Brave Choices - The Autobiography of Carly Fiorina

Author: Carly Fiorina (USA)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Features: In this candid and moving autobiography, Carly Fiorina reveals a side of herself unknown to the public, sharing her successes and failures with us and reminiscing about the fears and hardships of her journey. She tells us how difficult it was to be a powerful woman in the old American Telephone & Telegraph Company; she also tells us how much sweet and sour she experienced as an executive when Lucent Technologies faced the tide of division. More importantly, at the legendary yet troubled HP, despite all the resistance, Carly Fiorina still pushed the company forward with great strides. In many ways, Carly Fiorina was not just an "outsider" but also a "foreign female demon" for HP: she was a CEO hired from outside the company; in a male-dominated culture, her leadership as a woman stood out; the company valued engineers as its lifeblood, while she was a marketing expert; the employees were typical Silicon Valley "new new people," while she came from a traditional company in the eastern United States. As she wrote, "At HP, time stood still. After leaving the company's founders, employees lost their direction. They feared change—what if change meant shattering the past?" Carly Fiorina has always advocated, "At the end of the day, business is not about numbers but about people." This book will take you beyond the traditional biases of a "powerful woman" and show you the real Carly Fiorina. All of us, regardless of gender or whether we are in business, can draw inspiration from her difficult life choices... At the age of 23, Carly Fiorina dropped out of law school, full of uncertainty about her future. Twenty-two years later, Forbes magazine named her one of America's "most authoritative business women." In five and a half years, Carly Fiorina led HP through bold internal reforms, weathered the dull years in the tech industry, and successfully completed one of the most controversial mergers in the high-tech industry. However, fate can be unpredictable—she was unexpectedly fired by HP, once again making headlines around the world. Carly Fiorina has always been a topic of discussion and speculation. Yet, she has never publicly shared the many important details of her time at HP, nor has she explained the circumstances behind her bizarre dismissal, nor has she disclosed any aspects of her illustrious career. Only this time. Carly Fiorina reveals: her early career struggles, the bias of the media, clashes with HP's traditions, rumors, and the overwhelming resistance to the HP-Compaq merger... In this candid and moving autobiography, Carly Fiorina reveals a side of herself unknown to the public, sharing her successes and failures with us and reminiscing about the fears and hardships of her journey. She tells us how difficult it was to be a powerful woman in the old American Telephone & Telegraph Company; she also tells us how much sweet and sour she experienced as an executive when Lucent Technologies faced the tide of division. More importantly, at the legendary yet troubled HP, despite all the resistance, Carly Fiorina still pushed the company forward with great strides. In many ways, Carly Fiorina was not just an "outsider" but also a "foreign female demon" for HP: she was a CEO hired from outside the company; in a male-dominated culture, her leadership as a woman stood out; the company valued engineers as its lifeblood, while she was a marketing expert; the employees were typical Silicon Valley "new new people," while she came from a traditional company in the eastern United States. As she wrote, "At HP, time stood still. After leaving the company's founders, employees lost their direction. They feared change—what if change meant shattering the past?" Carly Fiorina has always advocated, "At the end of the day, business is not about numbers but about people." This book will take you beyond the traditional biases of a "powerful woman" and show you the real Carly Fiorina. All of us, regardless of gender or whether we are in business, can draw inspiration from her difficult life choices.