I had the opportunity to hear Dion speak at a luncheon not long back. He was addressing a group, perhaps 100 or so, of HP senior execs, with a vision of where the PC business 'had been, is, and is going." I'd not met him before, and it was stimulating, to say the least.
At the end, I introduced myself, commenting that he had the "fire, the energy, and the perspective" that made me proud of HP over all these years--WELCOME ABOARD. Especially so, though I didn't say it, by comparison with his predecessor.
He spent considerable time on one anecdote, when he came from Australia to Japan for Acer, and they had a very big pending order with a major Japanese firm that was to be signed the next morning, but he had been invited to a celebratory dinner that night with the President.
He went to the dinner, enjoying it a lot, and as is customary, was invited to multiple Kam-pai drinks. After a while, he demurred, and the evening continued for awhile. Very early the next morning, a telephone call to his office postponed the signing ceremony. Which, ultimately, never happened.
Now the story truly begins. Dion called on the President virtually daily, to no avail. He said he called for more than three months (is this persistence, or what), and finally the guy took the call, and explained that he "couldn't trust" this supplier if he wouldn't drink with him. Lesson learned, but multiple lessons came out of this anecdote.
The group heard him.
The next quarter was the first one in nine that HP had improved revenues and margins in PCs, beating Lenovo.
Oh, did I mention that Dion came from Acer, to Lenovo, and now to HP.
He will be terrific, and will indeed become well known in our Valley, and in this company.
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