As a former HP employee I was a little confused when I first heard Carly Fiorina was running for a US Senate seat. I didn’t think it was real–I turned up the radio and sure enough, it was real. My next reaction was, “she won’t last…” but somehow she has.
I’m totally baffled that she is still in the race. She significantly damaged Hewlett-Packard, and somehow this qualifies her to run the country? I don’t say that lightly. Some facts: HP’s shares fell by more than 60% over the 6 years she was CEO. She halved HP’s R&D budget, dropping it well below IBM, Apple, and similar competitors. She sold off HP’s meat-and-potatoes (Agilent) and forced an acquisition no one wanted (Compaq).
Who knows, she might make a great politician. After all, she has a good track record for brokering deals. But will she push for deals that people want?