do it good.  I would say there are exceptions like Jobs, but then Jobs was an original founder and knew the culture.  One would think that eventually corporations are going to work to reevaluate how they to compensation.  I do see one thing is that a degree of compensation will come from offering shares of the company, which would seem to cause an executive to get vested in the company, but it also has led to a motivation of executives to try to maximize stock prices short-term.  In tough times, companies need to think in terms of building up the right talent internally and offering path of succession.  But now, it isn't that.  It is individuals in a few years, they do their damage, and will sometimes leave before the damage manifests itself.  Along the way, it is maximize stock prices.

I don't disagree. CEOs have become celebrities rather than businessmen, and therefore their abilities aren't as important as they once were. You can look at some CEO's like Gates, Forbes, Zuckerberg, Jobs and Ellison and know that they've made huge impacts in business, but it wasn't just as a CEO, but a worker, a programmer, a marketer, an inventor and many other hats. But sadly, these types of people get replaced by business hacks from other industries that may not understand the intrinsic nature of their market.

I agree 100% that businesses need to hire from within. Sadly, in America, many companies simply care about your credentials than your work ethic, successes in your industry, and the impact you make in your field. The reality is that in some cases, these crappy businesses and CEOs have paid the price of reckless hiring, but many more are still doing it, and getting away with it due to favorable regulations, subsidies, and the like. But eventually, everyone will pay the piper for poor business practices.