Pride comes before a fall and Carly Fiorina has tripped up big-style.
In the 90s, Fiorina was Wall Street’s dream ticket and darling of the media. She was a hard grafting, feisty female and a 20-year-long climb up the ranks of AT&T and Lucent Technologies had earned her the unrivalled spot as America’s most successful businesswoman.
But a fatal error – ‘Fiorina’s Folly’ – during her recent tenure as president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard has left her reputation in tatters.
Fiorina is now a cause celebre for commentators on gender prejudice in the US
Dropping out of law school in her teens, Fiorina took up a post as a secretary at Hewlett-Packard. Blissfully oblivious to her destiny, she picked up the bug for business there and, after gaining an MBA and a master of science on the side, she started an entry-level job at AT&T aged 25.
After 15 years, Fiorina was named Head of North American Operations. In 1996 she successfully guided the spin-off of AT&T’s equipment and research branch, Lucent Technologies, and in 1999 jumped ship to man (although for once this verb seems archaic in relation to the upper echelons of power) the helm of Hewlett-Packard, a Fortune 500 company with $50bn in annual sales.
Her initial welcome from the heirs of HP’s founders went sour as she promptly replaced the portraits of William Hewlett and David Packard with her own and embarked on numerous trips to socialise with movie stars and politicians – a move some think betrayed her ambition to gain an appointment with the Republican Party.
Ousted from HP in 2005 after pushing through the fiercely opposed acquisition of Compaq Computer in 2002 and presiding over tumbling shares and diminishing market share, Fiorina’s troublemaker tag will probably delay her political ambitions. But with an estimated $42m severance package, she can probably afford to wait it out.
Fiorina is now a cause celebre for commentators on gender prejudice in the US, and all too often perceptions of her achievements and failings alike are magnified through that prism.
