from garage to global empire - Australia and New Zealand ...

ANZCA03 Conference, Brisbane, July 2003

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FROM GARAGE TO GLOBAL EMPIRE: Carly Fiorina and leadership communication Caroline Hatcher Brisbane Graduate School of Business, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Patsy McCarthy Faculty of Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Abstract Image management is a critical dimension of good leadership, and many leaders have won the confidence and support of their followers by the use of the right word, the right message, or the right communication strategy for the occasion (Simons, 1999). There has recently been considerable attention given to the role of emotional intelligence in leadership (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2002), with many writers noting the critical importance of communication (Trinca, 2002) and the role of the personality in successful leadership. This paper examines the communication strategies of Carly Fiorina, the Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard, during the period 1999-2002, as she led the ailing technology giant through a merger with Compaq and the radical changes needed to reposition it as a leader in the knowledge economy marketplace. When Fiorina addressed her audiences, she faced significant challenges. These included: the fear of change and the extraordinary pace of technological change in particular, the economic downturn of her company, HP, and the difficulties of being a woman CEO in what has traditionally been a male dominated industry. Added to this, she had the daunting task of replacing two iconic figures of her industry and company, founders and owners of HP, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. Using Simons’ (Simons, 1999) Requirements, Problems, Strategies frame, the paper analyses messages delivered by Fiorina, in this executive role, with a specific focus on speeches and written communication which encapsulate her ideas about and performance of leadership. In particular, the paper examines the communicator style that she uses, in her public and internal communication, to influence her multiple audiences and lead them through difficult times of change. The paper concludes by pointing to the impressive ability that Fiorina demonstrates to blend what Simons has called “moderate” and “militant” rhetorical strategies to develop an “intermediate”’ pathway to high impact communication. This versatility in Fiorina reflects the qualities, identified by Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002), as characteristic of a leader with highly developed emotional intelligence. The paper argues that this approach allows her to manage her image and create persuasive messages upon which to build her successful leadership.

Introduction

ANZCA03: Designing Communication for Diversity


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In 1939, Bill and Dave started a company because they wanted to make a contribution. They wanted to change the world. It’s our turn now… Together, we can change the world. HP Human Resource Manual. In an age of media saturation, business leaders are constantly under the scrutiny of their various stakeholders, their competitors, media watchers, and their critics. Consequently, image management has a critical place in their repertoire of performance targets. Additionally, as multi-national organisations grow in size, with budgets to rival the size of some small national governments, the role of the leaders of these organisations becomes increasingly significant. They have considerable capacity to be influential in shaping the direction of not just their own organisations, but also of social systems and values. This paper examines the communication of the chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard, Carly Fiorina. Fiorina and her company are one of the strongest players on the world stage in shaping the development of the new technologies and influencing the direction of the twenty-first century. Using the Requirements, Problems, Strategies frame developed by Simons (1999, pp. 385-396), this paper will analyse the communicator style of Fiorina and the means of persuasion she uses to influence her multiple audiences and lead them through difficult times of change.

Background Fiorina’s leadership position at Hewlett Packard is relatively recent. In July 1999, Carly Fiorina was appointed the chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard after being president of Global Service Provider at Lucent Technologies. She appeared in 1998 on the front cover of Fortune as No.1 on the list of the world’s top women in business. Fiorina has good credentials, with twenty years of business, sales and marketing experience (http://thenew.hp.com/country/us/eng/companyinfo/ bios/fiorina.html). Appointment to this position at HP is a coup, not only because she is the first outsider to lead the $45.2 billion computer and printer giant, but also because she is the first woman CEO at HP. Fiorina was given the difficult task of reinvigorating the multinational, which had failed to capitalise on the Internet boom. She has been under siege ever since her appointment because of her efforts to streamline and change the ailing multinational and most recently to lead it into a corporate merger with Compaq. Fiorina has been presented, in the media, as a tough corporate warrior with the will to accomplish the almost impossible (as her strategy of achieving a merger with Compaq suggests), but she also presents an image as a charismatic leader and communicator. Jeff Christian, the head-hunter who interviewed Fiorina for her position at HP, described her, in an interview, as “incredibly captivating” (The Australian, 2002, p.30) and one HP director claimed that Fiorina is seen as a ‘very courageous leader’ by employees (Pimental, Sarkar, & Kirby, 2002), despite their fear about the merger (Swartz, 2001). She has been photographed and written about endlessly in newspapers, with Betty Spence, president of the National Association of Female Executives claiming that ‘[t]he Enron collapse is a story about Enron. The HewlettPackard story is about Fiorina’ (Stanley, 2002, p.1). Much of this attention has been attributed to Fiorina’s gender (Anders, 2002, p.56; Stone, 2002, p.68; Trinca, 2000, p. 16). Anders asserts that the stories really are about ‘how the business world views ambitious women’ (p. 56). Endless reports about her



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clothing, exercise and cooking habits, and ‘caring’ image seem to support this analysis. Swartz (2001) quotes the chairman of Agilent Technologies, Gerald Grinstein, as describing Fiorina as “articulate, with wonderful style and flair”(p. 3B), and Vanity Fair’s Ward (2002) quotes employees’ descriptions of Fiorina as an Armani-wearing “witch” and a “rock star” (p.135-135). Such descriptions suggest observations quite different from the ones we normally hear about senior, usually male leaders, and focus on issues that reflect gendered expectations based on female stereotypes. Another reason for this intense interest is that “there is more interest now in the personality of the leader”, and a company is now often identified through its head (Stanley, 2002, p.1). Fiorina recognises both the interest in her being a woman CEO and the cult of personality associated with it, and early in her leadership, she pragmatically told the Australian-based Financial Review, in an interview, that “if there’s going to be a lot of attention”, she needed to “channel it and use it to reacquaint the world with this company ….” (Trinca, 2000, p.16). Fiorina promised to reinvent the company in three years, setting out to transform Hewlett Packard’s slipping profits and world-wide image. Some of her employees and shareholders have disapproved of her strategies. Fiorina has especially aroused the ire of Walter Hewlett, 57 year-old elder son of Hewlett Packard’s late co-founder Bill Hewlett. She took on the opposition to the merger with Compaq, arguing strongly with her detractors about the wisdom of this move and finally winning shareholder support. Showing an unanticipated tenacity against significant opposition, she defined a new direction for Hewlett Packard. By April 2002, she did what she had promised at the time of her appointment: she reinvented the firm by pulling off the acquisition of Compaq, to create an $US87 billion dollar technology giant. In the second half of 2002, the company posted a quarterly net income of $US390 million, a turnaround on the US $505 million loss in the same quarter of the previous year (Crowe, 2002, p.71).

Theorising leadership communication Understanding the success of Fiorina can be helped by using a rhetorical framework to examine her approach to image management. The Requirements, Problems, Strategies frame was developed by Simons (1999, pp. 385-396) to analyse the rhetorical moves required for successful leadership of social movements. One of the tests of good leadership through communication is the extent to which the leader has the capacity to fulfil the requirements of their position and resolve or reduce rhetorical problems (p. 386). Simons (1999) outlines three main areas of rhetorical requirements which, he notes, the leaders of private corporations and government agencies also face in their communication situations. This is particularly the case where the vast multinational HP has such significant financial and social influence. Leaders have a range of rhetorical requirements to fulfil, especially at a time when the personality of the leader is so important. These requirements are: 1. “They must attract, maintain and mould workers into an efficiently organised unit… 2. They must secure adaptation of their product by the larger structure… 3. They must react to resistance generated by the larger structure” (p.387).



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Simons (1999) suggests that there are three main routes a leader can take in shaping strategies to “thread their way through an intricate web of conflicting demands” (p.390). There is a continuum of differing styles of leadership, and he identifies moderate, intermediate, and militant types of strategies, each accompanied by appropriate tactics. The moderate style, as expected, is the embodiment of civility and reason. The moderate style adjusts to the listener, showing understanding of the needs, wants, and values of the audience, as well as using language and a frame of reference that the audience can relate to. She draws the audience into her ‘we’ group as she addresses them (p.390). At the other end of the continuum, militants use rhetoric as “an expression, an instrument, and an act of force” (p. 390). Simons draws attention to the strengths and limitations of this style, and suggests that “[this] traditionally prescribed pattern is not the only viable alternative” (p.390). Intermediate strategies may be employed in an effort to gain the advantages of both of the extremes of the continuum while avoiding the possible disadvantages that each can hold. The key to this is whether the leader can ‘stand above inconsistencies by articulating overarching principles’ (p.393). Simons believes that great leaders can combine “seemingly antithetical strategies without inconsistency by justifying their appeals to higher principles” (p.394). Successful leaders are increasingly called on to demonstrate both clarity of vision and capacity to persuade and direct. There has been an historical shift in focus with the changing recognition of the relative importance of initially “financial” capital, then “intellectual” capital and now “emotional capital” (Thomson, 1999) to successful business. Using an ideal six-category leadership repertoire, Goleman, Boyatzis, and Mc Kee (2002) point to the need for leaders to exhibit versatility of style, and they argue that highly developed “emotional intelligence” is the basis of all effective leadership. This emotional intelligence can be traced through the language of leaders. For example, in her recent book, Corporate Speak: The Use of Language in Business, Fiona Czerniawska (1998) argues that, given the new emphasis on “human capital”, language, with its capacity to win hearts and minds, can be a “weapon of competitive advantage” (p.13). As such, language is an important ‘tool by which to influence collective culture and individual behaviour’ (p.26). This section has argued that the RPS model is a useful way to approach understanding Fiorina’s leadership. Leadership is now as much about emotional capital as it is about financial capital, and the model allows analysis which captures the energy and complexity generated by the communication of this vast multinational organisation which approaches the scale of many social movements. The next section considers the specific requirements of a leader like Fiorina.

Requirements shaping Fiorina’s communication There are many public events that allow the Chairperson to create an image, a sense of purpose, or a driving logic for their company. These include annual general meetings of shareholders and public opportunities, such as addresses to business associations and conferences, where they may position themselves as social visionaries and public benefactors. HP has considerable financial power and the capacity to shape social life through the control of the development and diffusion of the new technologies. Therefore, Fiorina is required to demonstrate not just financial integrity, but also leadership based on social responsibility. She has many



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contemporary lessons to learn from. The attack on the Bill Gates’ monopoly of power through the courts and the ENRON collapse have undoubtedly shaped her sensitivity to the requirements of her role. Another important requirement for Fiorina is to ensure that she matches the external and internal messages that she is offering. For example, she must balance her image as “caring”, with her corporate image as a dealmaker. Communicating effectively about change to her multiple constituents, including employees and shareholders who undoubtedly have often-conflicting priorities, requires a sensitive handling of their diverse needs.

Problems Fiorina must manage: In the light of requirements two and three of Simon’s (1999) formula, “securing adaptation of product by the larger structure” and “reacting to resistance from it” (p.387), Fiorina has many problems to overcome. This has become far more complex for those corporations with worldwide audiences, especially in times of extreme social and legal pressures. She has the advantage of having a product that is considered central to home and business life in the twenty-first century, but marketing it ethically worldwide is problematic. Of course, as mentioned earlier, selling a corporation in the twenty-first century goes far beyond the sale of the product. Society at large is looking to business to be not only fiscally, but also socially and environmentally responsible. The company itself has become a product for sale and under pressure from the political environment in which it operates. One of the main problems she faces is the anxiety that many people have about what the future in a knowledge economy holds for them. Many people fear the new age of technology and cite multiple reasons for their apprehension. These include: fear about the social consequences of a world dominated by machines; possible social isolation; and the breakdown of relationship values. They also fear the loss of privacy, the potential job losses caused by a computerised world, and the widening gap between rich and poor worldwide, which diffusion of technology only aggravates (Rifkin, 2000). Therefore, the products that Carly Fiorina is selling have to be marketed in rhetorically sophisticated ways to the marketplace at large. Another of the problems faced by Carly Fiorina is, of course, the fact that she is not the usual gender for a business leader of such significance. The body of gender remains as a powerful image which women leaders have to manage. If the head of a major corporation is a woman, there is an extra interest in seeing if she will succeed and conform to gendered stereotypes. As Simons suggests, the fulfilment of some requirements create problems in themselves: “Unless it is understood that the leader is subjected to incompatible demands, a great many of his [sic] acts must seem counterproductive” (p.388). This is doubly important for Fiorina, as a woman. For example, while appearing “feminine” and warm to employees, she may be undermining the “warrior” image needed to manage the immensity of the HP-Compaq merger. The reverse is also true, and this creates considerable problems for Fiorina, as the media coverage, discussed earlier in the paper, has indicated. Because of the many gendered stereotypes of female behaviour such as nurturing, being supportive, emotional, conciliatory and soft (Sinclair, 1998), she must strike a fine balance. She must demonstrate the qualities of



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emotional intelligence elaborated by Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2002). That is, the affiliative, coaching and democratic styles, so strongly associated with the feminine (Sinclair, 1998) must be emphasised while she must also display what Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee call the more masculine pace-setting, commanding and visionary styles of leadership. Fiorina herself has become the living symbol of the company and its product. Any resistance to the power of a woman leader from the “larger structure” (Simons, p. 387) of society needs to be strategically handled by her through her public and organisational communication. From the beginning, she knew that she was being brought in to solve the biggest problem of all, the fact that the company was faltering. To add to the challenge of establishing credibility, she was the first “outsider” to come in as leader of the giant corporation. She needed to make many changes and to slash the worldwide workforce. She also needed shareholder support for any merger that was planned, and this would prove a test for her communication abilities. The possible merger with Compaq was announced in September 2001. This was a particularly trying time for Carly the communicator. After the merger with Compaq in the first six months of 2002, 12,500 jobs were lost under her stewardship, with a further 3000 losses predicted by the end of that year (Crowe, 2002, p.71). It is not easy for Fiorina to project herself as a plausibly caring leader while so many within her company are being downsized.

Strategies for leadership communication: Fiorina is now a woman in her late forties, who looks trim and fit. She is an attractive, fair-haired woman who is extremely well groomed, well made-up, and well dressed. She does not fit a masculinist image of the successful leader. Although she often wears pants suits of a dark colour, she is also inclined to wear an under blouse of pink or a softer shade. She usually wears simple but elegant jewellery such as smallish earrings, a gold chain at the neck, and a bracelet and rings on both hands. In short, her physical appearance could be described as fitting in with Simons’ description of an intermediate leader. Although her clothes could be described as masculine in form and colour to some extent, which we might associate with the more militant type of woman leader, she softens that image and looks much more “moderately” feminine, through her choice of hairstyle, makeup, blouses and jewellery. Fiorina’s public communication style can only be described as impressive. She always looks calm and in control. She appears to speak fluently and eloquently at all times without the use of an autocue or notes of any kind. She uses gesture generously when she addresses an audience and her gestures are elegant and fitting to the meanings she is espousing. Her gestures, although powerful, use the fingers in an elegant softening way. For example, she both kisses the cheek and shakes hands as she is introduced at her Comdex (2001) keynote address to the Silicon Valley faithful, to “thread” (Simons, p. 390) her way through the complex web of gendered expectations. Because she works in front of an audience with an open body, animated facial expression, and many elegant open armed gestures, she is often caught for photo publication in this expressive mode (Crowe, 2002, p.71; Mc Carthy & Hatcher, 2002, p. 231). Consequently, she maintains an image that is animated, forthright, yet intensely personal.



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Fiorina also uses language with great versatility. Her speeches are clear in structure and her use of language is often more imaginative than we would expect to find in a business speech and has a touch of the poetic about it. The following example suggests this: And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects … . Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors … . Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration. Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things. (Fiorina, 2001, Technology, business and our way of life: What’s next. http://www.hp.com/ hpinfo/execteam/ speeches/ fiorina/ minnesota01.html) As evident in the above, the sentence structure is rhythmical and, by using repetition, she heightens the intensity of her story. For example, the repetition of the pattern: ‘Its architects …, its mathematicians …, its doctors …, its writers …, its poets…’ builds the response by its multi-layered impact. Additionally, as the quote above demonstrates, the language that she uses has a poetic quality. That she can produce such perfect structure at sentence and paragraph level in her presentations, when she does not appear to be referring to a written speech, is a testament to her ability as a communicator. She also regularly uses many techniques such as repetition, alliteration, anaphora, balance and the three part list which are often identified as the techniques of superior speakers (Atkinson, 1984). She constantly uses these to emphasise her points and clarify her ideas for the listening audience (For example, see Fiorina, 2000, The everyday acts of many. http://www.hp.com/ hpinfo/execteam/speeches/fiorina/ceo_comdex_00.html). In summary, her speeches show a high level of technical excellence, when examined as pieces of carefully constructed rhetoric. In her public communication, Fiorina frames her messages with a recognition of the social responsibilities of a twenty-first century company. The content of the Hewlett Packard website (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/index.html) demonstrates the range and diversity of her public communication since she has joined the company. She has spoken in countries throughout Asia, such as Japan, China, Taiwan and India, throughout Europe, such as Germany and France, as well as in all parts of the United States to professional groups, as well as to employees in HP plants across the globe. These speeches are all carefully tailored to the particular needs of her audiences, and they cover a diversity of themes. Although she shows an awareness of the cultural differences in each audience, she is, nonetheless, expecting to speak to a certain kind of audience, and she has some prominent themes that stand out.

Her audience A close analysis of the texts of Fiorina’s speeches shows that she is identifying her audiences as educated listeners, or at least listeners who value education. She draws on her own elite education, in medieval history and philosophy from Stanford University, and a Master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for examples which will appeal to both the intellect and the imagination of her audience



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members. When speaking in New York to the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, she shows her singular preparation for her audience by likening the Renaissance period in the West to the Meiji period in Japanese history (Fiorina, 2000, Transforming companies, transforming countries. Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/ execteam/ speeches/ fiorina /ceo). Erudite, yet never speaking down to her audience, she also carefully explains her ideas and easily accessible to her educated audience. For example, in one speech, having mentioned the advent of the Printing Press in the first renaissance, she describes the “digital renaissance” as “an era when a new technology is again liberating the imagination, removing barriers and connecting us all” (The Everyday Acts of Many. Comdex, 2000). The content of her speeches clearly shows that she believes her main audience to be the educated users of technology, and that she is prepared to challenge that audience through her chosen themes and examples.

Her themes In examining the themes of Fiorina’s public communication, it would seem that she has carefully analysed the problems she is facing and found strategies that address many of the fears of her multiple audiences. First and foremost, she has carefully thought about the image and traditions of the company she leads. Hewlett Packard has a romantic history because Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started the company in an old wooden garage. Hewlett and Packard maintained their personal following and the ‘garage’ mythology of the company culture by staying connected with staff through personal engagement, democratic leadership, and simple humility (Ward, p.136), allowing HP to become one of the successes of the twentieth century. Fiorina has been photographed outside the garage (Ward, p.136), while speaking of the importance of keeping faith with the principles on which the company was founded and built its success. She is acutely aware of the power of this image and the way it represents the spirit of the company for employees, shareholders, and customers. Throughout her communication with all of these stakeholders, she has remembered to return to the achievements and philosophies of “Bill and Dave”. In a recent speech, she aimed to keep the proud ethos of ‘valuing people’ alive in HP, by referring back to its important beginnings and its past glowing reputation for caring: Bill and Dave realized that the real secret to their success wasn't their plants or their products or their plans or their press: It was their people. They understood that if you believe in people, if you believe in their hopes and share their dreams and let them make full use of their talent, they can accomplish great things. That has always been the secret of the HP Way and it always will be. (Fiorina, 2002, Imaging and invention in a digital age. Consumer electronics show. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/ execteam/speeches /fiorina/ ceo) She duplicates this message to her staff in her Human Resource Manual (HP, July, 2000, personal communication) which was clearly developed to inspire employees and remind them of the past, by superimposing the “Rules of the Garage” over an image of that old building (p.89). The most recurring theme in Fiorina’s public communication is that of valuing people above all else. She is not afraid of using a visceral example to show that the heart and the gut are as important as the mind on life’s journey:



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All you really have to do is engage your heart, your gut, and your mind in every decision you make, engage your whole self and the journey will reveal itself with the passage of time. (Fiorina, 2000, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Commencement, http:// www.hp.com/ hpinfo/ execteam/speeches /fiorina/ ceo_mit_commence.html) Therefore, she is aware that showing that she has heart and cares about people is an important requirement for her as a leader. Her internal communication also accounts for this requirement. The letter to her staff that opens their Human Resource Manual (p.3) also urges them to transform the company into “a winning e-company with a shining soul” and to consider that ‘our re-invention journey’ is “about inventively, quickly and passionately seizing the opportunity”. By using this people-focused language, she also addresses some of the problems that we have outlined that the leader of a twenty-first century technology corporation faces in managing fear of change, both for employees and for members of the broader society. The title of her speech to Comdex in November 2000, The everyday acts of many, signals her emphasis, in her many public speeches in all parts of the world, on inclusion and valuing of all in her company and those impacted by the technological revolution. She particularly addresses the “philosophy of putting people and their experience first”. She demonstrates her versatility, being prepared to move rhetorically towards the inspirational or visionary as a speaker: “the Net will ultimately enable us to solve societal problems using the collective power of all of the world's people” (Fiorina, 2000, The everyday acts of many). She has dubbed this development “e-inclusion”, and it shows the scope of her grand vision for the future and for her company in caring for people and in building a worldwide customer base. During this speech she uses specific examples of how Hewlett Packard has set out to include individuals in developing countries by getting them to use HP cameras, and she shows the images that they have taken as part of her e-inclusion strategy. She signals that she sees and knows these people as individuals, not just as part of an experiment of her company, by referring to them by name. Kako and Anari symbolise the possibilities and become metonyms for all those in other parts of the world, who can ultimately be e-included: And so I'd like to turn our attention to the four billion people on the planet who currently don't have access to technology or the social and economic opportunities of the digital age - the four billion people who live in impoverished areas in Africa, Asia, Latin America, parts of Central Europe, as well as the U.S. HP recently announced a world e-inclusion strategy, but it's about making the four billion rural poor an integral part of our business focus. One central theme that runs through many of her speeches is the importance of leadership and her leadership philosophy specifically. This strategy of positioning herself as a leader who must take significant responsibility for the direction of the twenty-first century and who has, through HP, the capacity to do so, is an interesting one. One example of her explicit claim to global leadership came when she accepted



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the Appeal of Conscience Foundation Annual Award in 2002. Her acceptance speech included mention of the contemporary responsibilities of corporate leaders to “redefine the role of the corporation” and to “increase social value”, along with the economic rewards coming to companies who “fuel social change” (Fiorina, 2002, Remarks in Accepting the Appeal of Conscience Foundation Annual Award. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/ execteam/speeches /fiorina/conscience02.html). Fiorina has spoken publicly about the mantle and responsibilities of leadership and said: “As the world moves toward a knowledge economy the mandate for leadership changes” (Sept 26, 2001, Technology, business and our way of life: What’s next). She believes that leadership should build a ‘winning culture’ in four main ways: 1. It must set a vision and build a culture within the walls of the company. 2. It must build a sustainable company by pursuing growth. 3. It must understand and embrace diversity - of people, ideas and approaches – that ‘we have no model for’. 4. It must be courageous. (Sept 26, 2001) In this speech about leadership in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, she emphasises her duty of care as a leader of people by repeating the word ‘concern’ seven times, as she speaks of all of the people she felt a responsibility for in the wake of the terror attacks. Her concentration on diversity, as one of these principles, shows, again, her preparedness to constantly address the ‘people issues’ of leadership. The thirty or more of her speeches that can be found on the HP website, at any one time, are full of examples such as these. They show her rhetorical commitment to putting people first. In the September 26 2001 speech, she also bravely tells a story of a past civilization that was the “greatest in the world …”: While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent. (Fiorina, 2001, Technology, business and our way of life: What’s next. http://www.hp.com/ hpinfo/execteam/speeches/fiorina/minnesota01.html) Here, Fiorina clearly shows her expectation of an audience that will be both educated and tolerant. She is taking the path of Simons’ “great leader” in appealing to higher principles here. She has made the very brave decision, in a country that has just suffered an attack by Islamic militants, to challenge the audience to realise the importance of a past Islamic civilization and not revert to prejudice rather than a valuing of diversity. She has stood rhetorically by her own principle that “leadership must value diversity” and her belief that a leader must use “communication vehicles really creatively” (Trinca, 2000, p.16). By showing that she is prepared to stand by her fourth principle – “that it must be courageous”, she also demonstrates the versatility so critical in leadership communication. Fiorina has been referred to as a corporate warrior, and she is certainly moving towards the upper end of Simons’ continuum of the militant leader in using language so expressively and boldly to support her principle of diversity, with such a strong model of her belief on display.



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Another example, where she demonstrates her strength, her boldness and qualities as a warrior, was in evidence in the now famous shareholder meeting where more than 1000 shareholders were asked to decide whether to accept Fiorina’s plan for the merger with Compaq. In opening the floor to questions and with the open and vocal opposition to the merger, led by Walter Hewlett, Fiorina demonstrated her courage. She was tackled by audience members about how she would handle the low morale and opposition of staff to the merger. Her militant style emerged in citing, with confidence, that most of her workers supported the deal. She managed the meeting, and after boos and jeers, she strongly admonished her challengers with the statement, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, that is a fact, based on our surveys’ (Paiste, 2002; Bergstein, 2002). Fiorina did not crumble under considerable pressure and would brook no opposition.

Conclusion Fiorina has a remarkable talent for displaying the range of styles identified as the essentials of The New Leaders (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, 2002). Her affiliative approach engenders harmony and creates connections between people, building common ground and healing rifts, such as those exposed through staff cuts and shareholder losses. Equally, her use of a coaching style, so evident in press coverage (See Ward, 2002, p. 136), many of her speeches, and internal communication such as the HP Human Resource manual, focussing on the Garage Rules and engagement of the heart as well as the minds of employees, reflects Simons’ focus on a moderate style. Her commanding style, characteristic of Simons’ militant leader, has demonstrated the courage with which she has confronted the insiders at HewlettPackard, taking on Walter Hewlett and disgruntled shareholders in the courts, in shareholder meetings, and in the press (Sharp & Hatcher, 2002). Indeed, one employee was quoted as saying that “in Silicon Valley, messing with the HP culture is like the Taliban destroying the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan” (Ward, 2002, p.136). Additionally, her choice of examples, such as the issues of diversity demonstrated by her use of Islam as a model to aspire to, referred to earlier in the paper, is further evidence of this visionary and militant style. Successful leadership communication is a balancing act, where the cross-pressures of multiple and diverse needs of stakeholders pose considerable challenges for leaders. This makes image management a complex task. In Fiorina’s case, this is further complicated by the already complex dilemma of balancing feminine/masculine behavioural expectations. She has successfully negotiated her way through a male dominated technology industry minefield, where competition is explosive, and has found her way “inside” a family company with a history of being impervious to the values of the “outside”, at a time of financial difficulties. This paper has demonstrated some of the numerous ways in which Fiorina’s considerable rhetorical capacity has shaped her image and supported her success, despite the enormous challenges she faces as an “outsider” and a woman leader at HP.

References Anders, G. (2002, June). Yes, but can she cook? Financial Review, BOSS, 56-57. Atkinson, M. (1984). Our masters’ voices: The language and body language of politics. London: Methuen.



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Address for correspondence Caroline Hatcher Brisbane Graduate School of Business, Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Australia
