Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
History Part 1
I have been working in the Silicon Valley of California for many years. I have seen the ebb and flow of the corporate elite and the legacy of world renowned firms. No doubt many have left an indelible impression on me. Hewlett Packard was certainly one of the most notable. I joined H/P in the sunset years. This time is identified by the departure of the founders, the H/P Way and a serious and productive work culture where employees and the company had a desirable mutual respect for each other. I went right into the H/P corporate offices the last year of my MBA program.
I was given the opportunity to focus on management development through various methods: 1) Managing 6 day residential training programs focused on numerous cutting edge technologies and corporate intent described by the company’s executive leadership. 2) Conduct in-depth competency models on H/P’s elite worldwide performers. I spent hundreds of hours with the best and the brightest of H/P. I would conduct 1 to 2 our critical incident interviews that surfaced the actual behaviors and thought processes that made the employee exceptional. 3) The Horizon Project; this effort was the culmination of all the Organization Development effort to position the company’s workforce for the year 2000 and beyond. This meant developing training programs and technologies to get H/P as competitive as possible. We were well ahead and superbly positioned for the global market place. We were training using the Stanford Business School staff and Babson College. We were exploring the factories of the future, finance methods etc. Other H/P personnel around me worked on the 10 step product planning method, Hoshin planning and very specific functional training, for example adopting Peter Block’s “Flawless Consulting” for our internal consultants.
H/P’s light was fading and market pressures panicked H/P leadership into a rather schizophrenic and poorly focused profit center model. The brain trust was leaving the company, constant reorganizations and shifting of objectives provided the soil and detritus for the urgency addicted work place.
My H/P experience was without doubt one of the fascinating experiences in my life. In fact, from a simple learning perspective, I was an “Alice in Wonderland”. I was not from the Ivy League and I truly had the experience with working with the best and the brightest industry and academia had to offer. Many of the bleeding edge academics and consulting groups were present; people as well noted as Edger Schein, Peter Drucker, J.B. Karsgarian, Peter Block, Nancy Adler, Peter Galbraith etc. Unfortunately this time in the valley 1991, the likes of the Bob Peters and other business evangelists/despots appeared on the scene. Books like Thriving on Chaos appeared and sold by the millions. Attitudes in industry were prime dry grass driven by the winds of entrepreneurial opportunity and expanding technologies. Time to market was seen as paramount—and no cost issues mattered. Venture Capital was easy picking—even for some of the all time dumbest of ventures. The valley sense of urgency ignited and really started to burn!
To be continued…
I was given the opportunity to focus on management development through various methods: 1) Managing 6 day residential training programs focused on numerous cutting edge technologies and corporate intent described by the company’s executive leadership. 2) Conduct in-depth competency models on H/P’s elite worldwide performers. I spent hundreds of hours with the best and the brightest of H/P. I would conduct 1 to 2 our critical incident interviews that surfaced the actual behaviors and thought processes that made the employee exceptional. 3) The Horizon Project; this effort was the culmination of all the Organization Development effort to position the company’s workforce for the year 2000 and beyond. This meant developing training programs and technologies to get H/P as competitive as possible. We were well ahead and superbly positioned for the global market place. We were training using the Stanford Business School staff and Babson College. We were exploring the factories of the future, finance methods etc. Other H/P personnel around me worked on the 10 step product planning method, Hoshin planning and very specific functional training, for example adopting Peter Block’s “Flawless Consulting” for our internal consultants.
H/P’s light was fading and market pressures panicked H/P leadership into a rather schizophrenic and poorly focused profit center model. The brain trust was leaving the company, constant reorganizations and shifting of objectives provided the soil and detritus for the urgency addicted work place.
My H/P experience was without doubt one of the fascinating experiences in my life. In fact, from a simple learning perspective, I was an “Alice in Wonderland”. I was not from the Ivy League and I truly had the experience with working with the best and the brightest industry and academia had to offer. Many of the bleeding edge academics and consulting groups were present; people as well noted as Edger Schein, Peter Drucker, J.B. Karsgarian, Peter Block, Nancy Adler, Peter Galbraith etc. Unfortunately this time in the valley 1991, the likes of the Bob Peters and other business evangelists/despots appeared on the scene. Books like Thriving on Chaos appeared and sold by the millions. Attitudes in industry were prime dry grass driven by the winds of entrepreneurial opportunity and expanding technologies. Time to market was seen as paramount—and no cost issues mattered. Venture Capital was easy picking—even for some of the all time dumbest of ventures. The valley sense of urgency ignited and really started to burn!
To be continued…
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