We were invited to an interview -- another 15 minutes of Andy Warhol's "fame quotient" -- last week, which is on the web, at:
http://capradio.org/programs/insight/default.aspx?showid=7708&bhcp=1
I didn't name her, but our niece is working at the Roseville division there
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Discussion w David Liddle
After a Brian Arthur lecture last night at Global Business Network (GBN, now part of Monitor Group), we adjourned to dinner, where the question came up about the demise of "Big R" such as Bell Labs and XeroxPARC. Both Arthur and David Liddle at the table had been at PARC during the "heyday" which they said was 1972-1982 (altho Arthur thought the best work was actually in the mid- to late-eighties, when he was there).
Liddle proferred the idea that only large, monopolistic companies have been able over time to support "Big R" and when the monopoly fails (with the AT&T consent decree in 1984, for example, or the success of HP LaserJet and other incursions into Xerox's main lines), the game is mostly up. He was more sanguine than, for example, Judy Estrin (or me for that matter) about the way in which Venture Capital is actually providing a more efficient research model for academics to get their great ideas capitalized. Arthur's clever retort was to say that in Sacramento it is pronounced "Cah-Pit'-al-ized"
The reason to include this in an HP story blog was that Liddle offered, unsolicited, that HPLabs has been the most singularly successful "R" lab in the world over time, in terms of actually transforming the parent company, as well as in keeping a "low profile" and not setting the "R" expectations particularly high. Music to my ears!
Liddle proferred the idea that only large, monopolistic companies have been able over time to support "Big R" and when the monopoly fails (with the AT&T consent decree in 1984, for example, or the success of HP LaserJet and other incursions into Xerox's main lines), the game is mostly up. He was more sanguine than, for example, Judy Estrin (or me for that matter) about the way in which Venture Capital is actually providing a more efficient research model for academics to get their great ideas capitalized. Arthur's clever retort was to say that in Sacramento it is pronounced "Cah-Pit'-al-ized"
The reason to include this in an HP story blog was that Liddle offered, unsolicited, that HPLabs has been the most singularly successful "R" lab in the world over time, in terms of actually transforming the parent company, as well as in keeping a "low profile" and not setting the "R" expectations particularly high. Music to my ears!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
check out the Harvard Biz Review OnLine
Michael Schrage, the wellknown innovation commentator, now a Fellow at the MIT Sloan School, penned some nice words for the Harvard Biz Review online series two weeks ago:
"The Delicate Art of Unauthorized Innovation" http://blogs.hbr.org/schrage/2010/03/the-delicate-art-of-unauthoriz.html
He wrote: '"Better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.' That's been the rallying cry of organizational intrapreneurs and innovators.... The paradigmatic story is of Hewlett-Packard's Chuck House, who persisted ... despite being directly told by... David Packard to knock it off.... House was forgiven -- and has co-authored what is arguably the best book about HP."
Nice words!!! Michael e-mailed me later to say "I'm a fan. It's a terrific book. Congratulations!" I look forward to meeting him someday....
"The Delicate Art of Unauthorized Innovation" http://blogs.hbr.org/schrage/2010/03/the-delicate-art-of-unauthoriz.html
He wrote: '"Better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.' That's been the rallying cry of organizational intrapreneurs and innovators.... The paradigmatic story is of Hewlett-Packard's Chuck House, who persisted ... despite being directly told by... David Packard to knock it off.... House was forgiven -- and has co-authored what is arguably the best book about HP."
Nice words!!! Michael e-mailed me later to say "I'm a fan. It's a terrific book. Congratulations!" I look forward to meeting him someday....
Monday, April 12, 2010
commentary from Bill Terry
Got a thoughtful note from EVP Bill Terry the other day -- he'd finished the book, and had 109 comments to share! Took us four hours to go through the material for which he had questions, additional information, or another perspective. It was a marvelous time, made all the more pleasant by a complimentary lunch and convivial mood. More importantly, it gave me some new insights, several important errata, and even more respect for a great gentleman who took more than immodest time to help on this archival project.
Many others have sent helpful illuminating notes, points of view, and corrections. All of these are sincerely appreciated; this is a harder task than you might imagine, and 'getting it right' is not an easy thing to do (maybe even an impossible belief -- who's to say 'who's right'?). ALL input is valuable
Many others have sent helpful illuminating notes, points of view, and corrections. All of these are sincerely appreciated; this is a harder task than you might imagine, and 'getting it right' is not an easy thing to do (maybe even an impossible belief -- who's to say 'who's right'?). ALL input is valuable
Friday, March 12, 2010
the University of Illinois talk with Ray
For any who might be interested, the full 75 minute presentation at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, described earlier in February, is now available for viewing at http://engineering.illinois.edu/videos/ray-price-and-charles-house-discuss-hp-phenomenon
and what about HP alumni
I had lunch with Ken Tingley yesterday, a person not mentioned in the book. He said we met in Colorado Springs once, forty-four years ago when he was part of a Palo Alto review group and I was a presenter of some of the new displays. I didn't recall, but I had heard his name a number of times during interviews that we conducted for the book -- we just never followed up. He had been involved in HP from about 1958 through 1970 -- heydays, going from $30 million to $350M -- and he had managed International Sales as the international divisions were started, etc. He had some nice background stories, and some wonderful insights since he worked closely with Noel Eldred and the Executive team of the era.
But his chief question, at the end of an informative and pleasant luncheon, was "have you considered a book about the HP alumni?" The question he posed was a great one -- okay, this company had its great HP Way, and that turns out to have fueled the world's most consistent performing company in terms of revenue growth and consistent profitability -- how exportable was that ethos? The glib answer might say that those who left "didn't fit in" or didn't understand the HP Way, but that'd be a total cop-out. When you consider the top level management talent that was grown and nurtured at HP, and then left at the peak of their leadership days -- and we enumerated a number of them in the book -- how successfully did they take this semi-mystical methodology and culture into their next environment? If not, why not?
He named Eric Schmidt at Google, John Chambers at Cisco, Justin Rattner at Intel, Steve Wozniak at Apple, as a few who 'learned their views' at HP. I demurred, saying that each of these (and I'm not sure that they all WERE at HP to start) were only briefly at HP, and that'd be a hard thesis to defend. But certainly Rick Belluzzo, Doug Chance, Dick Hackborn's time at Microsoft, Tony Perez, and many others DID grow up in the HP milieu and did go on to lead other large companies -- how'd they do? And a number of others did startups, or near startups, such as Charlie Trimble, Bill Krause, Fred Gibbons, Ed McCracken. Tingley left HP to become CEO of Northern Tel, for example. And then a full career as a high-tech executive. How'd he feel about it? Like, this ethos was REALLY hard to transplant... and WHY could fill a volume.
It'd be a great question to examine -- another one of those Monograph opportunities!
But his chief question, at the end of an informative and pleasant luncheon, was "have you considered a book about the HP alumni?" The question he posed was a great one -- okay, this company had its great HP Way, and that turns out to have fueled the world's most consistent performing company in terms of revenue growth and consistent profitability -- how exportable was that ethos? The glib answer might say that those who left "didn't fit in" or didn't understand the HP Way, but that'd be a total cop-out. When you consider the top level management talent that was grown and nurtured at HP, and then left at the peak of their leadership days -- and we enumerated a number of them in the book -- how successfully did they take this semi-mystical methodology and culture into their next environment? If not, why not?
He named Eric Schmidt at Google, John Chambers at Cisco, Justin Rattner at Intel, Steve Wozniak at Apple, as a few who 'learned their views' at HP. I demurred, saying that each of these (and I'm not sure that they all WERE at HP to start) were only briefly at HP, and that'd be a hard thesis to defend. But certainly Rick Belluzzo, Doug Chance, Dick Hackborn's time at Microsoft, Tony Perez, and many others DID grow up in the HP milieu and did go on to lead other large companies -- how'd they do? And a number of others did startups, or near startups, such as Charlie Trimble, Bill Krause, Fred Gibbons, Ed McCracken. Tingley left HP to become CEO of Northern Tel, for example. And then a full career as a high-tech executive. How'd he feel about it? Like, this ethos was REALLY hard to transplant... and WHY could fill a volume.
It'd be a great question to examine -- another one of those Monograph opportunities!
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