WHAT WOULD HEWLETT AND PACKARD SAY?

摘要

IN FEBRUARY, 2005, WHEN Patricia C. Dunn replaced Carleton S. "Carly" Fiorina as chairman of Hewlett-Packard Co., she inherited a deeply flawed board. That was the conclusion of the board itself, through an audit it commissioned in the tumultuous days leading up to Fiorina's ouster. The audit revealed such problems as a lack of heavyweight outside executives and lousy communication. Dunn, a former CEO of Barclays Global Investors, set to work fixing things. The board recruited new directors, such as McKesson CEO John H. Hammergren. She hired a governance expert to help directors brush up on the latest regulations. Dunn also moved on another problem cited by the audit: Too many of the board's secret deliberations had been leaked to the business press. And oh, what a mess that last one has created.