John Young accomplishments at HP

 This list, VERY abbreviated in my view, is taken from the obituaries published this week about John (see the previous post).

Legacy of leadership at HP: John's tenure as CEO was marked by groundbreaking strategic initiatives.

- Computing innovation: Spearheaded the development of the HP 3000 minicomputer, UNIX-based systems, personal computers, and the PA/RISC architecture.

- Printing revolution: Led HP's successful entry into the laser printer market with innovative microprocessor integration.

- Quality and Manufacturing: Launched the ambitious "10x quality goal" in 1980, driving a company-wide focus on excellence.

- Global expansion: Established local leadership around the world, making HP a truly global enterprise.

- Time-to-Market: Accelerated innovation cycles to meet rapidly evolving industry demands.

Throughout these changes, John upheld and evolved the "HP Way," blending innovation with an enduring culture of respect, ethics, and technical rigor.

I could add much to each of these stories, and in fact, our book (Ray Price and Chuck House, The HP Phenomenon, Stanford Press, 2009) does so (some even say ad nauseum,  but I think that is a chary description).

But let's add some points here.   Yes, many of those computing innovations happened under John's tenure.  There were of course others who played key roles

1. John did spearhead the HP-PA RISC program, and he did drive the entry (over Packard's vote) to enter PC's, although it was a long struggle.   The original HP 3000 and HP UNIX machines owed little directly to John, IMHO.  The handheld calculators weren't mentioned, and John was not involved with them to any degree.

2. Dick Hackborn gets full credit for the HP laser printing success, along with unsung heroes at HP Labs including Don Hamond (and Hewlett's own role with Canon).   John was a skeptic for a very long time, feeling that HP was just 'fronting' for Canon and the partnership might not work.  It did work, to the tune of several hundred billion dollars for HP, and John did of course support that.

3. Quality.   This was one of John's unique contributions, commissioning Craig Walter to lead a 10x campaign that was brilliant, and made HP stand out.   One wishes that succeeding CEOs had understood this aspect, which has in places tarnished considerably by now.   John brought the idea from a Stanford study group, and he was one of very few US CEOs who appreciated this topic before Kanban and Kaizeen and Deming and the Baldrige award became buzz-words.

4. Global expansion.   The insight and original leadership here was Bill Hewlett.  John was supportive throughout, but was not to my knowledge ever a key leader on this one.  The company was, however, as HP was one of the first US companies with operations in the UK, western Europe, and Japan, and then later in India and Mexico among others.

5. Time-to-market.    John grabbed the "Return Map" ideas that we intro'd in Corporate Engineering, and trotted them first to HP Accounting, and then to Fortune Magazine, and even got Ray Price and me into the Harvard Business Review.   John's enthusiasm for this was unparalleled, and without his bold encouragement, it would never have happened.  The net was roughly a 2x speed-up in product introductions while maintaining or improving quality/cost.

Those who knew the 'inside skinny' would probably also note that John and I had a quite complicated relationship.   He often winced at some of my insouciant comments in speeches, sometimes saying later that I was "the Loyal Opposition ".   But my respect and reverence for his perspective and leadership is second only to my admiration and awe about Bill and Dave themselves.   What a privilege it was to work with him so long and so closely.