(FORTUNE Magazine) – When Mark Hurd, the 48-year-old former CEO of NCR, was named chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, the financial punditocracy speedily assigned him a label: the anti-Carly. The consensus? He maintains a low profile, is results-oriented, and as one analyst wrote approvingly, is "blue collar," a funny way of describing a former frat boy who played collegiate tennis. But it's wrong to assume Hurd is a shrinking violet just because NCR, with $6 billion in revenues, is far less well-known than $82 billion HP. "That'd be a mistake," says David Bohnett, a former NCR board member, who says Hurd had a "commanding presence" in the boardroom. Furthermore, attention-deflecting CEOs don't write books extolling their management prowess. Hurd's 2004 book, The Value Factor, co-authored with NCR chairman Lars Nyberg, shot from obscurity to No. 82 on Amazon's bestselling list the day of Hurd's appointment. There is, however, one marked difference between Hurd and his predecessor: Asked at his press conference when it will be fair to expect action, the new CEO responded, "I don't know." Those are three words it was difficult to imagine ever coming out of the mouth of Carly Fiorina. -- Adam Lashinsky