Carly Fiorina

“The Carly Fiorina way” has it’s foundations in the management lessons learnt during the initial formative years of her career. She paved her way to success in leadership through the four key managerial qualities of personality, loyalty, perseverance, and judgement, although sometimes questionable when at HP. Carly completed her MBA and M.S Business, held key positions, was influenced by key people (mostly her superiors and subordinates), and conquered adversities (from dealing with some troublesome peers) that culminated in her unique managerial thought process (1). A person becomes a leader through continuous learning and self development (4), which Carly did through most of her life.

In the beginning: Watch and Reflect

Her early career had a deep impact on her management styles and her way of thinking in the years to come. As a “powerless receptionist” for DJ’s Hair Design, she became fascinated with the client’s demeaning treatment of “those they perceive as powerless” (including her). As a result, one of her priorities included respecting her subordinates and assuring their integration within the company. This remained so even as CEO of HP. To illustrate, during the merger with Compaq, she practiced cultural due diligence, by acclimatizing Compaq employees into HP.

Her bottom of the totem pole work as a temporary secretary through Kelly Girls Temp agency reinforced her values for producing quality work; however, she had no sense of what the work was for. This inspired her management practice of keeping her subordinates fully informed about their role and the importance of the job, keeping them motivated to churn out quality work for the company. Consider for instance, when she hired interns at AT&T to work on the billing errors, she made a point to detail them on the importance of the work and their role in it.

It was at Marcus & Millichap where she first began to develop a sense for business and began to learn how to “navigate the business world” (1). She also started to identify the feeling of team dynamics. Through sheer grit and determination, she adopted a habit of “learning everything I could from everyone I could”; an advice she often gave in the future. Carly subscribed to the concept of lifelong learning. Even at HP, she took two months to learn and analyze the industry, the company and her new role before making any major changes.

Carly’s drive came from her superiors’ (George Marcus’ and Bill Millichap) confidence in her, when they asked her to train as a broker. This gave her the self confidence to see the potential in herself and the belief that she could improve on-demand (2). It fuelled her courage to pursue an MBA.

As a teaching assistant during her MBA studies, she observed the power of humour during Bill Nichols’ lectures, a technique she later incorporated into her managing style as an effective stress relief. This skill to reduce the team’s stress is a trait of an energetic and focused purposeful manager (3). To illustrate, when the budget could not financially reward AT&T employees with bonuses, she decided to “make it fun”, such as giving balloons and silly cards, to show gratitude for their hard work. Through the opportunity given by her professor Dr. Rudy Lamone, she learned that believing in someone so they can believe in themselves, is a small but hugely significant act of leadership. These experiences and influences from her professors laid out the foundation for her team building philosophy.

Fresh out of her MBA, she began the management development program at Ma Bell. Through her equality struggles with colleagues, such as David Godfrey and Steve Frantz, who underestimated her intelligence and capabilities, at first; Carly learnt to have faith in herself and in what she knew. From then on, she refused to let any intimidating peers diminish her or take control of the situation. This came in useful as a manager, as she was able to lead with authority and conviction. This prepared her to work in difficult circumstances, as she states: “we cannot always choose the hurdles we must overcome, but we can choose how we overcome them.”

Carly Becomes a Manager: Watch and Learn

Her managerial career started in 1982 at AT&T, where she held progressive series of positions, each presenting a fresh challenge, eventually rising to the Senior VP. Each time she started a new position, she did what she knew best, she asked a lot of questions and delivered quality work through her perseverance. Learning was her most valuable tool. Knowledge was her most valuable asset. She was determined to be a better boss than most of her previous superiors who had a “sink or swim philosophy”. As a result, she mastered her human skills by becoming interested in her subordinates, showing them respect as she