Foreword
When I joined Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 1966 as a process engineer in the Medical Products Group, I had little idea that one day I would have the chance to take over the leadership of the company. But 26 years later, I was asked to become the chief executive officer (CEO), and I served in that post for the next seven years, from 1992 to 1999. As the CEO of HP, we set ambitious goals and hoped that we could go from strength to strength. We wanted to grow a great company built on its founder’s legacy, “The HP Way.” But, I could not be certain that we would grow as much as I had wanted. After all, there were certainly going to be factors beyond my control that could stymie us.
I’m proud of the fact that when my period of leadership came to ...
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