BS2005-XX
THE NATION’S NEWSPAPER
Collegiate
Case
Study
www.usatodaycollege.com
Did glass ceiling just slam down?
By Del Jones
4-5
Fiorina's abrupt ouster raises
questions at H-P
By Michelle Kessler & Jon Swartz
6-8
Media always fascinated with
Fiorina
By Bruce Horovitz
9
H-P likely to face rising
challenges from its rivals
By Jon Swartz & Michelle Kessler
10
Women CEOs
Leadership is required at all levels within a company or organization;
however, it is most visible to others at the top levels of management.
Women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are part of a small and slowly
growing group. There is a continuing debate on whether Women CEOs
do or should govern like Men CEOs or provide a different type of
leadership and vision. There are many factors that influence women's
interest, abilities and likelihood of becoming a CEO of any size
company. This case study presents multiple examples and views of
"CEO Women" which can be used to analyze the current state of
women as leaders, and also consider how women in the future can
better prepare for the CEO position if they choose. What are the pro's
and con's to women in being a CEO? Do "Women CEOs" face different
challenges and obstacles? What are the unique strengths that women
bring to this position?
Sara Lee biggest company
(for now) with female CEO
Cover story
By Del Jones
11-12
Discussion Questions & Future
Implications
13
Case Study Expert
Karen A. Holbrook
President, The Ohio State University
14
USA TODAY Snapshots®
Famed feminist, 70, calls
aging 'greatest adventure'
By Janet Kornblum
USA TODAY
Read all about it
Where people get information about CEOs:
Print media1
Word of mouth
Television
Investor meetings/reports
Internet
Advertising
For Steinem, these are
the glory years
96%
60%
52%
35%
22%
10%
1 – Business magazines, newspapers and
trade publications
Source: Burston-Marsteller poll of 1,155 stakeholder
groups in the U.S.: CEOs, senior executives, financial
analysts/institutional investors, the business media
and government officials
SAN FRANCISCO — When she was
40, Gloria Steinem decided to
come clean.
Somewhere along the line, the
world's most famous feminist had
subtracted a year or two from her
age, so she announced her birthday.
Her real one.
When a reporter told her, "You
don't look 40," Steinem shot back:
"This is what 40 looks like. We've
been lying so long, who
would know?"
Her comment was quoted so often
"it made me realize that there really
was an age problem for women," she
says. "So I said it again at 50 and
again at 60.
"And I said it again," she recently
told a San Francisco audience, "when
By Darryl Haralson and Bob Laird, USA TODAY
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2005, PAGE 1D
An active — and activist — life
v Born: March 25, 1934; Toledo, Ohio
v Current home: Manhattan
v Education: Graduated from Smith College, 1956;
studied and traveled in India for a year on a
fellowship
v Career highlights: Founded Ms. magazine, 1971;
editor until 1987; freelance writer, 1962 to
present; author of four books
v Marital status: Widow; husband of three years,
David Bale, died of primary brain lymphoma in
December 2003
v TV and movie appearances: Lifetime's Intimate
Portrait; walk-on in The First Wives Club; speaking
part in The Larry Sanders Show; will appear as
herself in Showtime's The L Word in April
v Years of activism: 52, starting with Adlai
Stevenson's presidential campaign in 1952
Le Tigre while on the road stumping for Democratic
presidential candidate John Kerry.
Doing what she loves
By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY
Full life: Gloria Steinem has traveled the world, but home is a
New York apartment she shares with her dog, Moji.
I was shocked to find that there was a 70-year-old woman
in my bed."
"Maybe it's sexist to talk about what she looks like, but,
Jesus, she's a fox," says the band's lead singer, Kathleen
Hanna, 36. "I think part of that comes from keeping things
interesting in your life and still having this glow about you."
Steinem calls aging "the greatest adventure of our lives."
Yes, the founder of Ms. magazine is now 70, and yes, this
is what 70 looks like.
That is, if you happen to be Steinem, whose looks may be
as famous as her politics. Her early fame came in a 1963
expose about her experience working as a bunny at New
York's Playboy Club. She went on to write four feminist
books and countless articles and estabish the 1971 National
Women's Political Caucus and the Ms. Foundation.
These days, her soulful brown eyes are surrounded by a
few more lines; no cosmetic surgery here. But with her
trademark straight hair and penchant for faux-leather pants
(she has been a vegetarian for 16 years), Steinem still has
the leggy looks of a rock star — and enough edginess to
bring a room full of punk rockers to their feet. She did that
in November when she introduced the feminist punk band
"Think, 'What do I do that when I'm doing it I forget what
time it is? What is there that I don't care whether get I paid
for or not? What is it that I'm really motivated and excited
by?' And do that."
Like talking to students and activists and traveling the
world to help with myriad causes, including fighting for the
rights of women, gays, animals and indigenous people. And
continuing to write.
Asked whether she has plans to retire, she retorts: "What
would I retire from? Life?"
Yes, she'd like to take some time off and stay in her
Manhattan home long enough to write a book about her
years on the road — about an America that she says often
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2005, PAGE 1D
the movement she knows best: feminism. But she always
has included aging in her talks, she says.
That's because "women lose power as they age," while
men gain it. Older women lose both reproductive power
and earning power. "That's a radicalizing experience."
But now, of course, she can talk about the personal side
of aging.
"You put on a pair of jeans and realize they're older than
most people in the United States," she says to laughter in
San Francisco. "And you remember things from your
childhood but not necessarily from the day before. That's
when you start to think that remembering something right
away is as good as an orgasm."
USA TODAY
The 80's: Steinem, left, has marched for many causes, including
the 1986 National March for Women's Lives.
remains hidden. But she hasn't been home long enough to
write it.
"There's just too much work to be done," she says.
"Unfortunately, I respond to emergencies more than I make
an agenda."
Says her friend Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the
Cherokee Nation: "When she hears about a problem, it
becomes her own. She'll help individuals. She'll help
organizations. She'll help movements. She'll help nations.
She just feels engaged with the world around her."
That attitude prompted the San Francisco-based Pacific
Institute, which focuses on aging, to invite her to speak —
and to republish an essay Steinem wrote about turning 60,
with a new introduction about life at 70. It will be out
in May.
"We preach that aging can be meaningful, that aging can
be wise and doesn't need to be only about decay," the
institute's Doris Bersing says. "It can be about growth. And
that's what she has shown."
Steinem, she adds, "is a wonderful icon to show you can
be old and still kick (butt)."
Steinem and her brand of "women's lib" once were fodder
for dinner table debates across America — and prompted
critics such as Rush Limbaugh to call her a "feminazi."
She may no longer land in the headlines every time she
says something controversial. But if you think she's
spending her golden years reminiscing, think again.
Supporting herself with speeches and writing, Steinem is
so busy she requires two assistants just to help her keep up
with all the requests for speaking and help. In the fall, she
crisscrossed the country in an RV, campaigning for Kerry on
her own dime, and she energized adoring crowds last year
at the March for Women's Lives in Washington. That was
just four months after her husband of three years,
entrepreneur, environmentalist and animal activist David
Bale, 62, died of primary brain lymphoma.
His death made her "realize in a profound way the
difference between sadness and depression," she says. "In
depression, nothing matters." In sadness and grief,
"everything matters. Everything was more poignant."
'Sounds like mortality'
She knows she won't live forever.
Given U.S. demographics — 79 million baby boomers
about to embark on 60 — Steinem predicts "a movement
toward reinventing the role of the elders."
"Fifty was more about defiance for me: 'I'm just going to
go on doing everything I did before.' And it wasn't until I
was about 54 that I realized that doing everything I did
before was not progress. Hello? And 60 was exciting. Sixty
was like the new country. And 70 does sound like mortality.
And it does make you think about dying."
But don't expect her to lead it. She'd rather keep leading
Still, "she has never talked about growing older,"
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2005, PAGE 1D
Mankiller says. "She's never talked about shifting down
because of age."
Responds Steinem, "If Ann Coulter said anything positive
about me, I'd know I was doing something very wrong."
Now might be the time to be thinking of her legacy and
how people will view the feminist movement of the late
20th century.
Feminism is far from dead, she adds: "By no measure
have we arrived. It will take more than 30 years for men to
raise children as much as women do, and at the rate we're
going, even longer for women to earn as much."
Her fans wax poetic, saying Steinem helped improve the
status of women in society.
Her detractors — and there are many — say the
feminist movement — much like the Equal Rights
Amendment — failed.
In her 2002 book Slander: Liberal Lies About the American
Right, conservative author and pundit Ann Coulter writes:
"Steinem's influence was limited to a narrow sliver of
liberal women living in big cities. It just happened to be the
sliver that controls the news and pop culture."
She's not concerned about how history will view her.
"Legacy is out of my control by definition," she says.
Instead, she focuses on helping younger women "do what
they want to do. It's like watching someone be born.
Watching someone blossom and discover their talents. It's
really very satisfying."
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005, PAGE 3B
Did glass ceiling just slam down?
Fiorina had declared victory for women
By Del Jones
USA TODAY
The day Carly Fiorina took over at Hewlett-Packard in
July 1999 was the day she declared that the glass ceiling no
longer existed in the tech field.
The remark was poorly received by many women's
organizations. They had seen measured progress, but were
stunned that Fiorina declared victory. The tech bubble had
caused a labor shortage, and Fiorina said companies did not
have the luxury to discriminate. Her world was a pure
meritocracy where all could rise.
Surprise CEO ousters often portend bad news, but Fiorina's
exit increased the value of the company more than
$4 billion.
Other women were toughest on Fiorina. "I have always
felt that she thought and acted male-like," said Judy
Rosener, professor in the University of California-Irvine's
graduate school of management. "She did less listening and
was more eager to look tough. Had (eBay CEO) Meg
Whitman, (Young & Rubicam CEO) Ann Fudge or (Xerox
CEO) Anne Mulcahy been CEO of H-P, I bet things would
have turned out differently."
On Wednesday, nearly five years after the bubble burst,
the female CEO most often described as having the rough
edges of a man was forced out.
Marion O. Sandler, co-CEO of successful Golden West
Financial, said Fiorina's style was neither male nor female.
"It was her style, and it came from an aggressive
background in marketing and sales," which Sandler said
may explain why Fiorina made a habit of being overly
optimistic with earnings forecasts.
In Wall Street's version of "don't let the screen door hit
you on the way out," H-P's stock rose 7% in a down market.
H-P was by far the largest company with a female CEO,
which created media hype. Had Fiorina succeeded, it could
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005, PAGE 3B
have opened wide the doors for women, but now any board
director on the fence has an excuse not to take the chance,
Sandler said.
professional women's lifetime earnings are still $400,000
below men's. Female scientists doing medical research, for
example, earned 29% less than men.
H-P ranks 11th on the Fortune 500. Rite Aid, run by Mary
Sammons, is way back at No. 128, leaving no megacompany with a female CEO just when women's climb up
the ladder may be stalling. Consider:
That's no surprise to Warren Farrell, the only man to have
been elected three times to the National Organization for
Women's New York board of directors and author of Why
Men Earn More. Farrell says there are 25 reasons men
advance further, including willingness to put in longer
hours, travel more and relocate. Women are still 50 times
as likely to stay home with children, and working women
are eight times as likely to spend four years or more out of
the labor force, he says, adding that men show their love of
family as breadwinners. He predicts any slowing in
progress by women in business will be temporary, not
because women will become more like men but because
men will insist on more balance between work and
personal lives.
v No Fortune 500 company has hired a female CEO since
June 2003, when a housecleaning at scandal-ridden Rite
Aid boosted Sammons to the top. The total has dropped to
seven for the first time in two years. Mirant has been in
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since July 2003, leading
to press reports speculating that CEO Marce Fuller's days
are numbered.
v The stock of the eight largest companies run by
women rose 2.2% in 2004 vs. a 9% rise in all S&P 500 stocks,
according to a USA TODAY analysis. Golden West Financial
and Avon Products, run by Andrea Jung, have been firing on
all cylinders for a long time. Mirant, Lucent Technologies
and Rite Aid have been spending a lot of time under $2 a
share, although Lucent's Patricia Russo and Xerox's
Mulcahy appear to have engineered turnarounds. Part of
the problem, Sandler says, is that women seem more
willing than men to accept CEO jobs at companies
in distress.
v An index released last March by the Committee of 200,
an organization of female business owners and corporate
leaders, showed disappointing progress by women in 10
areas, including business ownership, corporate board seats,
the size of female-run businesses, the lack of venture
capital funding, wage gaps and invitations to be keynote
speakers at major events.
Even the committee's measure of MBA enrollment at top
business schools slipped nearly 5% from 2003 to 2004. The
index of all 10 measures has gone up about 9% each of the
last two years, but the score is just 4.7; a 10 would signal
parity with men.
Some experts still see the glass as half full. Women's
progress is anything but glacial, the Employment Policy
Foundation says. More than 9 million women earned more
than the median male income in 2002. Ten years earlier it
was just 5.5 million. The foundation says women who have
never married are far more likely to out-earn men,
showing that lifestyle choices more than gender are the
determining factor.
Fiorina is gone, not because she's a woman but because
she may have been too much like a man, says Ronna
Lichtenberg, author of Pitch Like a Girl. There are two
leadership styles. Pink emphasizes relationships, and blue is
task-focused, which she describes as "getting the job done
and I may talk to you later."
Not all women are pink leaders, nor are all men blue.
Fiorina was blue, and she may have run out of time because
she had not developed strong relationships with the board
and other leaders at H-P, Lichtenberg said.
"Sure, we're moving forward," said Diane Graham,
chairwoman of the Committee of 200 and CEO of Stratco
Global, in a press release. "At this pace it will be our
granddaughters — not our daughters — who will operate
in a business community defined as much by women as
by men."
v The National Association for Female Executives said
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005, PAGE 1B
Fiorina's abrupt ouster
raises questions at H-P
Some ask: Are there deeper issues?
By Michelle Kessler and Jon Swartz
USA TODAY
Hewlett-Packard finally forced out Carly Fiorina — and
now the computer giant has to figure out what's next.
Fiorina, H-P's tenacious CEO, hung on to her job during
the dark days of the tech downturn, the ambitious plan to
acquire Compaq Computer, and the brutal shareholder
fight that followed.
Stocks shift for computer competitors
Shares of Hewlett-Packard have slid 59% since 1999, when
Carly Fiorina took over, while shares of Dell have been
climbing in recent months and are roughly on par with
where they were in 1999.
Hewlett-Packard
$80
Dell
$52.34
$67.50
Wed.
$40.99
$60
$53.94
$40
$20 $40.88
But Fiorina lost her grip Tuesday, when the board she
once chaired forced her to resign.
Wed. $21.53
0
’99
New Chairman Patricia Dunn, an H-P board member
since 1998, says Fiorina's downfall was her inability to
handle everyday operational issues — the nuts and bolts of
selling computers. "Consistency of execution," Dunn
called it.
Fiorina, 50, issued a statement Wednesday that simply
said, "While I regret the board and I have differences about
how to execute H-P's strategy, I respect their decision."
Others say the problems run deeper. Critics say Fiorina's
desire for power has left H-P a lumbering giant stuck
between business powerhouse IBM and low-price leader
Dell. The company is fiscally sound but makes almost all its
money from printer ink. It has no clear succession plan and
a business model that some tech analysts say is so flawed
the company should be broken up.
When CFO Robert Wayman, who will serve as interim
CEO, sent an e-mail with the news to staffers Wednesday,
many employees in the company's Palo Alto, Calif.,
headquarters cheered. Supporters mourned, calling Fiorina
a hard-driving visionary.
The transition could be tough for H-P. The company had
been expected to benefit from IBM's decision to sell its
’00
’01
’02
’03
’04 ’05
Source: CSI
By Julie Snider, USA TODAY
laptop division to Chinese PC maker Lenovo. Now,
customers looking for a safe bet will stick with No. 1 Dell,
says laptop analyst Samir Bhavnani with researcher
Current Analysis.
There are fears that there may be even deeper issues, as
the board gave no clear reason why Fiorina was ousted
now. "Is there another problem we don't know about?"
asks equity analyst Steve Milunovich at Merrill Lynch.
All eyes will be on H-P Wednesday, when it reports its
fiscal first-quarter results. H-P says they'll be as Wall Street
expects, excluding an unrelated charge. Analysts do not
expect to discover accounting problems, like those at
Enron and WorldCom, because the board chose CFO
Wayman to take the CEO spot temporarily. Wayman, a
low-profile H-P veteran who has expressed a desire to
retire, is not expected to apply for a permanent post at
the top.
Bold moves
Fiorina, who came to H-P in 1999 from telecom
equipment maker Lucent Technologies, was a polarizing
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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005, PAGE 1B
Carly Fiorina’s wild ride
After a nearly six-year stormy tenure, H-P CEO Carleton “Carly” Fiorina was ousted Wednesday. Weekly closes, dates of note and quarterly net income:
July 19, 1999: $58.13
Carly Fiorina named president and CEO
of H-P after nearly 20 years at AT&T and
Lucent Technologies.
$80
Nov. 11, 2001: $18.99
Family members of H-P cofounder William Hewlett
opposes merger.
Sept. 3, 2001: $23.21
Fiorina risks reputation on
bold bid to buy Compaq
Computer.
Dec. 31, 1998:
$60 $34.16
Wed.: $21.53
H-P board
announces ouster
of Fiorina; CFO Bob
Wayman named
interim CEO.
Aug. 12, 2004: $16.95
Amid poor results,
H-P fires three topranking executives.
May 3, 2002: $17.44
H-P completes $18 billion merger
after bruising proxy fight.
$40
$20
1999
2000
2001
2003
2002
2004
0
D J F M A M J J A S O N D J
F M A M J J
A S O N D J
F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J
J A S O N D J F M AM J
J A S O N D J F M AM J
J A S O N D J F
Net income (in billions):
$1.5 $0.96
1999
$0.92
$0.85
$0.76
$0.95
2000
$0.99
$1.05
2001
$0.92
$0.39
0
$0.05
$0.12
$0.10
Q2
Q3
Q4
$0.48
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q1
$0.39
$0.25
$2.0
Q1
2003
2002
Q2
$0.72
$0.66
2004
$0.30
$0.86
$0.94
$0.88
$0.59
$1.09 $1.5
0
-$2.03
Q3
$2.0
Q4
Q1
Q2
Sources: CSI, Bloomberg and USA TODAY research
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
By Robert W. Ahrens, USA TODAY
Hewlett-Packard's Fiorina was polarizing figure from Day 1
figure practically from the first day.
She was a slick marketer inhabiting an
office formerly held by technologists.
She was willing to tinker with the "HP Way" — the company's oncesacrosanct corporate culture.
Her changes helped revitalize H-P,
says Stephen Mader, a vice chairman
at Christian & Timbers, the executive
search firm H-P used to hire her. "The
greatest fear in 1999 was that things
wouldn't change very much," he said.
In 2001, Fiorina made her boldest
move by agreeing to acquire Compaq
Computer. The $18 billion deal
sparked protests from many
shareholders, who argued Compaq
would weaken H-P. Walter Hewlett,
an H-P board member and son of the
company's co-founder, led the
opposition. The result was a brutal
proxy fight that took eight months
and cost both sides millions.
Fiorina used sheer will to pull the
deal through and keep her job. In an
11th-hour phone call, she urged
Wayman to "do something
extraordinary" to win over a bank
thinking of voting its shares against
the deal. The message, later leaked to
the press, garnered Fiorina criticism
and time in court. But she won her
case, and the merger was completed
in 2002. Once the fight was over,
Fiorina was praised for the skill and
speed with which she integrated the
two companies.
Within H-P, there are two views of
Fiorina. Some say she hung onto
power by removing competitors.
During her term, many high-ranking
executives, including former Compaq
CEO Michael Capellas, former Compaq
CFO Jeff Clarke, sales executives Jim
Milton and Peter Blackmore and
storage head Howard Elias, were
forced out or fired.
Others say that's not so. "I never
saw this aspect of 'Anybody who was
a rising star would get expunged,' "
Milton says. He says he holds his
former boss in high regard. "She's
very charismatic," says Milton, who
just signed a partnership with H-P as
part of his new job with software
maker UGS. "She has that kind of
presence about her — it may be
comparable to what I've heard about
Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton."
Fiorina didn't run into real trouble
until H-P's results started to suffer. In
the summer, its big-business
computer division reported a
surprising loss. The Compaq merger
has done little to boost H-P's stock,
and critics say the deal has failed to
produce expected benefits. It's gotten
so bad that H-P may be forced to
write off some of the value of the
deal's intangible benefits, known as
goodwill, Wall Street analysts say.
Another factor behind the board's
decision to act may be Dunn's
improving health after a battle with
cancer. Dunn used to be global CEO at
Barclays Global Investors, the giant
mutual fund manager based in
San Francisco.
Much like Fiorina, Dunn, 51, is
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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2005, PAGE 1B
tenacious. She rose to the top at
Barclays after starting as a temporary
secretary. She was not a major player
in the Compaq battle because she was
fighting breast cancer and malignant
melanoma.
But she has been healthier — thus
more assertive in the boardroom — in
recent months, sources close to the
board say.
Dunn says she and fellow board
members have discussed Fiorina's fate
for several weeks. They brought in
Columbia University professor John
Coffee and powerful Silicon Valley
lawyer Larry Sonsini to assist
deliberations. "There were no
triggering events," she says.
A portfolio of businesses
As unhappy as board members were
with Fiorina's performance, they're
not departing from the business plan
she laid out. Under Fiorina, H-P has
touted itself as a broad-based
technology company that benefits
from selling everything from paper to
powerful servers. Wayman calls the
strategy "a portfolio of businesses."
"The board appears to be committed
to making all the parts work
together," says equity analyst Bill
Fearnley Jr. at FTN Midwest Securities.
But so far that strategy has done little
to boost profits, he says.
Being all things to all computer
buyers puts H-P in a tough spot. For
big business contracts, it must
compete with IBM. The tech giant
makes most of its money from
lucrative consulting services, while HP relies on hardware — computers
and printers — with much lower
profit margins.
At the same time, H-P must fight off
Dell, which has a low-cost model that
allows it to continue to steal market
share. Unlike H-P, Dell doesn't sell its
computers in stores. It keeps costs
low and inventories down by selling
PCs and servers over the Internet and
via phone. By doing so, it can
undercut H-P.
Milunovich says H-P's moneymaking printer division may be worth
much more as a separate company.
Breaking up H-P would allow it to
focus on its other businesses, though
the best time for that kind of breakup
might be several years out,
Milunovich says.
Wayman says what H-P really needs
is an operational fix by someone who
can make an "improvement in
bottom-line profitability." Layoffs are
expected in some divisions, as
previously announced, Wayman says,
though H-P may be hiring in
other areas.
It's hard to say who H-P's next CEO
might be. Fiorina had no strong No. 2.
The leading internal candidate is
Vyomesh Joshi, H-P's head of printers
and PCs. But stock analysts say Joshi
may not have enough computer
experience. Dunn says the board is
focusing on external candidates.
Dell CEO Kevin Rollins has the
operational know-how to attack H-P's
internal problems, but there's a good
chance he won't want to leave his
post at the No. 1 PC maker, says
Gartner PC analyst Martin Reynolds.
Capellas, another possible candidate,
might not want to come back.
H-P needs to look outside the
technology industry to find the strong
candidate it needs to turn the
company around, says Christian &
Timber's Mader. "I think it will be
someone that no one expects,"
he says.
Contributing: Jim Hopkins
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Media always fascinated with Fiorina
Effective public relations
helped shape her image
By Bruce Horovitz
USA TODAY
If Carly Fiorina hadn't come along,
the media would almost have had to
invent her.
She was a she. An attractive woman,
at that. And she ran Hewlett-Packard,
a hot company in the hottest industry.
What's for the media not to like?
v She's female. "She became cover
girl of the year because our society
and the media were ready to embrace
the most powerful woman in
America," says K.D. Paine, CEO of
KDPaine & Partners, a corporate
image and public relations firm that
consults for H-P.
v She's a woman in a guy's
business. "Here was the first woman
CEO in a male-dominated industry,"
says Scott Allison, founder of Allison &
Partners, a San Francisco PR firm.
Few women in America were cooler
than Carly. For years, the media and
Fiorina danced a celebratory dance.
Who was leading: Fiorina or the
press? Public relations experts
suggest this was a case of two leads —
each leading the other toward
disaster.
v She had an effective PR
machine. Hewlett-Packard didn't set
out to make Fiorina a "rock star" CEO,
Paine says. But once that happened,
"H-P adapted quickly to the fact that it
had one."
"Her biggest mistake was she
believed her own clippings," says
Robert Dilenschneider, a New York
public relations expert and ex-CEO of
PR giant Hill & Knowlton.
It began with a 1998 Fortune cover
story dubbing her "The Most Powerful
Woman in Business." It continued
with many BusinessWeek and Forbes
covers.
Perhaps she had reason to. She was
widely seen as the most powerful
woman in high-tech, if not the U.S.
business landscape. Quarterly
earnings reports aside, the
possibilities seemed endless.
Her PR team constantly pitched her
as "a new voice" or "a breath of fresh
air," Allison says.
But end they did, with the news
Wednesday of her ouster.
Even then, the media fascination
only intensified. Here's a brief look at
possible reasons why the media
fawned on Fiorina — and could
continue to:
The hype seemed to never stop.
v She's attractive. Fiorina is always
immaculately groomed and in the
chicest of business attire.
"The world loves attractive people,"
says Barbara Brooks, president of The
Strategy Group, a corporate
consulting firm. "But she wasn't just a
tart. She was an attractive
businesswoman who was also one
hell of a smart cookie."
v She's relatively accessible.
While Meg Whitman, CEO at eBay, is
seldom available for interviews,
Fiorina was often available.
"She was enthusiastic about talking
to the media," says Paine, who
formerly worked at H-P as a
merchandising manager for its
successful LaserJet printers. "That's
90% of the battle."
v She's a human brand. Not since
Martha Stewart has a woman become
such a brand icon for a company. "It
was all about her and not the
Hewlett-Packard
team,"
Dilenschneider says. "That goes to the
heart of bad PR advice."
v She's never boring. Before
Fiorina came onboard, H-P suffered
from the worst possible PR problem:
"No one cared," says Lou Hoffman,
founder of The Hoffman Agency, a
tech-specialty PR firm that handled
some projects for H-P.
Shortly after Fiorina joined the
company, his PR firm was hired to
help launch a group within H-P to
drive its e-services.
"We used to have to fight and claw
to get even 15 butts in seats for an
event like this," Hoffman says. But
after Fiorina offered to be lead
speaker at the event, "We had
standing room only."
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 9
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2005, PAGE 3B
H-P likely to face rising challenges
from its rivals
By Jon Swartz and Michelle Kessler
USA TODAY
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly
Fiorina's rocky 5 1/2-year run might
be humdrum compared with what
awaits the company's next
permanent CEO.
The Silicon Valley icon faces brutal
competition from Dell and IBM.
Fiorina's successor, expected to come
from outside H-P, must overcome
challenges in its unwieldy
organization and sputtering nonprinter divisions. And H-P must revive
itself even as "brain drain" has left its
executive ranks thin.
Fiorina, perhaps the nation's most
powerful businesswoman, was forced
out Tuesday when H-P's board
determined she was unable to make
the company consistently profitable.
Her bet-the-company strategy of
acquiring Compaq Computer in 2002
was meant to reinvent H-P. Instead, it
stretched resources and complicated
operations that are struggling against
competitors:
v PCs. In the rough-and-tumble PC
business, where profits are scarce,
Dell has battled H-P for the mantle of
No. 1 PC maker.
H-P has a higher cost structure
because it sells many of its PCs
through middlemen, such as retail
stores and mom-and-pop PC
businesses. H-P also sells from its
Web site, prompting complaints from
some resellers that H-P's desire to
have it both ways hurts them.
In the crowded consumerelectronics market, H-P has the bestselling media center PC, which is
meant to replace the living room TV
and stereo. But the market for that
product is relatively small.
says sales are growing, but not
enough to stop industry insiders from
jokingly calling it the "Itanic." In
January, H-P gave up on Itanium
development and transferred those
engineers to Intel.
v Consulting services. Rival IBM
makes most of its money through
lucrative consulting contracts, though
H-P has made inroads.
H-P's lone bright spot is the
printing-and-imaging division. It will
account for a big chunk of H-P's
profits, which are expected to reach
$4.5 billion this year. It is led by
Vyomesh Joshi, the leading internal
candidate for CEO. H-P's Bob Wayman
is interim CEO.
Last year, H-P landed about 7% of
contracts worth more than $50
million, ranking it behind only IBM,
with 15%, says TPI, a consulting
organization that tracks the
outsourcing of tech and business
services.
In 2000, H-P made a muchpublicized bid to buy the consulting
business of accounting firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers, a deal that
would have added about 31,000
employees to H-P's 88,000. The deal
collapsed when the $18 billion price
tag was declared too high. In 2002,
IBM bought Pricewaterhouse's
consulting arm for $3.5 billion.
v Servers. H-P still leads in some
server markets, but the division is
marginally profitable. It has also been
marred by a multimillion-dollar bet it
made with No. 1 chipmaker Intel in
the early 1990s on the Itanium chip
for the next generation of servers.
When Itanium fizzled after its 2001
launch, buyers flocked to cheaper,
easier-to-use machines using chips
from Advanced Micro Devices. H-P
still sells Itanium computers, and Intel
But it, too, is susceptible to pricing
pressures. The unit makes little
money from printers: Almost all its
profits come from the sale of ink
cartridges, analysts say. A $35
cartridge costs about $3 to make.
And it faces competition. Dell —
which seems to lurk at every turn for
H-P — entered the printer business in
2003, and has been steadily
expanding its offerings. Dell contracts
with printer makers such as Lexmark
and Fuji Xerox to sell photo and
laser printers.
Although skeptics say a breakup is
necessary to maximize shareholder
value, the board appears reluctant. "It
isn't mission impossible, but H-P's
new CEO faces a tall order," says
Merrill Lynch analyst Steve
Milunovich. "The company isn't going
away, but it needs an operational
whiz surrounded by good people."
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 10
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2005, PAGE 4B
Sara Lee biggest company (for now)
with female CEO
By Del Jones
USA TODAY
promoted Brenda Barnes on Thursday
to bring it back to eight.
A day after Hewlett-Packard fired
Carly Fiorina and cut the number of
female CEOs of Fortune 500
companies to seven, Sara Lee
The total has remained the same for
two years, but Barnes may be forging
new ground as a former stay-at-home
mom who has reached the top. In
1997, she resigned as CEO of PepsiCola's $7.7 billion North America
division to be with her children, who
were 7, 8 and 10 at the time.
Sara Lee's brands span
industries
Sara Lee plans to spin off its
apparel brands, its European
operations and coffee operation
to concentrate on food and home
products. Among its brands now:
Food and beverage
v Ball Park franks
v Earth Grains, IronKids
breads
v Hillshire Farm fresh and
smoked meats
v Jimmy Dean sausage
v Sara Lee breads, frozen
desserts, meats and cheeses
v Hills Bros., Chock full
o'Nuts coffee
Apparel
v Bali, Barely There, Playtex,
Just My Size, Wonderbra
intimate apparel, bras and
hosiery
v Hanes, Hanes Her Way
underwear, bras and hosiery
v Champion athletic apparel
and underwear
Household products
v Ambi Pur air fresheners
v Kiwi shoe care
Source: Sara Lee
It was a career move few ambitious
women dare.
Studies have found that women are
eight times more likely than men to be
out of the labor force for four years or
more, and the glass ceiling is often
blamed on such lifestyle choices.
Fiorina, for one, has no biological
children, but has two grown
stepdaughters by way of husband
Frank Fiorina.
"Brenda has a nice, wonderful
balance," says Ron Sargent, CEO of
Staples, where Barnes is a
board member.
Staples is a huge customer of H-P's
inkjet printers, but Sargent says he
never got to know Fiorina, 50, well
enough to compare leadership styles.
However, it's a mistake to think
Barnes, 51, is soft because of her
decision to put family ahead of career,
Sargent says.
"I look at her as tough when she
needs to be . . . a pleasure to be around
when she's not talking business,"
Sargent says.
Barnes' resignation struck a chord
eight years ago, and she appeared on
all three morning TV programs. Still, it
surprised no one that Barnes
didn't become a traditional stay-athome mom.
Female CEOs of the largest companies
For the most recent fiscal year:
CEO
Company
Revenue
(in billions)
Change from
prior year
Carly Fiorina1
Brenda Barnes2
Mary Sammons
Anne Mulcahy
Patricia Russo
Andrea Jung
Marce Fuller
Eileen Scott
Marion Sandler
Hewlett-Packard
Sara Lee
Rite Aid
Xerox
Lucent
Avon
Mirant
Pathmark Stores
Golden West Financial
$79.9
$19.6
9.4%
6.9%
$16.6
5.1%
$14.7
$9.0
$7.71
$5.2
$4.0
$3.8
-7.2%
6.8%
2.7%
-19.7%
1.4%
2.6%
1 — Ousted Tuesday; 2 — Promoted Thursday
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 11
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2005, PAGE 4B
Barely two years had passed before she resurfaced as
interim chief operating officer of Starwood Hotels &
Resorts. She was recruited as a director to Staples, Sears,
The New York Times Co. and Avon Products.
1975 business and economics graduate of Augustana
College in Rock Island, Ill., she started out making $10,000 a
year with Wilson Sporting Goods. PepsiCo later divested
Wilson, but Barnes remained with Pepsi for 22 years.
Barnes joined Sara Lee as chief operating officer six
months ago.
There were whispers that she was in the race to be Pepsi's
CEO when she tired of the 70-hour weeks and 3:30 a.m.
alarms so she could work at home before getting her
children up at 7.
Sara Lee is a consumer product conglomerate that sells
everything from Jimmy Dean sausage to Wonderbras to
Kiwi shoe polish. It replaces H-P as the largest company
with a female CEO — at least until its planned spinoff of
businesses that will cut its revenue from $19.6 billion in
fiscal year 2004 to $11.5 billion and drop it about 70 on the
Fortune 500 ladder to about No. 170.
Most everyone at Pepsi tried to persuade her to stay,
including husband Randy Barnes, who was a company
senior vice president and treasurer.
"It is about parenthood, not womanhood," Barnes told
National Public Radio at the time.
Barnes grew up in Chicago, one of seven children. Her
father was a factory worker, her mother a homemaker. A
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Page 12
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.Do women who are accomplished and successful in their fields see that promoting and mentoring younger women is an
opportunity and a responsibility? Are there still more men who are willing to mentor women than women? Is there a
difference in advice and mentoring that comes with gender?
2. Warren Farrell, author of "Why Men Earn More" poses 25 reasons why men advance further than women in
business and concludes in part it is because women opt for a more favorable work-life balance. Do women have to "give
up" more than men to be successful CEOs?
3. Do your think there is an unfair amount of comparison between a new first female CEO and her predecessor than a
new male CEO and his predecessor? What elements do you think factor into the comparison?
4. What elements are used universally to measure the success of a CEO in any organization? Are these different
depending upon the gender of the CEO?
5. Does the media focus on the same issues when reporting on news related to women CEOs as they do when reporting
on men? Does the media play a role in promoting the success/lack of success of a CEO? Is the public as willing to credit
women with success as they are men?
6. It is stated that women are more willing than men to take on the CEO position of a company that is in distress. What is
the rationale - is it the natural instinct to "make something better" or it is a matter of believing this is all that might be
available to them? Similarly, in the academic world, women often state they would like to be the president of a small
university or college. Is this a matter of confidence, or not thinking big enough - or?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Couglin, L. et al. (2005) Enlightened Power: How Women Are Transforming the Practice of Leadership. San Franciso:
Jossey-Bass.
Helgesen, S. (1995) The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership. New York: Doubleday.
Wilson, M.C. (2004) Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World. New York: Viking.
Zichy, S. (2001) Women and the Leadership Q: The Breakthrough System for Achieving Power & Influence. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Hessebein, F. (2002) Hesselbein on Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
For more information, log on to www.usatodaycollege.com
Page 13
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
1. How does one prepare women of the future for success as CEOs? Are there different
tactics/strategies that need to be adopted by women that would not be characteristic for men? Should
women expect to find the pathway more difficult?
2. It has been said that women, themselves, are critical of women in high level positions. Is this
accurate, and if so, why is this the case and how can it be changed?
3. Do you think widely publicized, unfortunate experiences of women CEOs (e.g., Carly Fiorina) have an
impact on the hiring of women into other CEO positions? Has anyone suggested that gender was an
issue in the downfall of the CEOs in the Enron and WorldCom situations? Would gender have been
considered if women had led the companies and the same situations had arisen? Alternatively, do you
think these crises might offer an advantage to women for consideration of CEO positions?
ABOUT THE EXPERT: Karen A. Holbrook
President, The Ohio State University
Karen A. Holbrook became the 13th president of The Ohio State
University on October 1, 2002. She is committed to helping Ohio
State realize its vision as a top-ranked research and teaching
university of this nation. Dr. Holbrook has received wide
recognition for her leadership in strengthening relationships with
the Columbus community, integrating academics and athletics,
improving educational facilities on campus, changing the
atmosphere surrounding game day, and broadening faculty, staff,
and student benefits. Throughout her career, she has held
leadership roles and participated extensively in the activities of
professional and honorary societies, including the AAAS, where she
is a Fellow and served as a member of the board of directors; the
American Association of Universities; and the Association of
American Medical Colleges. In addition to her extensive editorial
and publication activities, she has been deeply involved in national
and regional efforts to strengthen graduate education in America
and has been active in economic development partnerships at the
community and state levels.
For more information, log on to www.usatodaycollege.com
Page 14