What have you done for me lately?

• Author: Kristic, James

From The HP Phenomenon by Charles H. House and Raymond L. Price. Copyright 2009 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Published by Stanford University Press (www.sup.org).

THREE YEARS IS A LONG TIME in the Valley and in the high-tech world.

It was, for example, only three years from the acme years of both John Young and Lew Platt that the HP board ended their careers. John Akers retired in disgrace from IBM three years after its high point in revenues under his leadership. DEC's best two revenue and profitability years ever were in 1987 and 1988; Ken Olsen was fired three-and-a-half years later after winning international accolades for the 1987-1988 comeback. Ed McCracken at Silicon Graphics delivered 52% growth and 10% net profits--bests on both scores--as SGI attained $2 billion in 1994; three years later, he was fired. Rod Can-ion had many great Compaq years--1989 saw 40% growth to $2.8 billion, two years before he...