Note — This is the first of two three very different columns about what turns out to be the same topic.
I was driving back to college in my red 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible when a pickup truck appeared before me on the two-lane road going perhaps 20 mph under the speed limit, which was to say 25 mph slower than me. I pulled into the opposing lane to pass him and the guy punched it, accelerating quickly to keep pace with me so I could neither pass him nor pull back into his lane without hitting him. My simple passing maneuver became a death race because now a third car was added to the mix, […]
I was about to board an airplane Wednesday when Apple announced the resignation of Steve Jobs as CEO and his replacement by Tim Cook. With a couple hours to think on my flight to Charleston it became clear to me that this story is far from over and the long-term leadership of Apple has not yet been determined.
Hewlett Packard was different from other Silicon Valley companies and always a leader. By the time I met Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in the late 1970s they were nearing retirement but still active and I knew them, working occasionally for both men and for their respective foundations. Hewlett was the good cop and Packard was the bad cop, but both men had figured out through a steady process of evolution over four decades how to build and run a fantastic company. Those days are over. Though confirmed by this week’s HP decisions to change direction and ditch the PC business, let’s understand something: the HP I knew died many years ago.