Should Hurd resign?
HP CEO Mark Hurd is apologetic for approving the strategy of lying to the news media, but unwilling to question what that says about his own moral compass. He regrets not having paid more careful attention to the details of the leak investigation on his board, but says even now that it's simply impossible to catch everything. (Read Adam Lashinsky's Sept. 29 interview with Hurd.)

He says the buck stops with him, yet he isn't considering resigning. Meanwhile, HP's stock remains near the top of its 52-week range, despite the controversy.

Should Mark Hurd resign? Or is he still the right person to lead HP?
Posted by Deirdre Terry 11:58 AM 66 Comments comment | Add a Comment

If George Bush can do it, why not him? Most employers have a big closet where cameras, emails, internet, and phone conversations are recorded of everyone. There are even some bathroom stall micro cameras to break the monotony I suppose.
Posted By Fred, Tampa, FL : 1:11 PM  

If this act would have been done by a 'lesser level' executive or other employee and they were 'forced' to resign then YES Hurd should also.
Everyone is to be treated equal.

Rank does NOT have privilege in this type of situation.
Posted By pleabargain, Atlanta, Ga : 1:14 PM  

are u kidding me. Of course the guy should resign. What other suspect conduct has been or is currently being conducted. This fiasco caught them with "hand in cookie jar". What other detrimental activities are going on internally that employees/investors aren't aware of
Posted By mitch, dallas texas : 1:15 PM  

One of the most stressed topics in my undergradtuate management school classes is ethics - every single one of my text books, whether it's Business Law, Finance or Marketing, has an entire chapter devoted towards ethical behavior and "doing the morally right thing," even if it leads to lower profits or missed forecasts. Hurd is setting a horrible example for this country's management students, quoting a steady moral compass that is anything but. Apologizing is only the first step - it's like cheating on an exam, apologizing to the teacher for it, but never suffering the consequences. Hurd should resign - not only because he was wrong, but because the example he sets by staying with HP directly conflicts with what the millions of students in America today are being taught.
Posted By Brendan McKay, Boston College : 1:21 PM  

Hurd should resign!

First, he admits not attending to the details around this issue. Second, Hurd devises a solution that involves deception and disinformation.

Shame on you, Mr. Hurd ... thank goodness my equities portfolio has no H/P shares.
Posted By Susan Fernandez, Arvada, CO : 1:29 PM  

Have him take his marbles and go away so HP can be saved. He is just like the ENRON folks.
Posted By Barry New Jersey : 1:39 PM  

They should bring Fiorina back (if she was smart she'd say no....) - they sacked her too early and the reality is her overall strategy started to bear fruit, and she would never have allowed this to happen.
Posted By michael in hartford : 1:41 PM  

52 week high or not, he or anybody else at HP is not above the law! Any good leader will do the same for HP's stock. The bottom line is that the actions were CRIMINAL!

The Chairperson at congress even read it out that this is clearly a violation of the California law.

The courts need to use HP as an example to corporate America and put all of them in jail! As executives mentioned the method has been a used for years so I think this is just the tip of the iceberg for all of corporate America and the despicable crooks working there. It was entirely preposterous that nobody wanted to take the blame for any of this, but yet Mr. Hurd plays the big macho man stating that the buck stops with him. Well if the buck stops with him then he is responsible and needs to face the consequences. To simply state, �Well I didn�t read it, sorry.� Just won�t cut it. If you are responsible then you need to do the time just like the Enron, Worldcom and all the other corporate crooks! These are serious Felonies which should be punished doubled given the magnitude of HP and all their BS about being ethical and socially responsible. What a load of crap!

The problem here is that congress is saying you are making money then it is ok to be criminal, but if you lose big time money like Enron and Worldcom you are going to jail. This needs to cease! A crime is a crime. And getting my telephone records via pretexting is illegal regardless of who you are.

All the BS being taught in college about Ethics for the past 2 decades and then criminal activities like these come to surface is simply ridiculous and despicable.

This also clearly shows how ridiculous Fiorina's speech was at the latest leadership conference where the audience was entirely duped by her ethics and character BS for which they gave her a long standing ovation. If this or other spying has been going on for years at HP then Fiorina would�ve known as well.

This is the problem with our society and courts. We have a double standard for those in power and privilege and America preys on the week on all levels.
Posted By John, El Paso, Texas : 1:41 PM  

Yes, Mark Hurd should resign.

CEO's and corporate boards have gotten away with far too much for far too long and now someone needs to be held accountable.
Posted By Jon Dawson, Houston, TX : 1:49 PM  

As far as I'm concerned he didn't do anything that would hurt shareholders. He revived HP since he came to the position and he is absolutely the right person to lead HP. The witchhunt against key people at top corporations has gone too far. Soon smart people will not want to be in those positions and then everyone will suffer.
Posted By Mike Gorlin, San Francisco, CA : 1:55 PM  

Nope, he helped turn HP around. The good far outweighs the bad ...
Posted By VG, Santa Clara, CA : 1:58 PM  

The answers Mr. Hurd provides in this interview are very disappointing to me, not those I'd expect from a real leader of a company like HP. I think the employees deserve better than this. He's certainly not someone I'd like to have leading my company. I'd be very surprised if he remains at the helm by the time this is all said and done, as he seems much more interested in his own power and prestige than the welfare of his company.
Posted By Jeff Talbot, San Gabriel, CA : 2:07 PM  

This goes well beyond whether Hurd should resign or not, but to what sort of corporate culture will exist at HP in the future if he goes or stays. Hurd makes jillions of dollars, and this is unlikely to impact that at all. Yet this scandal is costing HP lots of $$$ for lawyers. Hurd will still make his fat bonus, because he is right, this will have minimum impact on the bottom line. But if he stays, HP will be tainted nevertheless. As a stockholder, I would say, "bye-bye" but it would cost jillions more to pay Hurd off and hire someone new, so maybe it is cheaper to keep him around, despite the stench.
Posted By E. Alford, Arlington, VA : 2:09 PM  

LOL. I do admit that approving the pre-texting idea was stupid on Dunn's part, but if one were to look at everything on a grand scale, it's nothing more than a smoke-and-mirror created by the infamous Mr. Perkins & co. Also, the use of "breadcrumb-to-identify-leaker" is used everyday, everywhere and I don't see anything wrong with it.

I think it's time to look into the conduct of George Keyworth (who incidently thought that because of his tenure at HP, he thought he was entitled to blabber about the management strategy) and penalize him.

Force Hurd out? No way.
Posted By Kevin, Bridgewater, NJ : 2:24 PM  

Mr. Herd's logic � to silence the objectors (Perkins and Keyworth) � is the REAL problem. Disharmony in corporate board rooms is long overdue. The type of harmony that Herd is seeking was responsible for fiascos like Enron and WorldCom. To do it in the name of the shareholders is shameful. What if she succeeded and we were none the wiser.
Posted By Chad Edwin, Charlotte NC : 2:28 PM  

While I can appreciate the need for the privacy of employees due to the seriousness of Identity Theft, if a company discovers that its own employees are engaging in activities that could be harmful to the company and its bottom line, what can be done? I believe that it becomes difficult to choose sides in this case because, having worked in a buisness where employees were engaging in activities that ultimately resulted in the closing of the business, activities that were suspected by management but due to privacy issues unable to be acted upon because of lack of proof and fear of litigation (wrongful termination). What can a company do? If the senate proceedings at hand don't address these issues, than this is a meaninless waste of time.
Posted By Andy, Columbus, OH : 2:40 PM  

This is a man of integrity. In the roughtest of times, like Mark indicated, a person's character is revealed. As the leader of a company which was in trumoil when he took over (thanks Carly), keep in mind he walked into this nightmare of an investigation upon his hiring. However, when the nightmare became reality, he did not run and he did not plead the 5th. He walked into Washington, sat down in front of politicians who can't seem to get "pretexting" under wraps from a legal standpoint after many years, and answered questions without wavering or passing the buck. Should he resign? Are you serious? Any person who thinks Mark should resign is a person who feels running from a problem is better than facing it, correcting it, and being stronger because of it. Sure, he had the chance to read emails and details and stop it - but quite frankly, he relied (as he should have) on those who were "put in charge" of the investigation in the first place. Those who did pass the buck amazingly enough seemed to think private phone records were open for pubic view. Are you kidding me?? Like Mark said, he could give many reasons why he may not have looked at the details (getting ready for a speech, just being hired and looking at a company in disarray) but the fact is - he simply didn't and he stood up, admitted to it, and moved forward. Mark Hurd (HP) now has a chance, after having performed SOLIDLY the past few quarters to really bounce back and continue the path of success. Three board members are gone and it sounds like the right three based on facts of the hearing. We want honesty and confidence in our board members. And we want accountability as well. Mark Hurd put HP back and the integrity back in the right spot with his testimony. I love owning shares in a company where the CEO steps up and takes care of matters in a personal way. Stay on board, Mark, the company needs the leadership, integrity, and most of the honesty.
Posted By kc, roseville ca : 2:46 PM  

No, he should not resign. If any wrongdoing was perpetrated, it was most certainly committed by the private investigation firm. Forcing the resignation of the man who turned HP around would harm the company's customers, employees, family of employees and children of employees. Yes, that's right...Hurd's resignation would hurt CHILDREN !
Posted By Anthony C, Houston, Texas : 2:48 PM  

Hurd admitts the company may have violated laws and definately crossed their own moral line and he was partly to blame. There shouldn't even be a question. His resignation as that of the other(s) implicated should include a forfiture of all stock options and anything else with a termination package. Leave now.......Heaven now Mr. Packard and partner are turning in their graves at what their company has become........
Posted By Todd S. Issaquah, WA : 2:53 PM  

Yes, Mark Hurd should resign
Posted By Mosi Shah, Mclean, VA : 2:57 PM  

Mark Hurd did turn HP around. For that I am greatful. However, I do not beleive he should remain as Chairman of the Board. Since he was involved, they should have never offered him the job. He should stay at the CEO level and a new chairman should be elected. The reason Dunn was chairman was due to Carly being President,CEO, and Chairman of the board. After Carly's departure, HP's statement was that the would never have one individual in complete control. David Packard should be the Chairman of the Board.
Posted By HDF, Houston Texas : 2:59 PM  

I believe HP CEO Mark Hurd has done a fantastic job in HP's turnaround. I was never a fan of Ms. Dunn's, particulary in the way she handled Carly Fiorina's dismissal. I listened to some of the congressional testimony and was just amazed by her egregious answers, avoidance of direct answers and her smug attitude. Mr. Hurd is appologetic, but I believe as CEO and soon to be chairman he has a moral and ethical responsibility not only to do what is best for the company & shareholders, but to uphold the company's standards and reputation. He has failed to do that, either unwittingly or not. He had the opportunity and the ethical obligation to make sure the information on the boardroom leak was attained lawfully and ethically. He has claimed some ignorance, some bad use of judgement and has said at the time - his attention was on the leak itself. The one statement that troubles me the most is his statement that you can't catch everything. Maybe so, but I remember hearing a similar statement being made during Messrs. Lay and Skilling's defense. I think, "The buck does stop with him". Regretfully, I believe he should step down. HP is in excellent position, the stock price may languish for a while, but the company is a sum of it's parts and it will soar past this. CEO's must remember they are ultimately held responsible and are held accountable. They must be vigilant and attentive to the matters at hand.
Posted By Jerry Stankiewicz, Amherst, NH : 3:10 PM  

The problem with corporate America and America in general today is a lack of a ethics. If he approved of lying to the media, what other lies might he have told? If his instincts told him to lie, what other un-ethical behavior are they going to tell him to do?
Posted By Alex, Monterey, California : 3:18 PM  

Mark Hurd did not save HP. Carlie Fiorina turned HP around and Mark Hurd is in the right place at the right time. I do admire Mr. Hurd for straightforwardly answering questions in Congress. I believe that if others are forced out and he was as unaware of the details as they claim to be, then as a matter of personal honor, he should resign as well.

I also believe that Boards do not exist to move in lockstep with management or amongst themselves. There needs to be room for disagreement and even "whistleblowing" or there is no point to having a board.
Posted By Palex, Falls Church, VA : 3:35 PM  

I have been "let go" from my company obligations for a much lesser infringement. That would be crossing the "wrong" person. Mr. Hurd has performed admirably up until now and HP would be best served if he continue that trend by resigning. For him to state that essentially he didn't realize the "techniques" being employed to reveal the perpetrator is not an excuse. But a convenient alibi.
Posted By Keith, Jacksonville, FL : 3:36 PM  

This is question that should not even be asked. We've lost all moral and ethical standards in the name of "success"
Posted By Terry Prichard, Phoenix, Arizona : 4:17 PM  

Should Mark resign? Why? For something companies all over the world do on a daily basis. Mark needs to stay where he is and keep the company going in the strong direction he has helped put it in.
Posted By HD, Boston, MA : 4:38 PM  

This whole discussion is yet one more example of "morals and ethics are only for the little people"
Posted By Joe, San Jose, CA : 4:39 PM  

I fail to see what Mr. Hurd did was so terrible. It was Ms. Dunn that was responsible for the investigation that went bad. As to 'lying' to the press, there is a huge difference between planting misinformation in order to catch a board member who is violating the standards of business conduct and what was done at companies like Enron. As to Carly Fiorina being the one to turn HP around, while her strategy was sound, it was her inability to lead and execute that got her fired. Mr. Hurd has these qualities, which is why HP is much better off now that it was 18 months ago, even with the current events.
Posted By Mike, Boise, ID : 4:44 PM  

The ethical issues leading up to this debacle have everything to do with the way Carly Fiorina ran HP, not Mark Hurd. Hurd was not around long enough to know the details of the situation, so I don't think he should resign.

Hurd should take a very strong look at the ethics issues and realize that this is a big part of the mess he's inherited at HP. Straying from the HP Way was the biggest mistake the company ever made.

Carly Fiorina was iconic of the 1990's "fiancial performance at all cost and damn the ethics" CEO. The board scandal is just an outgrowth of the Fiorina culture which ignored what was right as long as the quarterly numbers were made.

I do think every single board member still serving from the Fiorina era should resign. I also think Hurd needs to really look at Fiorina appointed senior managers and purge those managers from the company at the earliest opportunity.

The quicker HP puts a complete end to the Fiorina era, the stronger the company will be.
Posted By John, Las Vegas, NV : 4:48 PM  

As an HP employee, with an insider's perspective, I can tell you that people are nuts if they think Mark should resign. He's been able to turn around the culture and make it a place more focused on execution, customer's and delivering results. Carly was more worried about her image and the power and prestige of being at the top.

And, for those who say that Carly was responsible for the turnaround or setting the stage for it, well, all I can say is that I hope living on Fantasy Island is fun for you. It's one thing to jump in the deep end and make a big splash and quite another to be able to swim to shore after you've jumped in. HP was drowning and Mark helped us swim to shore. Having met and worked with both of them, the difference is absolute night and day.

If Mark resigns, it would be the absolute wrong thing for HP.
Posted By John, Palo Alto, CA : 4:51 PM  

Mark has done a great job for HP. No one is perfect. He should not resign.
Posted By George Fehr Red Bank, N,J, : 4:56 PM  

How can there be accountability at HP when Hurd gets promoted while accepting blame. He needs to resign.
Posted By Tim, Novi, Michigan : 5:01 PM  

Interesting perspectives presented here. The reality is that Hurd should not resign. I say this mainly because I work at HP and have seen the changes that have taken place in HP. Someone said that HP's recent success is due to Carly and Hurd is in the right place at the right time. Let me tell you first hand, that's absolutely untrue. Hurd has made many changes in the way HP goes to market. Our people once again have confidence in their company. Under Carly, morale was at an all time low. While I won't say all the recent success at HP can be attributed to Mark Hurd, I can say that the employees and shareholders of hpq are happy to have him on board.
Posted By Pete, Chicago, IL : 5:02 PM  

The tone of Mr. Hurd's interview reflects the kind of arrogance and disregard for the impact of corporate misbehavior on people. Sure Mr. Hurd has "turned the company around". But what does that mean. Profits are up, the stock is up but the company service department is a joke and the company products are sold with an appliance mentality - cripled to prevent customers from doing anything useful with them beyond answering emails. I see a long tern decline in the company's reputation and performance reminiscent of TI and Gateway ahead. I am thinking of shortselling the stock and Mr. Hurd.
Posted By Charles Robertson, Lake Charles, LA : 5:11 PM  

Mark Hurd should resign. He was responsible for something wrong and is stonewalling. In all of his talks he is not giving details. He is taking the politically correct approach -- denial of knowledge yet being a hero to accept blame. Blame without accountability.

Claim responsibility in a general way, but avoid the specifics. Then claim deliberate ignorance. Deliberate ignorance, is when the boss tells someone -- do whatever it takes, but I don't want to know the details. Using one's power to force others to do the dirty work. In the Enron case it was proven that deliberate ignorance is not a defense.

As an HP investor, my concern is what else has been happening at HP, while Mr. Hurd was not paying attention. One now has to question the validity of the numbers generated under Mr. Hurd. The numbers responsible for the recent stock increases at HP. Why should we believe that unethical behavior only happens in one area? That everything else is on the up and up?
Posted By Nick Baker, Norman, OK : 5:24 PM  

Mark Hurd has admitted that he takes full responsibility for all activities on his shift --- this means he must resign. It's very difficult to believe that on such a sensitive issue, he was not regularly advised by senior executives, was absent during briefings, and did not read the detailed investigative report. This is a serious lapse that cannot be overlooked!
Posted By Daniel, NY : 5:36 PM  

Yes, Hurd should resign or be fired. He claims not to have read the report that identified the "leaker". It was very high priority to find the leaker, and he doesn't read the report identifying the leaker because he is too preoccupied? NOT believable. As SENIOR EXECUTIVE of operations at HP he was deeply involved with the investigation, yet denies all knowledge of data gathering techniques. NOT believable. He probably has a deal with 2 Board Members to make Dunn the victim and he gets promoted. Everyone seems to be forgetting about Jay Keyworth, the scoundrel who leaked privileged information. He stays on the Board with his Machiavellian pal who was setting up Patty all along. The fish starts to rot at the head.
Posted By minto sylvestre, Mobile AL : 5:52 PM  

Mark Hurd is a strong leader and as a former HP employee I believe he is the right person for the company. Any one with common/business sense can see that this whole debacle is the result of Carly Fiorina's inability to lead HP and complete incompetence to operate HP. That is why she was forced out of HP. She ruined Lucent and HP, at least HP got rid of her before she completely destroyed the company.

Mark Hurd should not resign, Carly should pay back her $42 million to HP.
Posted By GGereben, Atlanta, GA : 6:04 PM  

Having read all the comments posted on this topic, I offer my summary viewpoint.

No single person is responsible for the success, demise or resurrection of a company of any size.

The entire present Board of HP is responsible, and their resignations should go hand-in-hand with Mr. Hurd because there is simply no way to have confidence in anyone with a direct link to the alledged activities.

I am appalled at the high perccent of comments, paraphrasing, "Hurd has done more good than harm, he should stay".

What does that really say? It is that no matter how you get there; get there. Lie, cheat, steal all you want, just don't get caught. OTOH, when you do get there, getting caught makes no difference. A recent study concluded that dozens of CEOs, COOs and other executives who were forced out for similar misdeeds, were hired by other companies at the same or higher compensation within 6 months of their exit.

Teaching morality in college is way too late, and the wrong venue. It begins with parents who abrogate their responsibilities, forcing the system (schools, police, etc.) to deal with the aftermath. If you believe that adults at college age can learn ethics from a single semester class, then you also believe in pink mice eating green cheese on the Moon.
Posted By Bruce, Dallas, Texas : 7:48 PM  

Quite honestly it is really not a big deal, i work for HP and feel that yes it would have been preferable that it didnt happen, but if you worked for the circus that fiorina presided over and now the HP that Mark Hurd runs you too would feel a little disappointed but very much in a mood to forgive.
Posted By Brad, Australia : 9:48 PM  

Did anyone get killed, injured, robbed of life savings because of this so called scandal? Those who have no sin can cast the first stone.
Posted By Harry, Chicago, IL : 11:29 PM  

Mark Hurd has demonstrated that he does not have the morals, ethics and integrity to lead a company. He is no different than the CEOs of Enron, Worldcom...He compromised his morals and ethics when he should have relied on them to make the right decisions. The ends does not justify the means.
Posted By Mark, Dayton, Ohio : 12:17 AM  

Over the past several years, we have come to appreciate the deeper, more synoptic meanings of the word "is". Now, thank you very much, we grasp the deeper, more coherent meanings of H-P's slogan "invent". Invent now circumscribes the unethical and illegal act of pretexting. Get the hell out of town, Hurd!
Posted By William Schmidt, Bakersfield, CA : 7:53 AM  

No, Hurd should NOT resign.

What a lot of people are forgetting here is that there was someone on the board who was leaking information to the press. That restricted the Board from operating effectively and openly with itself.

The leaker needed to be identified. At many steps along the way questions were asked of legal council if what was being done was legal and they were assured that it was. So they continued. If Hurd was in role to provide HP with legal council, then, I would have a different opinion, but he wasn't. He relied on those who he should have relied on, and obviously, "they" provided lousy legal advice, or they wouldn't have resigned.
Posted By Dave, Vancouver, WA : 10:13 AM  

Bruce from Dallas's post is absolutely correct. Parents have neglected their responsibilities and ofcourse the blames will direct toward society. Recently, I asked a 19 years old college student of a very close friend to my family if he knows that "stealing" high speed connection from his neighbor is wrong. His response was "as long as you don't get caught then it's ok". I was appalled not so much because he "stole" the connection but because of the attitude in his response. You can teach 4 semesters of ethics in college and it wouldn't have change that kid one bit.
Posted By BT, Austin, Texas : 11:36 AM  

I think you fortune sensors should go an fuck yourselves for not posting my commments
Posted By John El Paso Texas : 11:55 AM  

Dunn should be canned from HP. Not Hurd. He's a good man, but i think that he's getting alot of credit for what Fiorina did. She did alot of good into the company and everyone just bad mouthed her. Fiorina knew what she was doing, and Hurd has taken a great chance to suddenly take what "is not his". But anyway, thats life! No, Hurd should not resign, but Dunn should get out of HP. She ruined HP and she is in no way better than anyone. Fiorina was right for the job.
Posted By James, Arlington, VA : 2:34 PM  

Maybe if QUALCOM and ENRON did the same thing they would be viable companies today. Who better to police yourself than yourself?
Posted By jim Mc Tadgh chicago il : 9:30 AM  

Its in the overall interest of HP to keep Hurd.
Posted By Sanjeev, Bangalore : 10:58 AM  

People who lack moral fiber should never be or kept in a position of trust and or power. Their usual arrogance as that which is exbibitted by Mr. Dunn is not uncommon. Additinally, the lady chairperson would have to have her head examined for having uttered and asked for absolution by saying misrepresentation or pretexing were concepts not understood by her. If one has no morality then she has no yardstick by which to measure unethical conduct
Posted By Camo Urgis,Toronto, Canada : 11:03 AM  

Dump him and move on. Too much time already wasted on this.
Posted By D Thomas, Carlsbad, CA : 11:07 AM  

All the calls for Mr. Hurd's head may well be justified. However, I find myself wondering at what point does decimating the management team at HP start to have a very negative effect on the company's performance. Is this going to turn into a "throwing the baby out with the bath water" situation?
Posted By G. Fisher, Memphis, TN : 12:02 PM  

Yes, if indeed he was aware of the tactics used, he should resign. "I don't remember reading that e-mail" should no longer fly as a management excuse for not being accountable to either the board or to shareholders.
Posted By Len, Madison, WI : 12:04 PM  

Hurd should not resign, or at least not until the Officer/Board level of the company is stabilized. If he runs from the situation like many of the other execs are being forced to do because of their part in the operation, then the company will slowly unwind without a leader to see them through the rough times. If it does show that he knowingly did have any part in the investigation then he should step down to save the H.P. name from any more degradation.
Posted By Brian Mowry, Norwalk, CT : 12:04 PM  

Mr. Hurd must pay attention to overseas as well as homeland. As a citizen and ex-customer of HP in Turkey, I sadly observed that HP became more apathetic in the last 3 or 4 years to its customers in Turkey. At the beginning -nearly a decade ago- when HP sells almost only inkjet printers in Turkey, HP was very concerned about its customers� satisfaction. In nowadays HP must return to its basics in Turkey -which is customer satisfaction- to get on track again.
Posted By Riza CENANI, Istanbul, TURKEY. : 4:05 AM  

Finally HP has some real leadership. He has done a great job turning the company around after Carley
HP around after Carley's previous horrible reign.Stockholders are happy.
Posted By Harriet Stettiner Lexington MA. : 5:33 PM  

Mark Hurd is a good and trusted leader within hp. He has turned the Carly big picture into the real nuts and bolts management to realise his refined strategy. HP is doing the right thing for HP in todays business climate. I believe he has integrity and strong moral and ethical compass. Patie Dunn ran the investigation and has years of experience on various boards, she is a smart leader. However I do not believe she holds the same ethical values Mark Hurd has demonstrated.

HP is more than five or six people, it is a company forged to two icons with strong internal values. These values imparted by the two men who names are still over the door are not in question for the company as a whole. Several people near the top lost their way with this issue through poor guidence and leadership. These people are now under investigation. Some will face charges certainly and rightly so.

Mark Hurd has taken a company with a great vision and technology warehouse and crystalised that vision to where the rubber hits the road. He has clarified and reduced complexity of doing business with hp.

Ok, this happened on his watch but not under his eyes, he trusted the people involved who managed the investigation to do the right thing for hp and they left both Mark and the company down as a whole down.

As a fan of the founders, I feel this problem has left their legacy tarnished. This was NOT the hp way as Bill and Dave knew it or as the employees know it today.

As a stock holder this is disappointing, but I believe Mark has not finished the job he has started. I say let him finish the job, other than this issue hp performance has been strong and may well get stronger over the next 6 quarters or so. We will have to wait and see.

This has been an issue and I believe it is being fixed, the problem is certainly not endemic within the organisation from what I know of it.

One comment about the previous post regarding customer satisfaction. It is a sad fact that competition squeezes organisations on all sides, profits, service and return to investors. We as consumers demand high quality goods with leading edge technology for low cost. Whilst great customer service is easy to provide when profits are high due to large margins, it is a much more difficult proposition with strong competition. We should expect good service and we should get it, but sometime companies make misteps and it take time to realign to get the service back. Looking at the external polls for customer service for hp, the trend is that they have coming right again.

As a footnote on the wire today I've read Patie Dunn is due to start treatment for Cancer this week. I wish her well and a speedy recovery.
Posted By Karl T. Smith, Dublin, Ireland : 6:11 PM  

I am also an H-P employee and Mr. Hurd should resign for lots of reasons, not the least of which is his own admission to a significant breach of ethics - authorizing the use of spyware. By itself, it would get anyone else fired. And others have already taken the fall. There is NO question about this one. Why is there even a debate? Moreover he is a lied to everyone in my opinion. For a CEO to say he did not read an important board briefing about a critical leak within his own board is absurd. It is borderline ridiculous and he is insulting your intelligence. Folks, Mark is an operational CEO who wouldn't miss the chance to read that briefing -NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES! He said he did not read it because he had a shareholder presentation? Come on, give me a break. The shareholder presentation took no more than 30 minutes and he has a team of people that do his presentation work for him. All he has to do is read the powerpoint slides. Do you think maybe he would have read the briefing after the presentation or as preparation for his own Board meeting where this was going to be discussed? The fact that he hasn't stepped down on his own says a lot to all of us at H-P who thought more of him.
Posted By Rob, Palo Alto, CA. : 5:11 AM  

I don't believe that Mark Hurd should resign. Obviously, this scandal has hurt HP's image, but I don't think that it's quite the heinous act that the press has made it out to be. It's wrong to use pretexting to get phone records, but that can't be compared to the issues that befell Enron, Worldcom and others. Of course the press feels hurt and betrayed because their brethren were victims of pretexting and that's why this story has gotten far more coverage than it deserves.
Posted By Tom McMahon, Atlanta Ga : 10:57 AM  

Being an HP employee, I say ABSOLUTELY NOT!! Mark Hurd turned this company around, he rebuilt the whole structure of the company and has executed it, in a way Carlie Fiorina could not. HE is the only reason for the turnaround, and those of you who think Carly had anything to do with this, are not on the inside. Mark put morale back into our company, we hold our heads high in light of what has happened. He has gone across the country addressing his employees directly, and I can tell you that he is a good ethical man who made a mistake. BUT he owned that mistake, and apologized. He will not resign, and I hope he knows how much we value him in light of the Carly era.
Thank you Mark!
Posted By jb, denver, co : 1:04 PM  

By the standards of today's CEOs, Mark Hurd's ethics breach is not that bad, and that weighs my opinion of whether he should step down. There is a very good chance that HP will charge ahead to become a poster child for exposing corporate white-collar immorality, with Hurd leading it as a personal penance. He's good and scared of this devil now. He takes David Packard's advice: "It's not whether we make mistakes; it's what we do to correct them."

For serious, necessary ethical leadership, let's turn to those who're for that. For serious investment leadership, shareholders like me and our families are and will be far better off by Mark remaining.

Dave and Bill Hewlett were not iconic corporate leaders who also happened to be great ethical leaders; they were gods. We're not going to find that caliber of man to lead companies very often. Let Mark continue; he's good.

-HP Retiree
Posted By Kate, San Jose, CA : 6:52 PM  

hi,

I am saddened my Ms. Fiorina's comments over the last 48 hrs regarding the company. Obiviously she smells blood in the water and wishes to capitalise on the percieved weakness of the board and Mark Hurd at the moment.

I wish to remind everyone that Carly left with a package which was simply huge for the amount of time she served as CEO. From speaking to friends at the company, she was unpopular. Her "Big Sky" theories never had any traction within the company until Mark Hurd arrived.

She famously was involved in purchasing two jets worth 40 Million dollars,whilst firing 15,000 people to cut back on costs. The sicking issue was the cover up afterwards. And now of course there is a book to sell and a corporate after dinner talks. This woman has shown her true bitter colors.

The people working for HP right now have worked hard to achieve the turn around which is reflected in the stock price. The work of a few have robbed these people of the recognisation they deserve. Mark Hurd is a strong and solid leader and this is but a hickup the larger legacy of hp as a whole.

Enough of a witch hunt, let the company get on with the next stage and put this incident behind it with the people who are responsible.
Posted By Ger Collins, London : 6:53 PM  

I'll let you know my opinion after the 4th quarter announcements. If the profit sharing is a good number 7% or better, then I'd have no reason to believe there are any other shenanigans and the numbers haven't been cooked. If the profit sharing is some small percentage, say 1 or 2% or nothing, then it would get me wondering. They certainly won't share the wealth if the wealth doesn't exist. We'll have pretty good evidence in a month as to weather the books are copasetic.
Posted By John D., Newark, NY : 11:17 AM  

No he should not resign. I really wonder what all the people who are claiming the high-moral-ground would have done in simular circumstances. Policemen that violate a criminal's rights while doing an investigation are not fired (and don't usually resign). Actually this would be policemen that hired a PI that violated a criminal's rights... The situation is regretable and perhaps some kind of punishment is applicable, but resignation would be an overreaction.
Posted By Jon, Fort Collins, CO : 7:48 PM  

I do not believe that Mark Hurd should resign. I am a long term employee of 27 years with HP and what I have seen this man do since taking the helm of one of the most successful technology companies in the world is nothing short of phenomenal. It is unfortunate that this unethical practice of pretexting was used as a means of baiting the "leaker" under his watch, but, he has admitted wrong doings and taken swift action to ensure future instances of this will never happen again. He did not break the law. Those he entrusted with doing the right things are those that will and are being held accountable. Justice is being served. What has impressed me is to see how Mark has taken complete ownership of working through this bad situation and not running from it. He is facing the music and what I see is a man's character being forged right before my eyes. You really don't know what you are made of until your faced with something as difficult as this. There is no school or education that will teach you how to respond to such adversity, only the school of hard knocks. This is where we really learn. This is the kind of person I want running my company. He has been up front and transparent with all of us employees of HP while not only undergoing a serious and difficult transformation to get HP back on track but also while dealing with this investigation. It isn't a matter of dollars and cents from where I sit, but clearly it's a matter of family. Mark isn't only forging a renewed HP but also a renewed HP Way family. Carly only cared about herself and marketing herself using HP as her stage and HP paid dearly for this by losing stock price and the HP Way. Mark has put the HP Way back into our belief system. Through adversity people become stronger and smarter. We will all become stronger and even more determined in continuing to build the most sucessful technology company in the world under Mark's leadership. Let the numbers speak for themselves.
Posted By Rob, Houston, TX : 10:17 PM  

Or feel free to send a letter to the editor about this story. Top of page

Archives

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.