OCTOBER 21, 2014, 7:27 AM EDT
A closer look at
the seasoned PC executive tapped to lead the new HP Inc.
“Keep your friends close
and your enemies closer” has long been a guiding rule in the military and
corporate worlds. It also helps explain the choice of Dion Weisler to lead HP
Inc., the printer and personal computer business that Hewlett-Packard plans to
split off next year. Currently executive vice president of HP’s Printing and
Personal Systems business, Weisler spent many years at Acer and Lenovo—the latter
arguably HP’s most formidable competitor in the PC business today. For HP Inc.,
it’s important to keep that knowledge in-house as it sets out on its own.
There’s little doubt Weisler, 47, is going to need every
advantage he can get in his upcoming new role. PC shipments are on a downward
trend, margins are slim, and Lenovo has been padding its lead as the No. 1
vendor, with HP trailing behind. HP’s lacking strength in mobile technologies
only adds to the pressure.
“The choices that Dion makes over the next few years will be
critical to HP’s long-term success in the PPS space,” says Crawford Del Prete,
chief research officer at IDC, the market research firm. “They can’t afford to
‘overprovision’ the market with various devices, yet at the same time, we think
they need to expand in their ability to provide a more holistic experience to
managing the mobile experience.”
Before taking on his current role, Australia-born Weisler served
as senior vice president and managing director of HP’s Printing and Personal Systems
group for the Asia-Pacific and Japan region. Weisler is credited with helping
to turn Acer into a firm that “scared the other OEMs half to death,” says Rob
Enderle, principal analyst with Enderle Group. Weisler is also seen as
instrumental to Lenovo’s success in the category. At HP, “he turned the PC unit
from a liability into an asset in a few short months,” Enderle says.
Weisler’s international experience is one of his greatest
strengths, Stephen Nigro, senior vice president of HP’s Inkjet and Graphics
Business, told Fortune.
“He also has a lot of experience in managing businesses in multiple product
categories. Personally, he’s a very detailed and fact-based sort of individual.
Also, he likes to win. You want someone leading who wants to win and has
competitive fire.”
Weisler, who holds a bachelor’s degree in computing from
Australia’s Monash University, is famous for using surfing analogies to describe his strategic vision,
Nigro says. He has long been an avid swimmer and used to swim competitively.
“Dion is very engaging and has brought a refreshing sense of energy and
enthusiasm to HP PPS,” says Bryan Ma, an IDC analyst in Singapore. Ma says he
knew Weisler in his Lenovo days as well as his time at HP covering the
Asia-Pacific region.
“A breath of fresh air” is how former HP executive Charles House
describes Weisler. House, co-author of The HP
Phenomenon: Innovation and Business Transformation and now executive director at
InnovaScapes Institute, says he met Weisler earlier this year at a private
training session for HP executives at a Stanford Graduate Business School
workshop.
“He has a keen, wry sense of humor,” House says. “He believes in
creativity, and actually seems to understand it; he exudes a high ethical
standard—something for which Hurd and Bradley were polar opposites; and he
seems self-confident, but not arrogant. He decidedly did not convey a macho
attitude—just a quiet-mannered confidence.”
For IDC’s Del Prete, what is most impressive about Weisler is
what he has not done. “He’s kept the product strategy
very focused, developing some products just for specific countries—for example,
phones in India,” Del Prete says. “This focus is very important as HP thinks
about how it evolves in the client space.”
Weisler’s deep understanding of the supply chain will be very
useful in his new position—particularly given the PC industry’s thin margins,
says Bob O’Donnell, founder and chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research. Indeed, “in terms of knowledge and
experience, Weisler will be hard to beat,” says Charles King, principal analyst
at Pund-IT.
Weisler is already thought to be one of the best PC executives
in the industry, Enderle says. “He could have a massive hit if he can get HP’s
potentially market-leading, high-speed 3D printer to market.”
Mobility is another matter. Phones, tablets, perhaps even
wearable devices—all are challenges that HP has yet to successfully address.
“As we all know, mobility is much more than just devices, and Dion seems to
recognize that,” Ma says. “But in almost all of my discussions with HP PPS,
their response to ‘mobility’ is still very device-centric. In fact it’s HP’s
Enterprise Services team that seems to be in a better position to transform
businesses. So, I’m watching to see how HP Inc. will either build or partner
with others—including Hewlett-Packard Enterprise—on how to deliver an
end-to-end solution rather than just talking about tablets like it does today.”
But that’s part of the job. Weisler’s new role “certainly isn’t
a position for the faint of heart,” King says. If he succeeds, “the IT industry
will be talking about it for years to come.”
