I was greatly saddened by the recent fall of Mark Hurd, ex-leader of Hewlett-Packard. Here we have a man who rescued a moribund company and brought it back to health, a man making millions with a virtually unlimited expense account…a man respected for his achievement by most.
And yet, a man who was unable to follow the standards of business conduct he himself instituted and forced others to follow, up to and including termination without severance for violations. A man unable to walk the talk when it came down to a principle of basic honestly…don’t submit inaccurate expense reports. If he had just never bothered to submit about $20,000 in doctored expenses, he’d probably still be running H-P.
I don’t feel the least bit sorry for him. He violated not only the business code he himself developed but also the code of being a good executive…don’t lie. More importantly, he lost all moral authority over the rest of the company.
Beyond Mark Hurd, however, lies an even more morally lost group of people. To my amazement there are corporate governance experts who have argued that H-P overreacted. All Hurd needed to do was repay the money and all would be well. After all, it was only a minor offense.
How interesting that they focus on the money and not the act. If it was a bookkeeper somewhere deep in the accounting department who had stolen $20,000 would it be just a minor offense? I think not.
Interestingly, the H-P business code of conduct states that to decide if an action is appropriate “before I make a decision, I consider how it would look in a news story.” Something for all executives…and people…to consider.
