see the previous posting on leadership to see a different learning from Mr Hurd of HP’s situation.
This post is about facts. In the announcement from HP it was noted that there were expense account irregularities discovered in their investigation of the sexual harrasment claim made by the outside contractor.
Here is what impresses me with how this information has been handled:
- The amount is not mentioned, and treated as irrelevant. They’re right – nice job Board. I’m personally tired of hearing “its not so bad you stole $20,000 this other guy stole $1,000,000″. The real answer that the HP Board lived up to is “thou shalt not steal”.
- They were willing to fire for what at the Coca-Cola company would have been a “Code of Conduct” violation. I liked a lot about my former employer, and one thing I very much liked was that they had at the time I was there a well-written code of conduct. In it, it was made clear that straying outside the code had a penalty of termination. Black and white parameters are important in these situations, plus the guts to act on them. Once again, kudos to the Board.
- Now a more personal note: I am always astonished when I see a CEO falsifying an expense report so that more money can be spent. This CEO was making enough money personally to feed, cloth, house, and educate a small village. HE COULDN’T PAY FOR DINNER HIMSELF? I can only find 3 reasons why this would be he case:
- Maybe he couldn’t pay for the dinner. My response: if you’re that bad at money management stop running the company.
- Maybe he could pay for dinner but chooses not to. My response: that is bad judgement. It is a personal dinner and it should be paid for personally. Bad judgement should not be running the company
- Maybe he could pay for dinner but believes a big dinner one on one is “owed” to him. My response: when a CEO thinks they are owed something other than the pay and satisfaction they get from the role, then they should leave. Leaders who have a sense of entitlement are not leaders. Leadership is about service, the antithesis of entitlement.
That last statement is my saddest moment in this story, because my own experience strongly leads me to believe it is the real reason: it seems Mr Hurd forgot what leadership is about. Leadership is about service. It is about putting all but the most critical elements of your personal world second and making the welfare of the company, the people within that company, the customers of that company, the business relationships the company holds – all of that comes first.
A CEO is a steward, one who shepherds the entity during his or her tenure. And asking these shepherds to give up so much personally is the only possible explanation for the enormous pay packages they are given. The relationship of trust in stewardship seems to have been broken in Mr Hurd’s case, and my heartfelt applause goes out to the HP Board for keeping him accountable to that standard.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
A 4th possibility was that he didn’t want to pay for the dinners himself because he’d have to explain the expenditures to his wife. It’s clear he knew he was doing something wrong and was trying to cover his tracks.
I do like that he offered to pay HP back the fairly trivial sum, but as you said, it was the fact that he stole, not the amount, that was the problem.
Dave, fair point. I consider the “don’t want wife to see so stiff it to the company” the same as point 2 above – you’re choosing not to pay. The reason, of course, is that someone might object to the receipt, but all of the reasons when you’re making his kind of money are bad judgement.
far more powerful, I think, is the second part of your point – that he knew he was doing something wrong. His behavior proves it. Great point, forgot to mention it, thanks for bringing it to the forefront because its key!
Having been the victim of an unscrupulous company bookkeeper (to the tune of well over a quarter million), I can attest to the fact that character is most assuredly how one behaves when no one is looking.