Meg Whitman and Hewlett-Packard
A study on Meg Whitman and Hewlett-Packard
George Davies
Dr. Laura Poluka
Business 520 Organizational Behavior
9/01/13
1
A Study on Meg Whitman and Hewett-Packard
Introduction
Meg Whitman was born Margaret Cushing Whitman on August 4, 1956, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. The youngest of the Hendricks and Margaret Cushing’s three children, Meg grew up in Cold Harbor Spring, New York. Her father worked for Wall Street while her mother was a stay-at-home mom. Confident and bright, she didn’t shy from intelligence, and in 1974 she graduated from high school after just three years. She entered Princeton and earned a bachelor degree in economics. In 1979 she earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Thereafter, she landed several positions: brand manager at Proctor & Gamer, consultant at Bain & company, Disney, Stride Rite, FTD and Hasbro and the CEO of eBay. In 2009, Meg entered into politics and ran as governor of California, but lost. Interestingly, the lost turn out to be a blessing in disguise when she was appointed CEO of Hewett-Packard two years later.
Analyzing Meg Whitman’s Leadership style and Philosophy and how it Align with Hewlett-Packard’s Culture To understand what Meg Whitman, former eBay chief executive who now runs Hewlett-Packard, it is imperative and essential to revisit something she did 26 years ago. She had just become a junior partner at Bain Consulting, working for a brilliant but domineering boss, Tom Tierney. One morning Whitman walked into his office and asked if he wanted feedback about his leadership style; he nodded. Whitman grabbed a felt-tip marker and sketched a giant
2 steamroller on a nearby whiteboard. “This is you, Tom”. She explained. “You are too pushy-you are not letting us build consensus leadership”. (George, 2013) Tierney was stunned. But he eventually absorbed the message and tune down his stridency. Meg Whitman knows that a great leader must involve all levels of the
George Davies
Dr. Laura Poluka
Business 520 Organizational Behavior
9/01/13
1
A Study on Meg Whitman and Hewett-Packard
Introduction
Meg Whitman was born Margaret Cushing Whitman on August 4, 1956, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York. The youngest of the Hendricks and Margaret Cushing’s three children, Meg grew up in Cold Harbor Spring, New York. Her father worked for Wall Street while her mother was a stay-at-home mom. Confident and bright, she didn’t shy from intelligence, and in 1974 she graduated from high school after just three years. She entered Princeton and earned a bachelor degree in economics. In 1979 she earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Thereafter, she landed several positions: brand manager at Proctor & Gamer, consultant at Bain & company, Disney, Stride Rite, FTD and Hasbro and the CEO of eBay. In 2009, Meg entered into politics and ran as governor of California, but lost. Interestingly, the lost turn out to be a blessing in disguise when she was appointed CEO of Hewett-Packard two years later.
Analyzing Meg Whitman’s Leadership style and Philosophy and how it Align with Hewlett-Packard’s Culture To understand what Meg Whitman, former eBay chief executive who now runs Hewlett-Packard, it is imperative and essential to revisit something she did 26 years ago. She had just become a junior partner at Bain Consulting, working for a brilliant but domineering boss, Tom Tierney. One morning Whitman walked into his office and asked if he wanted feedback about his leadership style; he nodded. Whitman grabbed a felt-tip marker and sketched a giant
2 steamroller on a nearby whiteboard. “This is you, Tom”. She explained. “You are too pushy-you are not letting us build consensus leadership”. (George, 2013) Tierney was stunned. But he eventually absorbed the message and tune down his stridency. Meg Whitman knows that a great leader must involve all levels of the