Backfire: Carly Fiorina's High-stakes Battle for the Soul of Hewlett-Packard Book

"Reading at times like a Clancy novel and at others like a Greek tragedy, Burrowss Backfire presents a detailed picture of how a leader can rob a company of its soul and cause it to stray from the principles that had made it enduringly great. Read it and weep."-Jerry I. PorrasLane Professor of Organizational Behavior and Change Emeritus, Stanford Business School coauthor, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies "Peter Burrows has written a fascinating account of the largest high-tech merger and proxy fight of all time. Riveting stories about Carly Fiorina, Walter Hewlett, and the melodrama in the HP corporate boardroom make this book a great read as well as an object lesson in corporate governance and corporate change."-David B. YoffieStarr Professor of International Business Administration, Harvard Business Schoolauthor, Judo Strategy: Turning Your Competitors Strength to Your Advantage "Carly Fiorinas story as told by Burrows illustrates well the timeless role of leaders: to help organizations work through necessary but painful changes that dont happen naturally."-Robert BurgelmanEdmund W. Littlefield Professor of Management, Stanford Graduate School of Businesscoauthor, Strategy Is Destiny: How Strategy-Making Shapes a Companys Future "A well-researched view inside the controversial management transition at HP. The personality-dominated decision-making process at HP shows us how the power of personalities can override and reshape business legacies. Backfire has all the makings of a modern historical novel."-Regis McKennaauthor, Total Access and Relationship Marketing: Successful Strategies for the Age of the Customer "At a time when corporate governance was a most important issue in American business, the merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq produced a proxy battle that should have embarrassed everyone involved. Backfire tells the story in all its gory detail. It is must reading for investors, executives, and anyone who cares about corporate governance."-Roger McNameecofounder, Integral Capital Partners and Silver Lake PartnersRead More