from mava.org
If former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has been enjoying the recent and much-publicized fall of HP ex-chairwoman Patricia Dunn, who both succeeded Fiorina and helped orchestrate her ousting, she's hiding it gracefully. At yesterday's Le Cirque lunch hosted by The Week magazine, Fiorina entertained a packed room with a candid discussion of her memoir, Tough Choices, offering frank advice on topics from how to deal with business meetings at strip clubs (shrug off fear or embarrassment, put on a high-collared suit and go) to avoiding "selling your soul" in the corporate arena (make sure you can go to bed saying "I'm happy, proud, satisfied with what I did today"). CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo, the event's originally-scheduled moderator, had to cancel, so Sir Harold Evans, former Sunday Times editor and current editor-at-large of The Week, stepped in to oversee the discussion. He and Fiorina stood at the front of the room, bantering like old friends as the predominantly female crowd dined on lobster salad and cod fillet, occasionally flipping through copies of the book provided in gift bags.
The book, which chronicles Fiorina's rise from, as she put it, a 23-year-old "secretary, law school dropout and medieval history major" to the first female CEO of a Fortune 20 company, caused ripples before its October release when the New York Times cited it as a source that Fiorina had ordered investigations into board leaks before her ouster in February 2005. When Evans raised the scandal, Fiorina was circumspect, stopping short of voicing opinions about Dunn's involvement or the current criminal charges facing former HP executives. She relayed the story of her firing without hesitation or bitterness, but admitted, after a little prompting from Evans, that she was unhappy with the HP board's failure to personally inform her of its decision to let her go, as well as the negative media coverage she received afterwards. Still, she made sure to focus on positive experiences she'd had with the company, discussing her masterminding of the 2001 merger with Compaq, which she described as being accomplished despite considerable skepticism and resistance from technology insiders and investors alike. As for the trials of being the first female CEO of an $87 billion business? "Men are not the enemy!" she exclaimed, stressing that men had taken chances on her and believed in her abilities throughout her career.
Among the guests were Time columnist Margaret Carlson, MSNBC anchor Monica Crowley, Meredith Brokaw, Court TV anchor (and Huffpo contributor) Catherine Crier, CNET Networks editor Esther Dyson and Fox & Friends weekend hosts Alisyn Camerota and Kiran Chetry, with a late appearance by former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, who had a hard time arriving unnoticed given his height. To my left sat "Party of the Century" author Deborah Davis, who said she was impressed by Fiorina's lack of "canned" answers and seeming-authenticity. While Fiorina's ride sounded far from smooth (see title of book), she certainly seemed at peace. Of course, a $21.4 million severance package — plus options — would probably make any choice a lot less tough.
Related: Sympathy for Patricia Dunn [ValleyWag]
— Melissa Lafsky
