News | Markets | Technology | Personal Finance | Small Business | CNN.com 
More Galleries
The path traced today by planes arriving at airports is a tangle of wasted time and fuel. A startup near seattle has a program that makes landings simpler, shorter - and smarter. (more)
Makers of personal navigation devices are trying to differentiate themselves with products that do a lot more than get you from point A to point B. (more)
Record prices for masterpieces are defying expectations that art auctions would feel the impact of a slowing economy. (more)
Mark Hurd
Nine years after starting at NCR, I moved to a head-office job in Dayton in 1988. An NCR executive was giving a presentation; he had great slides and an even better delivery. The CEO, Chuck Exley, listened to the entire presentation in his typically gracious, courteous manner. At the conclusion, he nodded and said something brief but profound: "Good story, but it's hard to look smart with bad numbers." And as I reflected on it, the presenter, articulate as he was, as good as his slides were, simply had bad numbers.
That comment has always stayed with me. You have to focus on the underlying substance. There's just no way to disguise poor performance. I've tried to follow that advice throughout my career. Deliver good numbers and you earn the right for people to listen to you.
NEXT: Indra Nooyi
-
Michael B... -
Larry Page -
Peter G. ... -
Gen. Davi... -
Tina Fey -
Mark Hurd -
Indra Nooyi -
Sam Palmi... -
Eddie Lam... -
Thomas S.... -
Bob Iger -
Nelson Pe... -
Zhang Xin -
Charlene ... -
Craig New... -
Joanna Sh... -
Elon Musk -
U. Mark S... -
Tony Robb... -
Eileen Co... -
Stewart C... -
Andrea Gu... -
Leonard L... -
Nell Minow -
Alan Mula...
Last updated April 30 2008: 4:31 PM ET
RSS
© 2008 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy
Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy
* : Time reflects local markets trading time.† - Intraday data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges.• Disclaimer
| Copyright © 2008 BigCharts.com Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. Intraday data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. All Times are ET. Intraday data provided by Interactive Data Real-Time Services and subject to the Terms of Use. Historical, current end-of-day data, and splits data provided by Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data. Fundamental data provided by Hemscott. SEC Filings data provided by Edgar Online Inc.. Earnings data provided by FactSet CallStreet, LLC. |
