"The HP Way"

Check out this ad for HP Digital Cameras. You can "retro", "slim", apply other special effects to the subject and voila it has a makeover.

I think HP and fans are living a digital fantasy makeover. Since Mark Hurd arrived as CEO a few quarters ago and started to show somewhat better financial results, the talk has been the "HP Way" is back. Current thinking among many HP fans is if they only fired Pattie Dunn, the Chairperson, for the "pretexting" scandal things will go back to being "normal". Mark sent a note to his employees on Friday which had the same "our core values have not changed" message.

This company has not been normal for a while. Normal companies do not have prominent directors leave in a huff - twice in less than 5 years. You can blame Carly, Lew, Pattie - whoever, but I have not heard any CIO call HP "great" in the last 15 years.

HP may well become the world's largest tech company. But it takes the mantle from IBM. Between them they will represent $ 200 billion of utility spend every CIO I know is looking to chisel. Yet, HP longs for press recognition through bigness - while trying to control the messages and the leaks. Almost Nixonesque.

Want to see what the "HP Way" meant? Read this in The Register. The openness exudes from the pictures. You want that? You will not find that in the corporate world of HP. A couple of miles away at some mashup and web 2.0 start up - maybe.

I was shocked to see a USA Today story yesterday questioning whether Jack Welch made the right choice picking Jeff Immelt as CEO at GE 5 years ago. The man has taken a legendary company to new heights and yet the press and the investors question him.

HP and fans are delusional if they think Mark will get any better treatment in the long run from the press or investors. And he did not begin to inherit what Welch handed over. Not by a long shot.